Homily Ordinary 25A: No condition is permanent – not even the condition of sin

Homily for 26^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2020

Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32

Introduction

During the last few Sundays, the readings, especially the gospels, have challenged us to recognize God’s generosity and mercy towards us.

·        Three Sundays ago, we heard Jesus provide the Church with a four-step process for helping a sinner turn from sin to righteousness; and he concluded with this assurance: “Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.”

·        Then two Sundays ago, we heard him explain how generous this process was to be, not the miserly seven times that Peter suggested, but seventy-seven times, because that is how merciful God is.  Otherwise God will not grant us mercy, “unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

·        And then last week, with the parable of the generous Master of the Vineyard, Jesus showed that God is not only just, but also generous, freely giving even to those who come last more than they deserve.

Today’s gospel turns this theme of God’s generosity and mercy on its head, throwing the ball into our court, and focusing on how ready we are to receive it.

Scripture and Theology

Put simply the readings are telling us that “No condition is permanent,” neither the condition of sin nor the condition of righteousness.

When instructed by his father to go and work in the vineyard, the first son said “No,” but later thought better about the matter and did as his father asked.  This son represents sinners, that is, the tax-collectors and prostitutes, who had said “No,” to God when they refused to believe in his promises, when they refused to worship him and most of all when they refused to follow his commandments and instead chose to live in sin.  But now after hearing John the Baptist and Jesus preach, they had turned from the evil ways and towards the Lord.  Throughout the gospels we hear of many tax-collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus and some sinful women too, who like this son, turn to the Lord and leave behind their old lives of sin.  For no condition is permanent.

The second son, said “Yes” to the father but did nothing about it; he represents the religious leaders of the time.  The Chief Priests and elders of the Jewish people thought that since they had believed in God’s promises, worshipped him and they followed the letter of the Law, they were just fine.  But in truth they had become complacent in their righteousness and at the same time they were cynical about conversion of sinners denying that it was at all possible to change. When Jesus came, instead of continuing to say “Yes” to the God of Jesus, who is the same God whom they had believed, worshipped and obeyed, now they said “No,” like the second son; they rejected the Way of God’s son, who had preached: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Centuries earlier, during the time of the Prophet Ezekiel, the people had complained that the Lord’s ways, of forgiving people who changed from bad to good, were unfair.  But the Lord said: “Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?”  The Lord punishes those who turn “away from virtue to commit iniquity.”   But the Lord forgives and preserves the life of the person who “turns from the wickedness he has committed, he does what is right and just.” 

Christian Life

This message is just as relevant for us today as it was for the people of Ezekiel’s time and those of Jesus’s time.  Put simply, the message is “no condition is permanent”; change is possible.  And change can go one of two ways: conversion from sin to virtue, or the complacency that leads from virtue to sin.

There are far too many people today, who think that God could never forgive their sin.  How often do I hear people say, “Father, what I did was too terrible – an abortion or a promiscuous past, racism or an addiction – there is no way God can forgive that,” they say!  And they give up; they don’t believe Jesus who says that God is merciful and challenges them to be like the first son who converts.

Nelson Mandela was universally acknowledged as a man of peace and reconciliation!  But do you know that in his younger days he was a man of violence and would be called a terrorist today?  But like the first son, later he was to become a great ambassador of peace and reconciliation among races.

You may also have read a few years ago about a Catholic priest in Virginia, who as a young man was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.  But after the Lord touched him, 40 years ago, he turned from his racist ways and even became a priest.  He turned his initial “No” to a “Yes” of service to all God’s people.

We too must believe that change from evil to good, from sin to virtue, from the wrong to the right path is possible.  Each of us needs to ask himself or herself:

1.    Do I live in despair for myself and in cynicism for others who are imperfect or do I live in hope, hope that change in Jesus is possible?

2.    Do I easily give up on myself and others, letting sin and addictions keep me down or do I harbour the hope that conversion to the Lord is possible?

3.    Do I concrete take steps to bring about change in my life and do I take steps to help others turn their lives to the Lord?

On the other hand, like the second son, we can just as easily fall into the same complacency of thinking that our original “Yes” to the Lord will carry us all the way to heaven.  Our “Yes” at Baptism, confirmation, matrimony and other occasions was only the beginning of our commitment.  We must continue saying, “Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Lord” every day of our lives.  We must say this “Yes” by continuing to believe in his teaching, by continuing to worship him and by continuing to live according to his commandments, every day of our lives.

I recall a story I heard told by the best man at a wedding a few years ago. He advised the newly married couple to compare their love for each other to one million dollars.  But rather than give it to each other in one big check of one million dollars, he advised them to go the bank and get one-dollar bills and give them out to each other one day at a time.  In this way, they would be saying "Yes, I love you" not just once, but every day of their lives.  Our Yeses to the Lord, also need to be both in word and action, every day of our lives.

Conclusion

Yes, leopards cannot change their spots because those spots are genetic.  But human beings can change from sin to virtue, evil to good, wrong to right, because the Lord helps us with the grace, we need to do that.  The Lord left us the sacrament of Penance as a means to make that change concrete. And Isaiah assures us: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they may become white as wool” (Is. 1:18).

And so, both the first son and the second son are imperfect sons: one imperfect in word and the other imperfect in action.  And we are at one time or other both sons.  But there is a third son, who is perfect in both word and deed.  It is the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, who not only said “Yes, I will become man,” but also actually went to the Cross and died for our sins.  This son, the Lord rewarded by raising him up on the third day.  As St. Paul assures us, if we follow Jesus’s example, we shall also receive his same reward and destiny, , his resurrection.  After a lifetime of imperfect Yeses, at that time our “Yes” will be definitive and permanent. And we shall see God as he is, and we shall be with him for ever and ever. Let that be our hope for ourselves and for others.