(Homily 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr-A)
The conscience of personal responsibility
seems to be central and predominant in the readings of today. To the Babylonian
exiles who accused God of injustice, God says “Is what I do unjust? Is it not
what you do that is unjust? When the upright abandons uprightness and does
wrong and dies, he dies because of the wrong which he himself has done.
Similarly, when the wicked abandons wickedness to become law-abiding and upright,
he saves his life” (Ez. 18:25b-27). Everyone is responsible for his or her
actions and inactions. Jesus teaches us in the Gospel, what true personal
responsibility is, and it is manifested not merely in speaking (words), but
majorly in action, as the parable reveals. In the second reading, St. Paul
gives us the example of Christ, an
example of responsibility and coherence, the Yes of Christ is an operative
one, incarnated in actions (works) for the realization of His mission and our
Redemption. The three readings set out
to teach us that man is free in his choices and, therefore, he is accountable
for his actions. So, the exiles of Babylon ought to have assumed
responsibility and repented for their actions, instead they murmured and
accused God of acting unjustly. So also, the chief priests and elders of the people
because John came to show them the way of salvation, and they neither believed
nor repented. Instead, the publicans and the prostitutes responded to the
preaching of John with repentance and faith. For this Jesus said “the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you” (Mt. 21:31).
The
first reading (Ez. 18:25-28)
presents the intervention of Prophet Ezekiel in the bid to correct the
erroneous conception of his contemporaries. Among the major prophets of the Old
Testament, Ezekiel is known for his
insistence on individual responsibility for sin. For as a matter of fact, in the history of Israel the value of
communal living is a paramount cultural heritage, to the extent that a man is
hardly distinguished from his community. At the heart of this cultural
value was communal solidarity, and as such individual
guilt was believed to have corporal consequences. For this prophet Ezekiel
vehemently warned that “the soul that sins shall die” (Ez. 18:20). And speaking about individual responsibility the
prophet equally foresaw the possibility of an individual turning from
wickedness to righteousness and vice versa. In his words, “when the upright
abandons uprightness and does wrong and dies, he dies because of the wrong
which he himself has done” (Ez.18:26). However,
a person is judged by the new life to which he has turned to, and no longer by
the previous life. Be that as it may, the prophet opposed this erroneous idea
vigorously: God does not punish the sons for the sins of the fathers or the fathers
for the sins of the sons, everybody will be held responsible for his or her
actions. Everyone has the possibility to
be saved, if only the person wants, God’s continuous mercy and forgiveness to
repentant sinners is a proof. The Good News of Ezekiel is that we are not
slaves to our past sins. He affirms that
we can shake off our past and form new habits; a change of life is
possible: “when the wicked man abandons wickedness…Having chosen to renounce
all his previous crimes, he will most certainly live, he will not die” (vv. 27-28).
The
responsorial psalm (Ps. 25) brings
to light the consciousness of an individual aware of his own sins, but relying
on God’s mercy. Interestingly, the first
reading and the psalm view a man’s life divided into the past and the future in
the present moment. While the past maybe characterized by sin, the future
is filled with hope for spiritual maturity. Indeed, the refrain to the psalm
“Remember your mercies, O Lord” (Ps.
25:6) calls our attention to an important biblical conception of
“remembrance” (“ricordare” : bringing
to heart), and when God brings to heart,
when He remembers, it is not merely a recalling of an event of the past, rather
He brings it out from the past and makes it effective in the present.
In
today’s Gospel (Mt.21:28-32) Jesus brought
to the fore the need for the conscience
of personal responsibility and responsible freedom, with the parable of the
two sons. The parable exposes the Jewish leaders who pledged obedience to God
but reneged on their promises, whereas the tax collectors and public sinners,
who at first refused keep the commands of God are now been converted by the
preaching of John the Baptist. The second
son represents the High priests, the elders and the Jews, that claim to
have impeccable character, but rejected God’s call to conversion, and to faith
for salvation. They say “yes” in words, but in action “no”. Their act is
irresponsible. But the first son, who
represents the publicans, prostitutes and pagans, lived in an irresponsible
way in his relation with God in the past, but even though he said “no” with his
words, now with his work of adherence and conversion, has started responding
“yes” to God. His previous irresponsibility has been purified through his
present responsibility. And in these two
categories of people we see the bisection of conventional and anonymous
Christians. For in the eyes of God, the past does not count much, even
though it is important and merits consideration. More important is the present,
our responsible yes daily.
This
passage is equally suggestive of an appeal to repentance and conversion
addressed to backsliders in faith and the so called conventional Christians.
For some of us today, our situation as Christians really reflects that of the
second son that said Yes, but never accomplished it, conventional and nominal Christians. Whereas the reality of the
first son is reflective of the situation of those that have turned to Christ in
adherence to His words, and these could be called in the parlance of Karl
Rahner: anonymous Christians. As a
matter of fact, from all indications Jesus must have told this parable to
vindicate his proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom of heaven against
those who were criticizing him, “the tax collectors and prostitutes who receive
me now will enter into the Kingdom of heaven at the last judgment rather than
you, who criticize me for welcoming them”. Indeed, at the heart of this parable is the proclamation of God’s mercy to
sinners, His unending mercy.
