(Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year 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 Chigozie, SC)
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