Readings (Year A):
Ezekiel 18:25–28
Psalm 25:4–5, 6–7, 8–9
Philippians 2:1–11
Matthew 21:28–32
Reflection: Is our theology blocking us from hearing the gospel?
Jesus often uses parables to respond to queries from the temple leadership, and we see this in Matthew 21. The chief priests and elders question Jesus’ authority, and Jesus responds with a parable about two sons. The father asks his sons to go to the vineyard and work. The first son says “no”—but eventually changes his mind and goes. The second son says “yes”—but never goes to work in the vineyard.
Jesuscompares the two sons to the tax collectors and prostitutes, on the one hand, and the chief priests and elders, on the other hand. The ones most expected to understand and do God’s will, the religious leadership, fail. The ones least expected to understand and do God’s will, the ones most culturally despised, do the will of God. Actions speak louder than words.
Jesus asks, “What does it mean to say yes to God?” Saying “yes” is not the same as doing God’s will. Jesus reminds us that words alone are not enough. The second son says all the right things:“Yes, sir,” but then does nothing.
Similarly, we may also become very good at saying the right things to God without living them. We can say: “I believe in love,” but not love. We can say: “I believe in justice,” but not practice justice. We can say: “I follow Jesus,” but not follow him. True obedience requires action and a humble heart, not just empty religious words.
The vineyard is not a place of words but a place of work. It is a place where faith becomes visible. The first son says “no”, but then changes his mind and heart, and turns around. This shows that there is hope for all of us: Because many of us have also said “no” to God at some point. Maybe we have resisted something God was asking us to do. Maybe we have been afraid or angry. Maybe God called us toward justice, but justice was inconvenient, and we refused. But the good news of this parable is that our first answer does not have to be our final answer. We can change and turn around as grace gives us another opportunity.
Jesus surprises us with who enters the kingdom. Jesus says: “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” These were people whom respectable religious society had pushed to the margins as they were considered sinners and outsiders. But they heard, and they changed direction.
The religious people who thought they already had the right answers were refusing to go into the vineyard. The people we think are far from God may actually be closer to God than we imagine. The people who think they are closest to God may discover that they have stopped listening. It is possible to become so certain we are right that we no longer hear God’s invitation. We can become so comfortable with our theology that we stop being transformed by the gospel.
God’s invitation comes to us in the present, as the vineyard is the world in which we live. It is our neighborhood, our workplace, our family, our community, and the Earth. Jesus tells us: go feed someone, go stand beside someone who has been pushed aside, go work for justice, go care for creation, go build community, and go tell someone that they are beloved.
Faith must become embodied. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor, which is to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, care for the vulnerable, make peace, and love our enemies. Faith is action, as God is not simply interested in what we say but in what we do.
