Between Yes and No

A man had two sons.

Now that is a story that we have heard before! Perhaps the most famous of Jesus’ parables is about a man who had two sons – a younger son, cool and adventurous, who seems to get away with everything, an older son, dull and dutiful, who feels forever unloved and underappreciated.

We all know that story. This one is a little different. Here both sons change their minds. The first son refuses at first to obey his father, then changes his mind and does as asked. (in religious language, we call that change of heart, “repentance.”) The second son says “Yes,” but then refuses to do his father’s will.

The two sons are caricatures, of course. Don’t most of us, most of the time, feel a bit like a combination of both? Like King Herod, who famously liked to listen to John the Baptist and was obviously attracted by his words, but beheaded him anyway, most of us are attracted to virtue - except when we’re not. We’re all tempted at times to do what we know we shouldn’t – or not do what we know we should do.  Sometimes we resist such temptation. Sometimes we don’t. Isn’t that the story of human history? Is it any surprise the world is such a mess, because human behavior is such a moral mess?

Given a choice, Jesus seems to come down on the side of the second son. He praises the tax collectors and prostitutes - stereotypical examples of wrong behavior – who (unlike Herod and unlike some of the people in Jesus’ audience) listened to John and changed their ways and so are entering the kingdom of God.

For Jesus, clearly the kingdom of God is about change, change of mind and heart (again, what in religious language, is called repentance). We forever seem to be in the moral mess of the present, somewhere between Yes and No. But – and this is what makes the difference – we are not stuck there. We can, in Jesus’ words, change our minds and believe. We are all on different paths, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. The point, however, is not where we are, but where we will end up.

America used to be known as the land of second chances. That may or may not be so true anymore. But, in telling us this parable about the two sons, Jesus makes clear that the Christian life still is. Jesus does not want us to focus forever on our first response, on our initial (and however often repeated) failures; but rather to do like the first son and change.

The kingdom of God is about who God wants us to become. The challenge is stay focused on who we want to be, on where we want our story to end, and so not to stay stuck in the present.

 

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Saint Paul the Apostle Church, NY.