Ezekiel 34:1-2,15-17 + Psalm 23 + 1 Corinthians 15: 2-26 + Matthew 25: 31-46

November 26, 2023 at St William Church in Naples, FL

We have spent a year since last November with Matthew’s Gospel and its emphasis on God’s Kingdom. It is then no surprise that near the end a King emerges whose rule is defined in terms of judgement. A ruler has the power to separate good from evil. A ruler establishes the rules and enforces them. But, there is surprise in this scene over how this works out. We close this year of Matthew with the last thing Jesus has to say to us. Jesus is already in Jerusalem, and his enemies are meeting to destroy him. It is a solemn moment and these are serious words. No longer does he speak with the image and language of parables. Now it is straightforward with a direct, unmistakable revelation from God.

We get three images of Jesus Christ. They are all important. This is not an either-or choice. These images reveal Christ as he is today. A Kingdom has a King, but this King is not going to be like any other King. He may well be powerful, but he is merciful. This no warrior King who destroys and then rides gloriously into town with the spoils of war. This King in Matthew’s Gospel has been sorting out divine judgment all along. Wheat verses chaff, fruitful tree versus the unfruitful, houses built on rock versus those built on sand, weeds or wheat, good fish and bad fish, those with wedding garments or those without, those with enough oil and those without, and now he separates once more, but he separates like a Shepherd.

This second image continues to reveal Christ as he is today. This Shepherd/King’s power comes from intimate union knowing each one by name, and a life of love that includes laying down his life. This power is different from the monarch removed from his people. The only way to be lost or condemned by this King is to reject the shepherds love. Such people seal their own fate and chose to be separated for all time from this empowering love.

A third image may at first be less noticeable, but Matthew introduces that third image of the King when it’s time for the judgement. When the King says: “Whatever you did to the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Or “Whatever you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” With that, we get the third image that reveals Christ as he is today. I can never get away from two sayings that must connect: “I will not leave you” and “The poor you will always have with you.” There is something being implied by those sayings.

What emerges from this final scene in Matthew’s Gospel is a clue on how and where to find Christ today along with a revelation about how the final judgement will go for us. There will be no quiz about how often we went to Church, how many commandments we broke or kept. No one is asked about their marital fidelity, sexual purity or their prayers. What does concern the King, the Shepherd, and the needy is how the saddest members of the society were treated. Matthew leaves us with an image of Christ, born into a refugee family on run from King Herod; abandoned, alone, poor, naked, ridiculed, and even buried in a stranger’s tomb. There is the image of Christ today. Our place in his Kingdom will be determined by our ability to reach beyond ourselves to bring justice, peace and reconciliation into the lives of everyone. 

Proverbs 31: 10-13 + Psalm 128 + 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6 + Matthew 25: 14-15, 19-21

November 19, 2023 at St. Peter and St. William Churches in Naples, FL

This is another one of those “not fair” parables, and at the first stirring of that feeling, you know to go deeper. Then, when you know that it is against Jewish laws to charge interest, this is even more “unfair” since the other guys get praised for doing something that is wrong while this man is called wicked and lazy for keeping the rules and playing it safe. I found a helpful hint about this in the response of this third man. He calls the master “a hard man.” What I do think is that the third man was clearly afraid. He could not take any risks. He had to “play it safe.”

Matthew is writing to Church that has much to fear from persecutions. They were facing big changes as more and Gentiles found their way into what was primarily a Jewish/Christian community. They are afraid of the persecutors and afraid of change. He writes to encourage that church, just as he writes to us today, and Christ speaks to us today about having the courage to confront fear with hope and courage. It is a timely message. There is plenty of fear being used on us these days. Instead of offering us hope and a pragmatic workable solution to the problems we face in our society, those running for public office just want to frighten us by telling us what danger there is from the policies of their evil opponents. At the same time, there is fear lurking within our church, and it started a while ago after the Vatican Council in the 70s. Fear of a changing Church leads to closed minds, ears, and hearts. Add to that the individualism of this age which nurtures the “I’ll do it my way” attitude “because I can” puts our unity is in danger.

At another level, we must keep in mind that there was no capitalism when Jesus spoke these words. Increasing wealth by investment never crossed their minds. They had a notion that there was a limited amount of good. There is only so much wealth to go around and an increase to one person takes from another. Someone with more than they needed would be seen as greedy and wicked.

