September 26, 2014
Ray Rice, formerly on the Ravens active roster, is only the last of a long list of bad boys. Tiger Woods is perhaps the most famous recent one, and people do not know what to do with Adrian Peterson who did to his sons what was done to him, and probably has been done from time immemorial. Even in our Italian family, the belt came out regularly. In similar manner, Time Magazine last Sunday had a list of political bad-boys, starting with Gary Hart and going on down to Mark Sanford of South Carolina. The list of bad girls doesn’t get as much coverage except for the blurbs about Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton. Bad girls, bad boys – can they ever come back?
Some do, but many don’t. John Edwards is back being a lawyer, but Bill Clinton gets lots of political applause. It’s hard to know what, in our public relations machines of today, makes a comeback possible. But it’s not hard to see what makes a comeback possible in the eyes of God. Jesus clarifies in this parable, the decisive element in how we stand before God. One son says “yes” but doesn’t go into the vineyard. The other says “no” but changes his mind and goes. What is decisive in the eyes of God is changing our minds and following his way.
Jesus addresses this parable, and a few others in this section of Matthew, at the religious leaders of his day. The “first son” in the parable clearly can be taken as the leaders of the chosen people. The “second son” are all those with bad reputations who, in the end, open their hearts to change, to God, and to the kingdom. This should make us all worry because, clearly, being religious, even being devout, does not qualify for instant success. Rather, even the religious can miss the point. So what does that make of us religious folk? Are we doing the will of the Father? Are we working in the vineyard or being pouty children?
Clearly Jesus is not against religion. He encouraged all kinds of devoutness on his followers. Everything we do as Catholics ultimately goes back to him. But our religious practices do not substitute for serving God; rather, they are the necessary, helpful resources for doing the Father’s will. If the actions do not follow, then the religious gestures are empty.
The following is a homily based on the Scripture readings for Sept. 28.
So what does God want? What is his will? We have seen this in a variety of ways as we’ve read Matthew’s Gospel this year. We are to live with such trust in God that we are then freed up to serve each other, generously and openly, in love. We have read the Beatitudes, Jesus’ teaching on riches, Jesus’ instruction about prayer and hypocrisy; we’ve heard Jesus’ parables. So also did the bad boys of ancient times. The key issue is: Have our lives changed? And am I willing to continue changing?
On the one hand, many believers, especially in mainline churches, who baptize their children, don’t realize and appreciate the many ways conversion has happened in their lives. On the other hand, all of us don’t appreciate the need for ongoing conversion in our lives. This is the message today’s Gospel gives: Yes, we can always listen, we can always enter the vineyard. We are never permanently stereotyped as bad, or lost or fallen-away. God writes none of us off. As Ezekiel tells us, although we are affected by the lives of others, each of us will stand in judgment for our own lives: the things we did, but also the deep decisions we never got around to making.
Jesus points his listeners to the actions of conversion that outright sinners were doing in his day. In a way, this is our invitation to look at those being deeply touched by faith today and learn from them. If millions have joined Evangelical churches, what can that tell me about taking my own personal faith more seriously? If Muslims carry around their prayer rugs, what does that say about my commitment to prayer? If millions are joining prayer groups, what might that say to me? If millions roll up their sleeves to help others in need, what lesson do I take? Instead of being defensive and protecting ourselves from these signs, we have to ask ourselves what these signs mean for us in our own lives. “Even when you saw what God was doing in their lives, you still did not change.”
Paul gives us the most radical image of Jesus: emptying himself until he dies the most shameful death of crucifixion as a sign of God’s love and grace for the world. This emptying of Jesus is like the experience of conversion: putting the Father at the center, and doing this again and again, indeed every day. We empty ourselves of ourselves so our hearts can be filled with God’s.
The media will keep showing images of those who don’t meet our modern ideals, shaming them, and asking if they can make a comeback. But God says every day, every moment, is comeback time. Every moment is an opportunity to say “Yes” and do it.