The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 1, 2023

Matthew 21, 28–32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, 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; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

The events in today’s Gospel Reading take place on the day after he has triumphantly entered Jerusalem.  The chief priests and the elders felt very much threatened by this outsider, this Galilean, who came into the city to cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David!”, acknowledging him as the Messiah.  Going into the Temple as into his own house, he overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and cast them out as though they were trespassers.  The chief priests and the elders challenged his authority, which he had demonstrated as divine time and again with his miracles.  The Lord in turn challenged them to state whether they believed the John the Baptist was from God — a challenge they failed to take up.  Now the Lord challenges them with a parable.

“A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards changed his mind and went.  The Lord tells us that by this son he means “tax collectors and prostitutes” who resisted grace through their lives but then accepted it, repented, and conformed themselves to the Father’s will.  By speaking of the tax collectors the Lord includes all those who have preferred their will to the Father’s.  He also does this to shame the chief priests and the elders of the people, whom he likens to the second son who “did not go” to do the work the Father assigned him.  Jesus even makes the chief priests and elders acknowledge this through his question and their answer of “The first”.

The essence of the Christian life is confirming ourselves to the Father’s will with the help of the grace he himself provides.  That means first of all to obey his commandments and those of the Church which his Son came on earth to establish.  But it also means to confirm ourselves to the vocation to which he calls us and to the virtuous actions he wants from us personally.  He tells these things to us in such a way that we know it is him speaking, but we must listen for his voice.  We do this through leading prayerful lives which include the reading of the Holy Scriptures, through which the Holy Spirit teaches us.  The chief priests and the elders did not lead prayerful lives but noisy lives concerned primarily with minding their business interests, harassing other people in order to feel superior, and feasting.  Their initial “yes” meant nothing more than accepting the positions of authority offered to them; but they did not use their authority in service to others, as they were meant to do by the One who gave it to them.

Let us follow the example of the Lord Jesus, who, though in “the form of God” (Philippians 2, 6), lowered himself to serve us, in obedience to the Father.