What we are given here is also a warning about being seduced into an unjust system while encouraging disciples to expose greed for the sin that it is. There is no reason to think that the man with all the goods represents God. That’s not what this parable is about. It comes just like last week with a warning to be ready – a reckoning is coming. What we see at the end is what can happen to those who blow the whistle on the rich and powerful. The parable also encourages disciples to find ways to stand together as they confront unjust systems and not to be found in a vulnerable solitary position like the third man.

This parable is not about the stock market. It is about fear and greed. Throughout the whole of the Gospel, there are more warnings about the dangers of money than anything else, so those of us with it are well advised to be vigilant in stewardship. In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, this is the third of three parables stressing the need for disciples to be found faithful when Christ comes again. In contrast to slaves who live in fear, in the face of greed, with a master who punishes those who do not go along with his plans for amassing more and more wealth, disciples learn to live with trust in God whose provident love gives them the courage to work for justice while waiting for the fulfillment. 

Wisdom 6: 12-16 + Psalm 63 + 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 + Matthew 25: 1-13

November 12, 2023 at St. William and St. Peter Churches in Naples, FL

This Gospel Parable is not about sharing. It is about waiting which is something most of us do not like to do. Since it is about waiting, then it is also about time which is something we can neither hurry nor stop. Most of us rush through time to get things done. When we are not getting things done, we think we are wasting time. But the real waste of time is the way we rush through it. In hurrying to prepare ourselves for things not yet upon us, we end up unprepared for what is here. Sooner or later, our gas runs out.  We live in time, and if we’re smart and faithful, we also know that there is something we refer to as the “end time” or the “time of fulfillment.” What we have with this parable is both: the waiting time and the fulfillment time when the banquet begins and the door is shut.

What this parable offers us is a contrast between two ways of living in time and a suggestion about which one is better. One is for the foolish and the other for the wise. The point of telling and retelling this parable over the years is that we have to decide which one we choose to be, foolish or wise. It’s a little like life here in Southwest Florida and how we live through and with the threat of hurricanes. Some watch the weather, they keep batteries and flashlights, water and maybe some canned goods on hand with plenty of gas in the car. Then there are some who just play another round of golf, dismissing the odds and predictions certain that the storm will go another way. We know how that works out, and in theory, none of us want to foolish.

Most of the sermons and commentaries I have heard and read on this parable focus on the foolish virgins which never makes much sense to me. This parable is about wisdom and how wise people live their lives in the present with an eye to the future. This is no warning against taking nap. Both the foolish and wise sleep. This is a warning about forgetting why we are here, waiting for the banquet, knowing that it might be a long wait. The parable is less about oil than it is about being prepared for the long wait. The foolish have gone off somewhere when the wait is over. There is here an obvious reminder that we ought not forget why we are here and wonder off somewhere distracted by whatever is a problem at the moment.

What if those foolish ones had stayed where they were and not wandered off. I like to think that they would have made it into the banquet because this is not about oil. It is about knowing why we’re here and not wandering off because the wait is longer than we thought it would be. It also reminds us that we cannot and should not assume that someone else is going to do what we should be doing. If we do not want to shudder before the words: “I do not know you,” there is still time, but maybe not much.

Malachi 1: 14-2:2, 8-10 + Psalm 131 + 1 Thessalonians 2: 7-9, 13 + Matthew 23: 1-12

November 5, 2023 St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL

Of all the texts in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 23, verses 1 to 12 (That is this one.) is the most difficult and challenging text for me to preach. Every three years when the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time rolls around, I think about getting a sore throat or a fever and staying home. For years, this has been the case. Then suddenly, back at the end of September, I started to think about a sudden short vacation in early November. Maybe my family would like to see me? But, here I am face to face again with Matthew 23, forced to dig deeper into this text and stop doing what we all do way too often: think, I hope they are listening to this. For you, “they” may well be priests. For priests it’s usually Bishops we hope are listening to this. We all like to blame someone which is usually a way to deflect attention away from our own faults. Calling someone else a hypocrite because they don’t do what they say is way of keeping someone from noticing that we are not so consistent either. What I have come recognize with these verses is that this is about me not someone else.

