Twenty sixth Sunday in Ordinary time – Year A
THE MORE CONVINCING ‘YES’ COMES THROUGH A ‘NO’
Introduction
There are people who answer ‘yes’ without understanding what they are agreeing to. There are also sincere people who say ‘no,’ because they are not convinced and want to understand better. Their ‘no’ is just a polite way of asking for an explanation and saying they want to see things more clearly. Those who answer ‘yes’ to God immediately maynot realize who they are or understand what God thinks and proposes.
Whoever produces something is appreciated in our society. The old, the sick and thedisabled are respected, loved and helped, but are often thought of as a burden. The perception of their value and the preciousness of their contribution to making our worldmore humane is not immediate. We reward the efficient and the capable. We esteemthose who can succeed by themselves, and we remunerate those who work. God, rather,starts from the last, is interested in the last, privileges and rewards the last. Freely!
The parable of last Sunday has shocked us and perhaps, during the week, we reflected on the inconsistency of the master’s behavior. He pays the workers who came at the last hour the same as those at the first hour. It is difficult to give up the religion of merit and believe in the gratuitous love of God. Today’s reading seems to respond to our objection: "You say Yahweh’s way is not just! Why Israel, is my position wrong? Is it not rather that yours is wrong?” (v. 25).
Saying ‘yes’ to God means giving up our own way of thinking and accepting his. Hedoes not look for the satiated but those who are hungry so he can fill them with his possessions (Lk 1:53). He does not appreciate the powerful who sit on thrones but lowers himself to raise the lowly (Lk 1:52). He does not reward the righteous for their own meritbut makes himself the companion of the weak and introduces the tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom first. Only those who recognize themselves as last, as sinners, and as needing his help will experience the joy of being saved.
“The Lord teaches his ways to the humble, the poor and the sinners.”
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:25-28
What did the exiles in Babylon talk about i,f not the destruction of their city and those responsible for the catastrophe? They racked their brains, but they always came to the same conclusion: we are victims of the mistakes made by others. Our fathers have sinned, and we carry the consequences and, like a refrain, they kept repeating the proverb: “The parents have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge”(Ezk 18:2).
The predictions for the future were bleak. They were far from Jerusalem, deprived of their holy place, the temple in which they could beg for the Lord's forgiveness and offersacrifices of atonement for sins. They felt ruined and had lost all hope. Ezekiel was also among these exiles. He took a stand against this widespread belief among the people. It is true, he said, that there is solidarity in evil. The consequences of sin can indeed reach not only those who commit it but also involve the innocent. They are sometimes extendedover generations, but it is not an inescapable fate. It is possible to break this chain, and everyone is asked to contribute to affecting a change in the course of history. Those whoshrug and resign themselves to their fate cannot blame their parents. The responsibility falls on those who act cowardly, “he dies because of his sins” (v. 26).
Deliverance from sin is not obtained through any ritual. It is useless to repeat: “At this time, we no longer have a king, prophet or leader. We cannot offer holocausts, sacrifices, offerings or incense. We have no place to present to you the first fruits of our crops, and so obtain your favor” (Dn 3:38). The sad legacy of sin is wiped away only throughconversion: “The one who does what is good and right after turning from the sins he committed, he will save his life” (v. 27).
Ezekiel’s message is comforting: a ‘no’ to God is always fraught with consequence, but it is not definitive. It is never the last word. At any time, it can become a ‘yes’: “He will live and not die because he has opened his eyes and turned from the sins he had committed”(v. 28).
Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-11
The community of Philippi was a good one, and Paul was proud of it. However, as often happens, there was a bit of envy among Christians even there. Someone was trying to attract attention to themselves and impose their will on others. This situation caused Paul to make a heartfelt recommendation in the first part of the letter: “Make me very happy; have one love, one spirit, one feeling; do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit. Do not seek your own interest but rather that of others” (Phil 2:2-4).
To better implant this teaching in the minds and hearts of the Philippians, Paul presents the example of Christ. He does this by quoting a beautiful hymn known in many Christian communities of the first century.
The hymn tells the story of Jesus in two stanzas. He already existed before becoming a man. Becoming incarnate, “he emptied himself” of his divine greatness. He accepted the nature of a slave of death. He was not clothed in our humanity as an outer garment that he could cast off. He assumed our human likeness: weakness, ignorance, fragility, passions, feelings, and the human condition. He appeared to our eyes in the humility of the most despised of human beings, a slave, one to whom the Romans reserved the ignominious punishment of the cross (vv. 6-8). But the path he has traveled has not ended with humiliation and death on the cross.
The second part of the hymn (vv. 9-11) sings the glory to which he is raised: the Father raised and held him up as a model for every person. He gave him the power and dominion over all creation. The entirety of humanity will end up being united with him,and at that time, the plan of God will be accomplished.
Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32
The land promised by God to his people is not just "flowing with milk and honey," but also one in which wheat, oil, and wine abound ... (Deut 8:6,10). "On that day, you will invite one another under your vines and fig trees” was the dream cultivated by every Israelite (Ezk 3:10).
In a time like ours where everything is mechanized, attention is paid only to the quantity of a product and its commercial value. To talk about a loving relationship with your own vineyard would sound a bit naive and pathetic. It was not so in Israel. While he pruned, the peasant caressed his own vineyard with the moving gaze of a lover and addressed it with sweet and tender words. The poets have sung often of this love, and God used it to describe the passion that binds him to his people (Is 5:1-7). Israel is “my fruitful vineyard. Praise her! I, Yahweh, am its keeper; I water it every moment. So that no one will harm it, day and night I guard it” (Is 27:2-3).
