September 28^th 2014.  Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Matthew 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: ‘What is your opinion?
A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, “My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today”.
He answered, “I will not go”, but afterwards thought better of it and went.
The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, “Certainly, sir”, but did not go.
Which of the two did the father’s will?’ ‘The first’ they said.
Jesus said to them,
‘I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you.
For John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio’s homily this week is full of hope for those of us who are dismayed by our natural disinclination to work in the Lord’s vineyard! A father asks his two sons to go and work in the vineyard. One says “Yes sir!” but does not go. The other says “No!” but changes his mind and goes. Both sons make an initial instinctive response, but the real person is something different to the instinctive response. We must not fall into the trap of thinking that our natural responses sum up who we are! We are much more than instincts and sentiments. Life is too beautiful and important to be lived merely as a series of instinctive or reactionary responses. If we take the time to reflect and contemplate on our lives, then we begin to discover a person within us that is not the individualistic, self-oriented character on the surface. We begin to discover that child of God who, on the surface, might instinctively refuse to work in the vineyard, but deep down is a loyal and willing servant of the Lord. The Pharisees refused to consider that they might be in need of conversion. We must act like the son who is not afraid to reconsider his response to the Lord. Our instinctive reaction to the Lord’s call is not the primary thing. What is important is the more profound response that emerges from us when we take the time to contemplate things. This is the response that unveils the kind of person that we really are. The Father is asking us to enter his vineyard! Don’t worry about our initial sentiments and reactions! Let us take the time to reflect on this call and make the greatest response that we are capable of!

Is the Lord unjust if he makes the effects of sin reverberate in a person’s life?

It is important to understand the first reading and the Gospel in their proper contexts. Otherwise we risk missing some important aspects of these texts. In the first reading, the Lord answers those who claim that his ways are unjust. The passage which recounts the giving of the Decalogue had said that the Lord visits the fault on the unjust man’s descendants to the third and fourth generation. This sounds terrible to our ears and makes us question the justice of the Lord. But the passage does not say that the Lord punishes the unjust man’s descendants; rather he visits the fault on the man’s descendants. To “visit” in this sense means to make the fault present. And we cannot doubt that the effects of sin have reverberations that make themselves felt in the unjust man’s family and environment. Situations of deceit, sin and destruction have profound effects on our children and on our spiritual children.  God wishes to break this cycle by which the repercussions of sin multiply themselves. Even the most private of sins lead to our degeneration and impoverish our relations with others. Sometimes the discomfort and trouble that our sins provoke is the medicine that impels us to consider the state of our lives. This chain reaction by which the effects of sins are transmitted from generation to generation is well recognized by psychologists, but the issue is how to break the chain. We must welcome God’s visitation of the effects of our fault into our lives! This visitation attempts to awaken us to reflect on the state of our lives and stimulate us to change. The theme of the Gospel is all about this life-transforming change. Sometimes we refuse to go and work in the vineyard of the Lord, but the reverberations of our refusal makes us change our mind and go.

It is important not to limit ourselves to the natural responses that arise in our hearts. When we take time to reflect and contemplate on our lives, we become capable of loyal, willing responses to the Lord’s call.

In the Gospel parable, a father asks his two sons to go and work in the vineyard. One says that he will not, but later changes his mind and goes. The other says “Yes sir!” but does not go. The human being always has the capacity to change. Often we respond with immediate impulses that are individualistic and self-directed. But it is the “second” response we make that is often more significant and life-changing. These responses are made when we have digested the situation more fully. Such responses unveil the sort of person we are at the core. We often say “Yes sir!” because we are anxious to please others, but when the going gets tough we can easily falter. Chapter 7 of Matthew’s Gospel tells of those who say “Lord, Lord” but do not do the will of the Father. When we follow a path, what counts is where the path leads to. We can have a certain attitude towards something, but the important thing is our resultant behaviour towards that thing. Before responding to something, it is often better to reflect at length and to make a response that is consonant with what we are actually going to do with respect to that thing. Life is not something that should be responded to impulsively. It is important not to be dominated by our instinctive mode of reaction. Spontaneity and sincerity are very important qualities in many situations, but it is not true that I as a person can be equated simply with those impulses that occur naturally in my heart. I am not just instinct: I am also reason and spirit. I am my authentic self when, repentant, I go into the master’s vineyard to work. Let us not limit ourselves to our impulsive responses! Let us seek the greatest response that we are capable of! This requires reflection and calm. Quick, frenetic responses to life’s situations are not the best way to go. In reflection and calmness, we can discover the true selves that lie deep within our being. We can discover the loyal and willing child of God in our hearts that is far different to the impulsive and faltering person on the surface.

The son who says “No!” but then goes into the vineyard, is a son who is open to conversion. We too must open ourselves to conversion by delving more deeply into the profundity of our hearts, refusing to be dominated by natural impulses.

The context of the Gospel was the questioning on the part of the Scribes and Pharisees of the authority of Jesus. In response, Jesus asked them to say where the authority of John the Baptist had come from. John the Baptist was the prophet who had proclaimed the Lord’s radical call to conversion. The Pharisees and Elders had refused the Lord’s gift to them of John the Baptist because they didn’t accept that their lives required conversion. The son who first refused to go into the vineyard but later changed his mind, is a person who manages to do what the Pharisees were unable to do.  He looks at the state of his own life and asks himself what needs to be changed. We must never make our own thoughts and reactions absolute. We must not give undue prominence to our instincts and sentiments. When we delve more deeply into the profundity of our hearts, we become capable of the response that is appropriate for the profound, hidden mystery that is God.