The simplest way of hearing or reading these verses is to see them raising the question of Authority. These scribes and Pharisees Jesus attacks here are the “authorities.” When something or someone is “authentic”, it means being connected to the author of things. When you see the words Author and Authority together, you suddenly get it. The issue with the scribes and Pharisees is that the connection was broken between them and the author of things. That’s why Jesus Christ was so authentic, and why the people kept saying that he speaks with authority. The people heard God speaking through him. He was the real thing. 

Herein lies the challenge to us. We have to be real. We have to be honest; first of all, with ourselves, and then with others. That is humility.  The simple basic truth about who we are and what we are. We are not phony or fake, just real and true.

All of us seeking to better live the virtue of Humility will only arrive there when we know who we are and stop pretending, wishing, or faking it. It’s about honesty. Part of that means being open to feedback or criticism no matter who says it whether we like it. If someone says something that hurts, before getting in a snit, the humble will set aside the offence and think if there is any truth in what they have said no matter how they said it. 

In the Gospel scheme of things, the greatest leaders and teachers are those who share their vision of faith not in words alone but by the power and authority of their example, in the honest integrity of their lives, in their commitment of service toward and respect for those in their charge. There is real joy to be found in an authentic life that is honest, true and humble. For these people of faith, it is the service, the act of doing good that brings that joy, not in some recognition, applause, or award. The real award simply comes from bringing the love of God into the lives of others.

November 1, 2023 at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, Florida

The Gospels have beatitudes scattered all through the life of Jesus. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Blessed is she who believed that the promises of God would be fulfilled. Blessed is the breast who nursed you, and all through the Old Testament there are many more.  What Matthew has done is collect some of these proclamations and woven them into the first of several talks or discourses Jesus gives in Matthew’s Gospel. If the teaching of Jesus were condensed into a dozen verses we would have it all, everything he taught and lived.

The trouble with these verses is that they have become so familiar that we hardly give them any more deep and serious reflection. Perhaps a new version might give us more comfort and reassurance, because that is what they are intended to do in Matthew’s Gospel. These are not goals to be achieved, but words spoken to reassure and comfort those to whom they addressed. Maybe this would work for today:

You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God.

You are blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You are blessed when you are content with just who you are – no more, no less. That is the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that cannot be bought.

You are blessed when you have worked up a good appetite for God. He is good and drink in the best meal you have ever had.

Blessed are you when you care. At the moment of being care-full, you find yourselves cared for.

You are blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That is when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

You are blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s Kingdom.

Not only that: count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens: give a cheer, even, for though they don’t like it, I do. And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten in this kind of trouble.

Exodus 22: 20-26 + Psalm 18 + Thessalonians 1: 5-10 + Matthew 22: 34-40

October 29, 2023 at Saint William Parish in Naples, Florida

There is a great temptation we all face to separate love of God from love of people. We may well go out of this church today and demonstrate how we have separated the two by the way we get out of the parking lot. Those opponents of Jesus will not let up. Last week it was all about coins and Caesar this week is about law not surprisingly raised by what Matthew calls, “a student of the law.” It’s one of those be careful what you ask for moments. He asks for one law and gets two. In sitting with this text, we should take note that when Jesus says the second is like the first, the word like not mean imply they are separate. It means they are the same. They are equal in importance and inseparable. A door hangs on two hinges. If one is out of alignment it will not swing properly or open easily. If love of God and love of neighbor are out of balance, our lives will be badly aligned.

In spite of what Jesus says, love of God and love of another human person are tough to imagine. I find a command to love God a little puzzling. First of all, if love is spontaneous and free, how can it be commanded? God, being God after all does not need our love, nor is God changed by our love as a neighbor, a spouse, or a child is changed by love.

We know what love of neighbor looks like. All you have to do is watch people married for fifty or sixty years who are content to sit quietly in each other’s presence. It’s also an act of gratitude for years of simply staying together sharing sorrows and joys.

In this commandment a serious challenge that pushes our limits. There is a teaching here that without love for an “other”, especially a stranger and even our enemy, we become caught in a one-dimensional kind of self-love. That’s wrong! Without contact with people whose experience, culture or faith tradition stretches us, we live trapped in a self-affirming hall of mirrors. The God who is bigger than we can ever imagine commands us to love an “other” lest we fall into narcissistic idolatry. Loving someone like us is no big deal. It does not even require a commandment. It’s really kind of self-love that might not be very healthy in the long run.

