The Grace to Change | Sunday Reflection | 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Blessed Fulton Sheen lead many individuals in their journey of faith. It is estimated 30 million people watched his famous TV show. He inspired countless conversions and inspired many people to follow Our Lord. It was a truly a blessing for the church to have his beatification.

The Jewish people were constantly on a journey of faith and to understand scripture today, we have to understand the questions and if we have the right questions we will understand the passage. This passage is from the prophet Ezekiel, and it takes place in the 6th century before Christ when the Jewish people were exiled from Jerusalem in the land of Babylonian. They were looking at their lives and wondered how they got there to be exiled is a very serious matter. They saw themselves to be God’s chosen people and how do you explain exile if you are God’s chosen people. They were concerned and depressed and one of the answers that they gave themselves was because of the sins of the past, the sins of our ancestors, maybe even our own sins, our sins have trapped us and that is why the way we are. I do not know how many of you and thought that about yourselves that your sins have trapped you and you cannot do anything about life now because your sins have messed things up. The question that was being asked which God responded to in the words of the prophet in today’s reading was this: the sins of the past condemn a person; can the virtues of the past protect us from God’s judgement.

With these questions in mind let us look at the reading, “thus says the Lord, (He is answering the question) here now house of Israel When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. What He is saying here is the virtuous of the past will protect us. If we lived virtuous lives and turn from virtue to sin, we cannot say well I used to good or I am good most of the time, we are going to die because of our sins, we are talking about a spiritual death. Then the answer to the other question, but if he turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed he shall surely live he shall not die. What is being said here is that we are personally responsible for our lives. If we choose lives of sin, we have to bear the responsibility for that life. If we live lives of virtue, we are responsible for that we cannot blame our sins on someone else. We cannot speak about our past without considering our present decision because God will hold us responsible. This reading also tells us that God never gives up on us, so we should not give up on ourselves. We are not trapped by our sins there is always a future for us because God is a God of compassion. If any of you today feel trapped by your sins it is not true we all have a chance time and time again. It is important for us to know the freedom to come to God’s mercy and His forgiveness.

Let us look at today’s Gospel because we know that the church chooses the Gospel and First reading to support one another. In order to understand the Gospel, we have to understand it context and in this reading Jesus is in the midst of a fight with the Pharisees, chief priests and the elders of the people. They are the religious authorities of His time. The reason He is having a fight with them, and it is a real fight. Jesus has come to Jerusalem and He chased the sellers out of the temple. You remember the time when He threw them out of the temple and said, “you are making my Father of prayer and den of thieves.” He did this and the priests who allowed the selling of items in the temple were upset. It would be like if I allowed you set up Taco boats in the church and Jesus came in and threw them out and the priest would say what in the heck do you think you are doing. Jesus did something radical. When they challenged Him, Jesus asked them a question, “what the preaching of John the Baptist from God or was it from himself?” He knew that if they answered it was from God. He answers or challenge to them would be why did you not pay attention to John the Baptist? They knew that too, so they said, “we do not know!” In response, to that Jesus said if you are not going to answer my question then I am not going to answer your question. This is the context of this passage and Jesus in the next moment tells them a story.

Here is where we begin, “Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: What is your opinion? A man had two sons. You remember the other story of the Prodigal Son. You should keep it in mind because the moral of this story is the same as the moral of the Gospel of the Prodigal Son. It is a story that Jesus frequently uses so it must touch on something about our human nature, that stand in opposition to the Gospel. A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son (it is a relationship of love) go out and work in the vineyard today. (When we hear the word vineyard in the Scriptures what are we supposed to be thinking? It is the vineyard of the Lord. It is His community we are His vines and He is the vine dresser. This is an invitation of the Father to enter into the work of community which is His church. The Son said in reply, “I will not, (have any of you done that to your parents when they ask you to do something? I suspect that we have all done that on occasion in our lives when it requires commitment and energy on our part, especially when we reach a certain age such as teenager or even earlier, we say no.

