XXVI Sunday in Ordinary Time
During the history of its interpretation, this gospel has been TAMED by history! Since the early Church quickly became a Gentile organization, with very few Jewish members, this gospel was seen as a prediction by Christ that those who said YES to the covenant (The Israelites under Moses) would be excluded because they didn’t DO it well, but the Gentiles who had rejected the covenant, would be accepted for even though they said “no” to God, they eventually THROUGH THE TEACHING OF JESUS OF NAZARETH did, in fact, “DO” it. Yea, Gentiles. Boo! Jews. Do you see how this was tamed. It turned out to be a “glorification” of those IN the Church, and a condemnation of those outside it.
BUT, when Christ told it to the authorities of his day, there was no “CHURCH” vs. “SYNAGOGUE” option. We were all part of the synagogues of Judea. So, who was he speaking about? He was speaking about each and every one of us!!!! That’s where interpretation must, then, start.
Well, I think we can start off by saying that NEITHER of these sons is a prize! We feel almost sorry for the father in the parable. Neither of his sons shows him proper respect, one is mean to his face, but cooperative behind his back, the other is nice to his face, but duplicitous behind his back. They are not the sorts of sons anyone would want. We would all feel sorry for anyone who had to live his life with these two characters–never knowing when one would blow up and embarrass you in public, even if he eventually, grudgingly did what you’d asked, or when the other would fail to come through, and leave you high and dry after he’d promised you. NEITHER is trustworthy. One your afraid to be around in public, the other you can’t trust to follow through.
But, the point of the text is that they are each, VERY MUCH like US! Not one of us is a particular prize, either! Who here hasn’t said something to our parents or our teachers or some other authority figure that we now regret and wish we hadn’t said? And who here hasn’t tried to make peace by going ahead and doing something we’d thrown out our feet over!?!? Who of us hasn’t avoided a family showdown by agreeing to do something, then simply refused to do it, later?
This story is about each one of us–and each “son” in the parable presents a picture of us as the Father sees us (His children) at different times in our lives. And it isn’t very pretty! Each one of us is represented by the two sons. How? How can “I”, one person, be represented by TWO people? Well, it’s good Jewish theology–the stuff Jesus was raised with! Jewish theology says that we each have “A yetzer ha tov, A GOOD INCLINATION, and a Yetzer ha ra, AN EVIL INCLINATION. Both those are at work within us at all times. Freud would say the same–he spoke of the life force (the libido) that impels us forward toward life’s challenges, and the death wish, a tendency to our own self-destruction, and the two together make for a struggle that goes on inside each of us all the time.
Sometimes we get it perfect, and we are the WONDERFUL SON (not mentioned in the reading today) who says, “YES, DAD! And then goes and does the right thing!” And sometimes we are the total Mess of a human being (also not mentioned in today’s reading) who says, “NO! I won’t Go!, and then we DON’T do a darn thing!” BUT, most of the time we are all somewhere in-between...either saying “yes” and not following through well, or “resisting,” often with ugliness, but eventually doing the right thing (these are the two options shown in this parable). Does that sound familiar? Does it sound like YOU? It should! Jesus usually reads us right!
So, what Christ is saying is that most of the time no human being is a perfect saint, and rarely a reprobate sinner. MOST OF THE TIME we are somewhere “in-between.” And what Christ encourages us to do today, is to rise higher, rather than sink any lower. If we are at least mostly “DOING” what is good and right, then let’s work on our “attitude,” and clean up our mouth. If we seem to get the words right, but not the actions, then let’s work on our actions. What is being said is that NONE of us is perfect! ALL of us have SOMETHING we can work on!
Now, let’s look at the groups of people mentioned in today’s readings, for they fit the four broader possibilities: chief priests, elders, tax collectors and prostitutes. When priests were working in the Temple, they were expected to have total concentration on what they were doing. There was a holiness of attention that was demanded. They needed both the good words and the good follow through. Next, there were the elders: they were those who “TAUGHT” the religion–the Torah, the Law of Moses. They were expected to have the right answers, but no one is perfect, and they often didn’t live up to what they taught–and for this we don’t necessarily condemn them, for who does ever live up to everything they say? Do you? I know I don’t. Then there were the tax collectors who turned their backs on goodness and holiness and worked for the enemy, but now and then they would come through and find a way to save a family from ruin. Finally there were the prostitutes whose speech was an invitation not to goodness, but to sin, and whose actions carried out the sins of their words. YET, all these people are redeemable. Change for the better is possible for everyone.
Oh, maybe no one would be perfect–even the priests were only expected to have perfect concentration on holiness for the short time they were serving in a particular ceremony–say 5 to 10 minutes of a lengthy service. (Each one had a small part.) So, while no one would be perfect, all could improve.
This gospel reminds us that each of us can take God more seriously. Each of us can take the gifts God has placed in our lives–our families, our friends and associates–more seriously. We can all become finer people. Ezekiel used the verb “to turn” to describe what can happen in our lives. He said, “if someone turns from his sin and wickedness, he shall live.” Repentance is an act of “turning.” Sometimes we need only to make small turns to keep on course, other times we have to make an about face!
There’s an old African proverb that says something like: “IF WE DO NOT IMMEDIATELY CHANGE OUR DIRECTION, we shall end up EXACTLY where we are HEADED!” Sometimes, it’s a 2 degree shift that’s needed, sometimes a 90 degree turn, and sometimes an about face. So, what the Gospel asks of you and me today is to look at our own life (not someone else’s, but our OWN), right now. What are the ways I am giving my “evil inclination” free reign? And how can I bring my “good inclination” to bear, and improve myself. The point is that we are here to lift ourselves and all humanity a little higher, to bring some light to the darkness. So, how can we go about that? AND, we are subtly reminded that we don’t have to be perfect! It’s better to at least “DO” the right things, even if we don’t always “show that awareness” with our speech. What is asked of us by Christ in this parable is healthy progress, not perfection.
This week, in Judaism, the religion of Jesus, the synagogue is deep into the month of Elul, a season of repentance. They celebrate Rosh HaShanah, then enter the 9 days of awe, and conclude with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is a time for “bettering lives,” for “mending the torn fabric of our human relationships which our words and our actions have caused over the past few months or even the past year. Let us join them in spirit, and search deep into ourselves. For that is the spirit of these readings. In the words of St. Paul, as we imitate Christ, we learn, little by little, to “pour ourselves out,” for others...becoming slaves, as it were. In other words, we learn–probably slowly–that it is in helping others to rise that we lift ourselves and them a little higher, but to do that we must stand under them, and lift them; we must learn what “servanthood” is about. And no one “gets it” over night! Each day presents us with new possibilities for growth, and the fine-tuning of our attitudes and our actions, as we make an offering of our lives to God.
So, as we draw near to the altar of the Son of God who said “not my will but Thine be done,” then spent His life doing that holy will, let us pray for insight into what we need to do to “turn” our lives to more productive paths, and for the ability to discipline our speech to the uplifting of others. And let us pray that God continue to be understanding of our weakness, and bless our quiet, gentle, and often halting “turning” toward Him. And may He give us the Grace in these Holy Sacraments to make of our lives benedictions of goodness and good will in our world. And may God bless you all. +
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