Be what you believe and believe what you are!

Reading: Matthew 21:28-32

But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, Son, go out and work on the farm today. I wont, he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father told the youngest, You go! and he said, Yes, sir, I will. But he didnt. Which of the two was obeying his father? They replied, The first, of course. Then Jesus explained his meaning: Surely evil men and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom before you do. For John the Baptist told you to repent and turn to God, and you wouldnt, while very evil men and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to repent, and so you couldnt believe.

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. Yes, it was these most unlikely of people that heeded his sermons. 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 went as far as plotting to kill Jesus himself. And they did kill him! 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 everyday or Sunday and say make the profession of the Creed. As if not enough, we wear Christian badges and medals. But when it comes to concrete action in support of our profession, we are found wanting.

Then there are those who have no fine words: who barely profess any faith, barely go to church, or pray. But when there is need and needy around they are the first to offer help. Wherever there is famine or earthquake they will deny themselves food and money to contribute to help the victims. These people have no creeds but when they do things such as these, they are doing what we are supposed to be doing.

It is not that going to church or professing our creeds is bad. These 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 a Christian that goes every Sunday to church, but on Monday his or her actions leave much to be Christian.

Knowing the correct passwordsaying Master, Master, for instanceisnt going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obediencedoing what my Father wills." (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus is teaching 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, or to go to church, or sing in the choir, or 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 Ezkiel reminds us in 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.

Follow up!

Today, be nice to your spouse, your boss, your colleague; forget about the past, and don't mind about tomorrow; be your best this day; 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. That is why it is called present because it is a gift from God to you.