Saint Ignatius left behind a kind of “how to” list at the end of his Spiritual Exercises called: “Contemplation to Attain the love of God.” He didn’t mean how to attain God’s love for us because that’s a given. He did mean our love of God which always needs coaching. First on the list is the simple reality that love consists more of deeds than words, that lovers give what they have to each other. Then he says that we have to place ourselves in the presence of the Lord asking the Lord to wake us up to the gifts we have received and to stir up our gratitude. After that he offers four concrete ways of getting in touch with those gifts of God.

1. Review your life story, calling to mind my own creation, redemption, and other personal gifts.
2. Consider how much we ought to offer God. Ignatius does that through his famous prayer: “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will – all that I have and possess. You, Lord have given all that to me. I now give it back to you.”
3. Consider how God is present in all creatures giving them existence; giving life to plants, animals, giving humans emotions and intelligence, and finally how he dwells in me making me his temple, since I am created as a likeness and image of the divine Majesty.
4. Finally, there is a focus on how God works for me, cares and provides, protects and comforts and how all good things around me are just a partial reflection of their source.

As Matthew says at the end of this episode, “That’s all there is.” Without love, there is nothing, nothing at all, and without love we are nothing.

Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6 + Psalm 96 + Thessalonians 1: 1-5 + Matthew 22: 15-21

October 22, 2023 at St. Peter and St. William Parishes in Naples, Florida

We are living through a time of catastrophic change, turmoil, the dismantling of former systems and ideology, and extreme uncertainty. I think that is why our civil leaders seem so inept and paralyzed. It is probably why we are so polarized around three ideologies: liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. Left to themselves, these are all extreme and not very pragmatic. It is not too farfetched to conclude that the systems we have in place are broken and unable to address much less solve the problems spiraling out of control before us? If we get really honest with ourselves, we ought to admit that there is no perfect way. A really sincere and honest follower of Jesus Christ can never find a happy home here. Jesus knew that it would be different which is why he put forth God’s vision for the world in the Beatitudes. It would be nice if it all could just come together as one, without disharmony or discord. Practical sense and wisdom continue to tell us that it won’t. It is why the central symbol of our faith lies in the torn and mutilated body of a man hanging on a tree. What can be perceived by a non-believer as a gruesome defeat is for the person of faith a tremendous victory! We live with contradictions, but not with fear.

More than ever before we are called to embrace God’s vision for the world working for justice, peace, and integrity, all the while preserving the sacredness of human life at every stage. We cannot neglect returning to God the very image God has placed upon us, and we do that by restoring that very beautiful image in all our brothers and sisters. None of us are objects to be manipulated, ridiculed, or berated. We are all God’s children who need to find our way back to the innocence we once knew at our conception. This is no pipe dream. It is real, and it is possible.

Those who have come to that Temple to trap Jesus want to get him to take a side in some political dilemma. He won’t go there. We ought not miss the point that this happens in the Temple, in God’s holy place. He dismisses Caesar and turns the issue to God. We’ve all heard all kinds of speeches and sermons about this text assuming wrongly that it is about the separation of the Church and State. The idea would never have entered their minds at that time. Jesus is talking to people who pay their taxes to keep the peace with Rome, but do nothing, give nothing, and have no thought about why or how to give to God. They have forgotten how to do that.

This confrontation over a coin is not a solution to the controversy of church verses state. This is not some easy way out of what may well be the purpose and meaning of life, to give to God what God is due. When Jesus says: “Whose coin is this?” they all know it is Caesars, because all money belongs to Caesar. The real question his is, “What is God’s”?  We know the answer. Everything.

So, how do we give back to God? We could start by putting the will of God ahead of our own will. We could ask ourselves some tough questions like: “Is it God’s will that God’s children be separated by skin color, where they are born, or what language they speak? Is it God’s will that we take human lives? Is it God’s will that anyone should be hungry? At the same time, we can start giving back to God when we listen to each other without judgement or criticism, hearing their pain and their fear. We also give back to God when we realize that our resources need to be protected and shared because they really belong to God. They are not ours. When that happens, we might begin to realize that “success” is not about power or domination, but about opportunity and abundance. It’s not about what I can keep for myself but about what I can do for others with what I have. That might go a long way toward losing our sense of entitlement and lead us to the virtue of humility.