In the
parable of the two sons, Jesus
illustrated the importance of the personal responsibility and collaboration in
one’s salvation. Jesus used this parable equally to correct the erroneous
and unhealthy claims of the Jews, in particular the Pharisees, who considered
themselves as the privileged people of God, the chosen people, thus holding
tight to the privileges of the past, without a present effort, they are like
the son that said yes to the father. There are also all others, the pagan, the
publicans and sinners, those who initially said no to God but later accepted
the message of salvation. Jesus rebuked
the Pharisees and Jews for their pretentious behavior and maintained that it is
not enough to be children of Abraham or to hold on to the past privileges.
Salvation is a personal thing, and one makes the decision depending on the
attitude he assumes before God and before the Good News of Christ. God’s
salvation is for all, it is not a patrimony of a particular set of people, but
to all who accept the Word of life proclaimed by Jesus and live accordingly.
Even though God’s design is for all to be saved, but there is need for a personal consistent choice, we need to work out
our salvation with fear and trembling (cf.
Phil. 2:12), unfounded familiarity cannot save. Indeed, the words of John
the Baptist to the Pharisees and
Sadducees speak volume on this, “do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have
Abraham as our father,” because, I tell you God can raise children for Abraham
from these stones” (Mt. 3:9). God
has offered salvation for all men and women; it now depends on the free
response of each person.
Furthermore,
Jesus insisted on another aspect: that is on
the concreteness of one’s response. “It is not anyone who says to me,
“Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the
will of my Father in heaven” (Mt. 7:21).
It is not the one who is contended with
mere sentiments and unfounded affiliation, but he who translates daily into
concrete gestures and actions his believe and adherence to God. This is why
the son who said no at first and later carried out the will of their father is
preferred to the one who said yes but did not fulfill his yes. Jesus calls us
in our daily decisions to let our actions reflect our Christian values. It is a call to imbibe the value and
principle of orthopraxy: right believing and right living. The theme of
personal responsibility which is predominant in today’s readings, especially
the first reading and the Gospel, emphasizes that even though our salvation is
the work or the gratuitous gift of God for man, however, it requires our human
collaboration and freedom. Little wonder, St Augustine will say that “the God who
created you without you, will not save you without you.” The CCC puts it thus:
“God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.”
Therefore, we need to express our human freedom making effort daily to convert
from evil to good. No one should be
blocked irremediably in his or her past life.
This
parable should inspire us to action, for a sincere examination of conscience,
how true are we to our profession of faith in God? Do we accompany the Yes we say to God with concrete actions or our Yes
is empty, unbelievable and devoid of obedience of faith? How are we making
effort daily to maintain and concretize the Yes we have said to God at Baptism?
To which of the sons do we identify ourselves more with? Brethren, the risk is grave because if we undermine
the daily concrete effort of living out our calling and filial identity, our
Yes will be inauthentic. In fact, as St. Peter would have it, “Instead of
this, brothers, never allow your choice or calling to waver; then there will be
no danger of your stumbling, for in this way you will be given the generous
gift of entry to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pt. 1:10-11). The words of Jesus:
“tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God
before you” (v.31), should spur us
on to reflect deeply on our manner of life. We are therefore called to a life of synthesis between words and
actions!
In the
second reading (Phil. 2:1-11) we see
the great Christological hymn. The
hymn presents Christ as a model and it concentrates on ethical exhortation. As
such, Christ becoming our model, we are therefore expected to live as
Christians distinguished by unity, love, humility and consideration for others.
By so doing, we manifest the same attitude that Christ showed when he humbled
himself to become man and to accept death on the cross. According some exegetes
we have to be careful while interpreting this passage, so that Christ will not
just be seen merely as an external example, for he is the source of redemptive
life. St. Paul offers us wonderful
suggestions that will help us to express authentically our free adhesion to
God’s plan of salvation manifested to us in Christ. Let us make the words
of the apostle a program of life this week and beyond: “be of a single mind,
one in love, one in heart and one in mind. Nothing is to be done out of
jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give
preference to others, ‘everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of
others” (vv.2b-4). St. Paul shows us in Jesus Christ, an eloquent
example of total coherency and responsibility before God, His Father. A perfect synthesis between words and
actions! His “yes” of words is never different from his “yes” in action.
Little wonder, St. Paul exhausts us to have “the same sentiments that were in
Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5) whose life and
existence were a unified “yes” to the Father’s will. In the words of Jesus
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work” (Jn.4:34; cf. Heb. 10:7).
In
all, as it is suggestive of today’s message we cannot but remember the words of
Paul VI: “the modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers,
and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii
Nuntiandi, 41), those who are
heralds and doers of what they preach. And I would like to add, that every authentic Christian should be able to
synthesize these two dimensions in his or her life of faith, that is the
spheres of word and actions, for sometimes, the gap between our words and
actions may plunge us into spiritual and
moral schizophrenia. Therefore, the story of the
two sons in the Gospel calls our attention for a deeper and personal
reflection, “intus legere”, to read inwardly; to read ourselves from within
to know where we fall, whether within the tendencies of the first son or that
of the second son. Do my words and profession of faith reflect in my actions?
We manifest our love and adherence to Him when we put His words into practice.
Jesus says: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15). Lord Jesus we thank You
for standing as a model for us, in the call to authentic Christian living. Give
us abundance of your Grace to be able to live a coherent and sincere life, in
adherence to your words. Help us to
bridge the gap between what we say and what we do. May our existence as
Christians be that of an eloquent synthesis between words and actions. Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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