But afterwards he changed his mind and went. We have had that experience too. We know we are wrong and we should love our parents and be generous with our families and we should do the things our parents ask us to do. There is a possibility of repentance when we change our minds. The man came to the other son and gave the same order and he said in reply, “yes, sir but he did not go.” We have that experience too. Then Jesus asked which of the two did his Father’s will? He answered the obvious answer the first and Jesus said in reply, “Amen—what does that mean—this is true pay attention. He is saying this to the chief priests and the elders of the people (all of you who are good Catholics and go to church every Sunday. These are words that Jesus says to those of us who are serious about being His disciples. Amen, I say to you, This is true I say to you, tax collectors – who are the tax collectors the most hated collaborators of the Romans who made their money by cheating and making people pay higher taxes than they were required and giving money to the Roman occupying forces. They were hated. I say to you tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness you did not believe him. The tax collectors and prostitutes did and yet even when you saw that you did not later change your minds and believe in him. Those are strong words the tax collectors those who cheat us and prostitutes those who sell their body for money get to heaven before us. Why? How is this related to the first reading? It is because we are not open to conversion and when Jesus is telling the story He is not telling a story that compares the Jews with the Gentiles. Sometimes He tells stories like that, rather, He is comparing one group of Jews with another group of Jews. The first group are those who are self-righteous who do good, but they are proud of what they do, and they do not think anything more has to happen in their lives. The second group are those who are like the tax collectors and sinners and are able to listen to John the Baptist and to Jesus and experience a call to conversion.

What, then, is the difference between the two? It lies in a word that Matthew attributes only to the first brother: “repentance.” 

The second says one thing and then does another. In words, he appears obedient and consistent, but in reality, he evades his father’s request and remains where he is. Of the first son, however, and of him alone, it is said that he repented (Mt 21:29): at first, he does not want to go, but then he repents. It is a true change of direction, a true conversion. 

The same term, repentance, appears again in the last verse. Jesus tells his interlocutors that, in the sight of John the Baptist, the tax collectors and sinners changed their ways. The Pharisees and the leaders saw and heard the Baptist; they also saw the conversion of the tax collectors and sinners, yet they did not repent so as to believe him (Mt 21:32).

There is, therefore, the repentance of the last —the tax collectors and sinners—who move from their initial “no” to God’s invitation to a “yes” spoken through their lives. But there is also a repentance asked of the first: the righteous, those who were called first, the workers of the first hour. 

What does this repentance consist of? 

If we also think back to last Sunday’s parable, that of the workers who were hired at the last hour, we could say that the conversion of the first consists in surrendering to the gratuitousness of God’s gift. 

The last are converted more easily than the first and, Jesus says, they go ahead of them (Mt 21:31).

Not because they are better, but because they can be reached and are willing to change. 

Their hearts are not guarded by structures or positions: they have nothing to defend. And when the Word reaches them, they set out on the journey. Blessed Fulton Sheen is one of his famous talks mentioned how the Israelites were on a journey for 40 years to the promise land. It was a three week journey but it took them 40 years. It is similar with us we are on a journey and sometimes it is a few steps forward and a few backwards, but it is a continuous journey toward the Lord. We need to remember that we are on a journey of faith and that it is a continuous one of repentance and returning to the Lord. The sins of the past do not trap us by using the beautiful give of confession and entrusting our lives to the mercy of God. We can continue to move forward in trust and confidence as the Little Flower encourages us whose feast is October 1st.

For the first—for the righteous and the good—it is more difficult. Their repentance is more taxing because it requires them to renounce their own sense of righteousness and their securities, and therefore also the ideas they have built about themselves and about God. 

It is the conversion of those who recognize that they, like everyone else, are in need of salvation and mercy; and precisely for this reason, they become free to rejoice in what is good, wherever it is revealed and freely offered to all. As we receive the Lord let us all be aware of our need for salvation and ask the graces we need on this journey to the Lord.