Today, Jesus Christ appeals to us all to look beyond the simplistic politics and all the black and white legalisms and ideologies of the day and realize that we are called to embrace values centered in a faith that sees the hand of God in all things. There is nothing socialistic, conservative or liberal about that. We do not live in two separate worlds. How we live in the world of Caesar may well determine how and if we shall live in the world of God.

Isaiah 25: 6-10 + Psalm 23 + Philippians 4: 12-14, 19-20 + Matthew 22: 1-14

October 15, 2023 I will be at Saint Gregory Abbey in Shawnee, Oklahoma this weekend.

At an earlier time in my life, I was on the faculty of a Catholic High School staffed primarily by the Sisters of Mercy. There was a dress code. It did not exactly amount to a uniform, but it was specific in terms of color, collars, skirts, and hair styles. When I was assigned there at age 28, I had very long hair. You may find that hard to believe, but there is evidence in the archives. It was the early 70s. The Sisters wore habits and veils. At the very first faculty meeting before the school year began, I showed up in shorts and a Tee shirt. It was August in Oklahoma for heaven’s sake. Sister Mary Wilfreda, the Principal and I had never met. She was also new there. When I walked in, her eyes nearly popped out of her wimple, and it was not long before she asked me how I was going to enforce the dress code looking like “that.” In response, I said: “Sister, I do a lot of things these young people are not going to do like drink a beer now and then and drive a car. They need to get over it.” She grumbled something and went on with the meeting. I learned a lot of things from that assignment about myself, and Sister Wilfreda and I became good friends.

When I look back at those times, I recognize that an insecure 28-year-old, not yet comfortable in his new role and identity needed to stand out and “do my own thing.” I guess it was just part of maturing, but I know that I had more trouble enforcing the dress code than the Sisters did.

At first reading the story Matthew shares with us today seems a little unfair. The guy with no wedding garment did not seem to have a lot of advanced notice. Yet, in the culture of that time, the host would have provided the proper garment. Nonetheless, the man refused to put it on. I like to think he wanted to do his own thing. Perhaps draw attention to himself? If so, he was successful, and ended up without desert. There is something about our culture that makes this parable more troubling than unfair. A lot of us still want to do our own thing. We like to pick and choose and we call that freedom even though the consequences of our choices cause a problem for others.

I believe this parable comes as a challenge to the “do your own thing” attitude especially when it comes to rules, customs, decorum, and even laws. The do your own thing attitude is everywhere around us and sometimes we’re in it. I’ve never lived in a community where more people run red lights than here in Collier County. The attitude shows up in church as well with picking and choosing how we act or what applies to me or what applies to you.

The whole point of the dress code at that School was to create a unified “team spirit” of working together. One of the High School seniors who gave me the most trouble over the dress code was also on the Basketball Team. After weeks of arguing with him over his attire, I got the Coach to take his uniform out of his locker forcing him to practice and play the next game in his street clothes. After that I never needed to say another word.

This parable reveals that it is the will of God that we all come together as one family of faith accepting the invitation to the feast. Some ignore and some refuse. Some make all kinds of silly excuses perhaps waiting for a better invitation. Those who do come to the feast must come with the intention of belonging, blending in, and being part of the whole body. Picking and choosing what to believe or how to act, does nothing to strengthen the unity. All it does is call attention to one’s self all the while ignoring the identity of the community because I can do my own thing. It does not work. It insults the one who has called us to be together, and it makes us the center of attention rather than the one who provides such a lavish feast.

Isaiah 5: 1-7 + Psalm 80 + Philippians 4: 6-9 + Matthew 21: 33-43

October 8, 2023 This homily was not delivered as I will be on vacation

The scene we call the Temple cleansing has just taken place, and Jesus stands before his adversaries with this Parable. They knew and he knew the Isaiah story we just heard, and they got the message that they were out, that the vineyard was being passed on to others. Jesus makes a big change to the Isaiah story. In that one, God destroys the vineyard. In the updated version Jesus tells, it is not the vineyard that is destroyed.

That’s all very fine when it comes to the context of this parable, but it has little to do with us today unless we want to make it a warning to leaders of the church or of nations. However, doing so gets us off the hook and just continues the scourge of our times, blaming and finger pointing.

