Words - Works!

Matthew 21:28-32 

Jesus said: "What do you think? A man had two children, He went to the first and said, `Child, go and work in my vineyard today.' He answered, `I will not.' But afterwards he changed his mind and went. He went to the second and spoke to him in the same way. He answered, `Certainly, sir.' And he did not go. Which of these two did the will of his father?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them: "This is the truth I tell you--the tax-collectors and harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe in him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe in him. And when you saw this, you did not even then change your minds, and so come to believe in him."

Food for thought!

Jesus told this parable in the temple in Jerusalem just days before they would arrest him and put him to death. For three years he had been preaching to the people, inviting them to repent and believe the Good News. He had discovered that, in fact, it was public sinners like the tax-collectors and prostitutes who responded to his invitation. The religious leaders, the High Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, even after they perceived the divine origin of the message of Jesus, not only opposed it but even plotted of killing Jesus himself. The religious people are sometimes the most irreligious people around. 

Based on his own experience, Jesus uses this parable to teach us that there are two very common classes of people in this world. First, there are the people whose profession is much better than their practice. Second, there are those whose practice is far better than their profession. One group has no fine words but they have fine works. The other group has fine words but no corresponding fine works. 

There are those of us who have the fine words, fine profession of faith; we go to church every Sunday and say to God "Amen! We believe." We wear badges and medals. But sometimes when it comes to concrete action in support of our profession, we are found wanting. 

There are those who have no fine words: who profess no faith, who do not go to church, do not pray. But when there is injustice they will be the first to rise up and condemn it. When there are people out in the cold they will be the first to donate a blanket. Wherever there is famine or earthquake they will deny themselves food and money to contribute to help the victims. These people have no fine words to say to God or about God but when they do things such as these, they are doing what we are supposed to be doing.

This parable teaches us that promises can never take the place of performance, and fine words are never a substitute for fine deeds. The son who said he would go, and did not, had all the outward marks of courtesy. In his answer he called his father "Sir" with all respect. But a courtesy which never gets beyond words is a totally illusory thing. True courtesy is obedience, willingly and graciously given. 

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills."   (Matthew 7:21-23)

The parable teaches us still that we can all change our mind either for a YES or for a NO; either for the better or for the worse. If until yesterday we were a NO people, today we can be a YES people. In other words, it is not how one has lived in the past that counts, but how one is living today; it is not what you did in the past that matters, it is what you're doing today that counts. You cannot claim to say, I used to pray, to go to church, sing in the choir, or to be and do good. The good you were or you did in the past years is canceled out or confirmed by what you are doing this morning. This is what today's First Reading reminds us: 

Listen to this again, Ezkiel 18:26-28

If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he'll die for it. He'll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he's committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won't die.

This brings us to the main point. First, Jesus is saying that in life it all depends not on yesterday, not on tomorrow, but on today. We are free to CHANGE OUR MIND. And when we change our mind, we ERASE, DELETE all the past. For that reason, we do well to note that the most important day of our life, is not yesterday, is not tomorrow, is TODAY. 

Be nice to your spouse today, forget about the past, and don't mind about tomorrow; be your best today; sing your best today; pray today as if you never prayed in your life and as if there is no tomorrow. Maximize the present moment. This is what Paul tells us in the second Reading: Phi 2:1-11

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.