Jesus addresses the elders of the people, telling them the parable of the two sons.
They had to say an yes or no answer to his question, who did the father’s will? They
said: the one who says no first but changed mind and did what the father wanted; the
other son says yes but ignored his father’s request. But they were astonished when
Jesus said, tax collectors and sinners will enter the kingdom before they do! John the
Baptist, whom they considered a prophet, came to prepare their hearts to accept
Christ and the kingdom of God, but they did not believe him; they killed him. Jesus
inaugurates the kingdom of God and look who welcomed it, the sinners! The priests
and pharisees were more concerned with excluding sinners from their groups and not
to contaminate their lives by associating with them, a dangerous, discriminating
attitude. Sinners and tax collectors experienced great suffering, life falling apart and
Jesus opened a way for them. They had lived a no to God but now they say yes to the
good news of Jesus, repent and believe and they are in the kingdom!
The Pharisees and priests in the gospel denied the sinners opportunity to reform. Like
them, we the church too are sometimes stuck in a group mentality, insider, outsider
outlook, thinking we don’t need change or reform. People we consider as public
sinners often struggle to discern ways to reform their lives and enter into right
relationship with God. Jesus says, I have come to call the sinners. Saying Lord, Lord
[amount of prayers] will not put you in the path of transformation; We don’t decide the
destiny of others [mistake of pharisees and priests]; we live our destiny in communion
with others and God. Prayer/worship is to help honestly to seek the will of God and do
it with struggles. What Jesus is asking us today can be said in Prophet Micah’s words
[6:8] ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God’. Walk the way and not mere talk
the way or no walking away from the gospel.
Sr. Joyce Rupp shares an experience: ‘one day a friend stopped by my office. He
glanced into my empty coffee cup on the desk and said, ‘wow, that cup is really dirty. I
was startled by his remark. Later I looked inside of the cup and sure enough, it was
very discolored and stained. I couldn’t remember when I had given it a good scrubbing.
I took some cleansing powder to clean it and was astonished at how clean it became
with a bit of attention. She says, I need to be regularly cleansed from inner stains that
keep me from living as a loving person’. We could absorb a lot of stain inside by our
negative thinking and resentful emotions. An awareness, enlightenment is needed to
cleanse the stains of life by way of listening to Jesus and emptying our unloving, selfish
ways.
What was lacking in the two sons was true love for the father. The work, the father
asked the sons to do is to know the father’s love and enrich life with love; that is to be
in the kingdom of God. The way into the kingdom of God is described as ‘entering’ the
kingdom. It is an experience of being healed, renewed by the merciful grace of God in
Christ or entering into the house of God or into a loving relationship with God. Son who
obeyed the father’s will came to the awareness of father’s love that he was tempted to
reject and that he belonged to the father’s house. Nancy Wood: ‘you have many
different natures; light and dark, kind and mean; inconsistent and predictable. You will
never be perfect [only God is perfect]. But you can be better than you are now. For
your own sake try’! If we are ready to work in the vineyard [kingdom] of the father, then
we become the good news of Christ, the light that enlightens the world!