Jesus has taken this several times; he spoke of day laborers, working diverse hours, towork in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-15), of the murderous tenants who do not want to deliverthe fruit (Mt 21:33-40) and especially he presented himself as the “true vine” (Jn 15:1-8).
The parable of today’s Gospel depicts three characters: a father and two sons. Jesus’ hearers sensed immediately that the father represents God, but they are surprised that he has two sons. The Son of God is only one, Israel; through the prophet Hosea, the Lordsaid: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos 11:1), and to the Pharaoh, he said: “Israel is my firstborn son” (Ex 4:22). The Scripture says that only “the Jews are children of the Most High God” (Est 8,12q; 16:16) “children that will not disappoint” (Is 63:8). To hear aboutthe two sons of God is disconcerting for an Israelite, but it is only the beginning; thecontinuation of the parable is even more provocative.
At his father's invitation to go to work in the vineyard, the firstborn zealously and readily answered: Yes, Sir! (Literally: I, Sir! like saying, do not think of others, I’m there!), but then he did not go (v. 29). He does not say that, out of listlessness or being seduced by an attractive proposition of friends; he simply changed his mind to ‘no,’ even when he had said ‘yes’; he was not at all in accord with the program of his father. He had onlyspoken empty words. It recalls another saying of Jesus: “Not everyone who says to me,Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father” (Mt 7:21).
This firstborn represents the Israelites whom Moses had already called “degenerate children, a deceitful and crooked generation,” “unfaithful children” (Deut 32:5,20). Not allthe Israelites, of course, but only those who, in words, had committed themselves to the covenant and then reduced them to external rites, worthless ceremonies, convinced that they were right with the Lord because they offered burnt sacrifices, offerings and prayer. This, at the time of Jesus, was the religion practiced by the priests of the temple and the notables of the people. They did not produce the fruit willed by God: “He looked for justice but found bloodshed; he looked for righteousness but heard cries of distress” (Is 5:7). The solemn liturgies were leaves, not fruit (Mt 21:18-22).
The provocations of the parable are not over. The father turned to the second sonand requested he work in the vineyard, and the answer was: ‘I don’t want to.’ But then, overcome with remorse, he went (v. 30). The reference to the hated Gentiles—who are now elevated to the status of children—is explicit. They have not given any formal adherence to the will of the Lord, but they entered first in the Kingdom of God.
When Matthew wrote this passage, 50 years had passed since the death and resurrection of Christ, and the prophecy had already been realized: the Christian communities were composed mainly of former pagans, while most of the children ofAbraham, who did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah of God, did not enter into the vineyard.
This finding may lead to the dangerous illusion that these two children are prehistoric characters and have nothing to do with us. Christians would be the ‘third son,’ the one who says ‘yes’ and does the will of the Father. They profess a clear faith and are free fromtheological error. They commit themselves to observe the commandments and precepts and praising the Lord in song and prayer.
But let’s ask ourselves what impact our formulas, statements, formal stand, and rituals have in everyday life (Go to work today in the vineyard!)? Do they put an end to hatred, war and abuse? While continuing to profess ourselves as Christians, do we noteasily resign ourselves to a life of compromise? Don’t we perhaps adapt to the criteria of this world and the good sense of people? Don’t we live perhaps with injustice, inequalityand discrimination?
The third child exists, but we are not that child. Only “the Son of God, Jesus Christ—Paul writes—was not ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ but with him, it was simply ‘yes.’ In him, all the promises of God have come to be a ‘yes’” (2 Cor 1:19). He is the one who always said: “Yes, Father, this was your gracious will” (Mt 11:26).
The conclusion of the parable (vv. 31b-32) contains what is perhaps the most provocative statement of Jesus: “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are ahead of you in the Kingdom of God.” The verb is in the present; it is a fact: the public sinners who have no religious screen to hide behind, those who cannot pretend because their condition isevident to everyone, even to themselves, are at an advantage compared with those who consider themselves righteous. They felt safe and protected by the religious practices that they fulfill faithfully without even realizing their distance from the vineyard of the Lord.
‘The tax collectors and the prostitutes’ who know they are far from God do notdelude themselves that they are doing his will. They are conscious of having said ‘no’; they do not try to fool themselves by fulfilling the precepts they themselves invented. They do not soothe the conscience with practices that have nothing in common with the true religion. Their awareness of being poor, weak, sinners in need of help predisposes them to be first in receiving God’s gift.
The other brother will enter the vineyard when he stops to acknowledge himself as just when he renounces the pride of those who believe in their good works when herecognizes his own hypocrisy and experiences disgust when he abandons the certaintiesthat arise from the fact that he had always said ‘yes’ to words and will rejoice at beingsaved by the gratuitous love of the Father.
READ: God desires and honors the conversion of a sinner. His love for sinful humanity impels God to the act of kenosis: emptying oneself and privileges as God to become like one of us. Jesus gives the parable of the two sons who had a conversion of heart—one towards obedience and the other, disobedience.
REFLECT: Getting rid of one’s self—ego—is a hard act. But it is easier when one is full of love for the other. It happens in genuine love relationships: e.g., between mother and child, husband and wife. When one loves the other, the will of the other becomes a sweet command, and one delights in realizing it. When we love God with all our being, we joyfully let God increase and our self-decrease in us.
PRAY: Let us pray for the grace to really “let go and let God” when things do not go our way.
ACT: What areas or aspects of our lives do we always want to be in control? What will happen if we entrust them to God for once?