The fact is, the vineyard, this world created by God, cared for and loved by God has been placed in our hands. We are the ones who have inherited it. Here in this vineyard, God has chosen to take flesh and be revealed to us with one expectation, that we care for it, nurture it, and produce some fruit. We don’t have to earn it. It is a gift to us. It is not ours. Yet, we are responsible.

We can either understand the message spoken to us through these words as a challenge to care for the precious and fragile environment or we can more immediately hear it as a challenge to bring in a harvest, good fruit, from this Church. If we choose to understand this parable in the first way, it looks as though we are repeating the mistakes made by those selfish tenants in the story. Already prophets who speak to us about this are too often silenced, mocked, and dismissed. Even our Holy Father is mocked by too many as he fulfills his role teaching us and speaking about our carelessness for this earth always ignoring the un-intended consequences of our actions.

If we hear this parable and see the Church as God’s vineyard where again God is revealed time and time again, there is a challenge to recognize that we really are in charge here, and something more is expected of us than simply showing up now and then. This Church must be alive and filled with living, joyful people. This Church must continue to be place of welcoming compassion, generosity, and justice. This living Church, which we area, must always look to the future not to the past listening to the cry of those who suffer from the ills of these times gathering the lost, forgotten, avoided, and shoved aside into a great harvest for the one who expects unity and peace.

Listen to the top song hits in any country these days, and you can be guaranteed to hear about spurned love. Isaiah’s love song is what we heard today. It begins with what seems like an actual friend who loved his vineyard lavishing tender care. Then, just like those hit songs, it transposes into discord when the vintage season comes and the yield is only bad fruit.

The song is over now. The friend turns to his audience, the people of Jerusalem, the people of Naples, inviting them, asking if there is anything more that could have been done. This parable is really a love story revealing God’s unrelenting, tireless love for us. We can easily become possessive rebels who want people and possessions to serve our own ambitions with no thought of offering service to someone else. By deafness to the prophets in our own times, we run the risk of becoming self-condemned tenants of God’s vineyard. Yet this loving God has sent his Son to us not because we are deserving, but because we are loved. There is still time to respect, treasure, and return that love. That would be very good fruit indeed. 

Ezekiel 18: 25-28 + Psalm 24 + Philippians 2, 1-11 + Matthew 21: 28-32

October 1, 2023 Not delivered in person. I am away from Naples

Years ago, I lived with a Vietnamese Priest who was a refugee with a frightening story about his escape from Vietnam in a stolen boat that was fired upon as they slipped away in the darkness and drifted for several days on the open sea. At first, we had some trouble understanding each other not just because of language limitations, but because of cultural differences. In church order, I was his superior even though he was twenty years older than I was. That rich Asian culture has deep respect for senior authorities which I was in his eyes. The age and culture in which he grew up would never allow or tolerate saying “no” to a superior. He never told me no, and it caused a lot of confusion until I caught on. I would ask him to take a Mass. He would say, “Yes” and never show up. I would ask him if he was coming to dinner and the same thing would happen to the frustration of the lady who provided us meals. He was a good and holy man. He drove me crazy. I can never hear this Gospel without thinking of him, and that experience has given me a slightly different way of understanding what is happening here.

That son who said Yes, just like Father Bao always did, was not bad because he didn’t do anything. In fact, to the people who first heard this parable, he was good because he was respectful and did not insult his father by saying, “no.” That other one who was disrespectful to his father by saying, “No” is also good because he did what was asked of him. This thinking could leave us wondering what’s the point of the parable, because in some ways, both did the right thing. Yet, neither of them did it the right way.

Perhaps there is another question to be asked here. Which son was most concerned with the family’s well-being? This story really ends up being about action, about doing something. Polite words, pious gestures, bumper stickers with scripture quotes, are all empty when not backed up by committed activities. As we have all heard from our parents while growing up, “Actions Speak Louder than Words”. Only those who act, even if they are slow to respond, have done the father’s will. 

The truth is there is a little of each son in all of us. Sometimes we say, “Yes” and never go. Sometimes we say, “No” but eventually do go. This Gospel is meant for us just as much as it was for those scribes and Pharisees to whom it was first spoken. We tell the story once again to help us, no matter how long it takes, to do the Father’s will which means doing something with God’s undeserved gifts.