Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and the elders of the people. His words are somewhat alarming and challenging, especially to anyone who claims religious faith. Jesus gives them a scenario and leaves them to find the appropriate answers. Both sons in today’s parable answer their father: one chooses not to tell the truth, saying he will go to work, and in fact does not; while the other son tells the truth, that he doesn’t want to go, but afterwords changes his mind, and goes and does the work that his father has asked of him. Jesus goes on to tell people that when John the Baptist came among them, as an example and model of “true righteousness”, they, the people of religion and holy talk, did not believe him. At the same time, however, the tax collectors and the prostitutes were making their way into the kingdom of God before them. It is not difficult to imagine the reaction to Jesus’ words among these people. It surely would not be difficult, too, for us to try to imagine our reaction to the words of Jesus if they were addressed to us. Do we consider ourselves to be respectable religious people, or do we know ourselves to be sinners, just as much as “the tax collectors and prostitutes” of whom Jesus speaks? Everything depends on how we see ourselves, and on how we see and judge others.

In our parishes Sunday after Sunday we can allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that we are the good and holy people, while the many poor souls who never darken the door of a church are the castaways of God, outside God’s love. This is exactly what Jesus was dealing with in His own day. We can learn from this Gospel passage and put away any superciliousness that may accompany us on our way to church. There is no reason for us to become self-righteousness with regard to our religion and our God. St. Paul tells us that, even though Jesus was in the form of God, He emptied himself. We are to do the same, empty ourselves and allow God to fill us. In so doing, we will not be shocked that tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God before us; rather we will rejoice.

Immediately prior to the Gospel we have heard today, Jesus tells Peter, in response to the encounter with the rich young man, that “the first will be last, and the last, first”. Peter has asked the question, “What about us? We have left everything and followed Your.”In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus attempts to drive home the message that all will be treated equally by God. Jesus gives an unflinching teaching on the generosity of God, whose ways are not our ways. In the parable, the men who have been employed for the day line up to receive their wages. One would expect that those who have worked longer hours would receive more than those who have worked less. This seems to be a fair way of doing business. The landowner, representing God, gives the same to the last as to the first, and stresses that those employed at the beginning of the day have no reason to be envious. After all, their payment has been agreed. This surely is justice. A. agreement has been made and the landowner is then entitled to do what he sees fit with anyone else. The landowner, from the start, has been good to the workers he hired at the beginning of the day. To those hired later, he says he will give a “fair wage”. The landowner is true to his word and gives them plenty. The message here is that God will look after all of us in the same way. We will all be provided for generously.

Reflecting on the parable of the workers in the vineyard, it’s easy to imagine anger being sparked in the minds of those employed at the beginning of the day. There are times in life when we will meet situations where there seems to have been injustice and our reaction may be the same, anger. We have to be clear, though, that there is no injustice in today’s parable. An agreement had been made. It just demonstrates that God is entitled to reveal God’s merciful face whenever and wherever God wishes. In parishes, we all have different experiences of coming to, or deepening in, faith. Sometimes it may be that a new member of the Christian community is suddenly getting involved in lots of different ministries. The whispering begins: “Who does she think she is? She’s only been here 5 minutes.” This is dangerous territory. Today we are invited to reflect on how God chooses to reveal mercy and love according to God’s own plan. God’s love is free and offered to all. We all come to know this at different times. A heart open to this beautiful truth will surely rejoice in both early and late comers.

Today in the Gospel Jesus indicates His part of the covenant. He will go up to Jerusalem. There He will die for us. He will seal the covenant. Not in print, but in His own blood. What is our part of the covenant? Jesus states it this way: “Those who wish to come after me must deny their very selves, take up their cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps.” This may seem a strange kind of love, to have to take up the cross in order to come to the fullness of life, but it is God’s wisdom, His plan. During the Eucharistic prayer, and especially at the time of the consecration, we are to join Christ our priest in offering ourselves to God the Father just as Jesus offered himself on the cross. That will be our way of saying that we want to follow God’s will in our lives. It will be our way of confirming our covenant with the Father, a covenant sealed in the blood of Christ, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.

We must continue to reflect on the terms of the covenant. With faith and God’s grace we can accept the terms gladly because by doing so we unite ourselves with Jesus Christ who will lead us to the fullness of love which is the real meaning of our covenant with God.

In today’s Gospel we meet a lady who was certainly not for turning. She was a woman who wouldn’t change her mind, but, incredibly, seems to have successfully encouraged Jesus to change his. Jesus and His apostles have moved towards pagan territory in the north of the country, close to modern day Lebanon. A woman from the district approaches Jesus, crying aloud. She is described as a Canaanite woman, which means that she would have been regarded by the Jews as a pagan, an outsider, and as ritually unclean. She proves to be one of the most attractive characters in the Gospel. Her anxious cries are not for herself but for her little daughter who is sick. Perhaps she has heard about Jesus’ extraordinary ability to heal the sick people. Her efforts meet with apparent rebuff on the part of Jesus – no word from Him, just a stony silence. That doesn’t stop her crying out for His help. In the end the apostles are so annoyed that they beg Jesus, “Give her what she wants.” He explains that for the moment His mission is restricted to the Jews, “the lost sheep of the House of Israel”. But the expression He uses sounds insulting: it’s not right to throw the children’s food to the house dogs. Far from putting off this good woman, Jesus’ words seem only to encourage her. Jesus is moved by her persistence, her love for her daughter, her sense of humor – but above all by her faith, her conviction that Jesus could and would help her.

This incident reads like a commentary on what happened in the early Church. The first Christians were all convert Jews, and there was great uncertainty as to whether Gentiles could become Christians unless they were first prepared to become Jews. Only gradually, especially through the influence of St. Paul, did the Church come to see that her mission was to the whole of humanity. In today’s world many people find it hard to respect “the other”, the one who differs from them because of the color of their skin or the sound of their accent or the land of their birth or the religion to which they are affiliated. There is no excuse for Jesus’ followers ever to lose sight of the fact that His love is for everyone: Catholics and Protestants, Jews, Hindus and Muslims, believers and unbelievers – all alike are His. In fact Jesus’ final words before He ascended into heaven were that the apostles should go forth to all the nations. He died for all without exception. His Spirit is at work in all. Like that wise and wonderful woman in today’s Gospel, please God we too will not be for turning, will never lose sight of the fact that where human beings are concerned there are no “house dogs”, only beloved sons and daughters of God.

Jesus makes it clear that the world is not an innocent place. There will be always evil at work that will frustrate the growth of the kingdom. And even In church communities there will be a mixture of good and bad. Christians should be scandalized but not surprised that sin can exist in the Church. How should is be dealt with? Sometimes immediate action needs to be taken to root out a poisonous cancer; there is no room for compromising with scandal. But there are other occasion when God’s forbearance must be recognized and in sense we are called to imitate it. Sometimes it may be wiser to wait and not judge too quickly. There are zealous people in every community who want to act now and root out what they see as sinners or their influence. But, as Jesus shows, both on an individual and community level we may do more harm than good by rushing in with hasty judgments. Better to wait, allowing for change and repentance. This is not a false tolerance of sin, but rather a situation that occur in families and in parish communities, and which needs patience. Jesus teaches us to have a deep faith that God is in control, and that God can bring good out of the most unpromising situations. In the end there will be a judgment and God will bring about justice.