Limiting our sight of God
Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
Gospel: Mt 21:28-32
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121625.cfm
Who is it that society deems sinful and evil? Who is it whose actions and deeds are considered to be abhorrent? The gospel likes to use tax collectors and prostitutes as a representative of these individuals. We can disagree with what they were doing, but they served a societal role for their time. If there was no demand for sexual acts with a prostitute, there would be no prostitutes. Similarly, there was a need for the government to collect taxes from its citizens and tax collectors filled the need. They were incentivized to take more to keep some for themselves. People hated them, but ultimately, they were filling a need and gaining compensation for it. They were not the state, but they benefited from the state. And similarly today, we demonize the person providing the means, not the end that’s causing it. If there are no consumers or recognized value, a product dies. There is always a deeper societal sin at play that may not be recognized on the surface. It’s easier to blame an individual or another group than it is for us to accept our contribution to civilization’s discontents.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the story of two sons to an audience of chief priests and elders. One who does the fathers will after saying he won’t, and one who doesn’t do the father’s will after he says he will. Jesus asks which is better to which the crowd replies the one who does the will.
Jesus’s story starts with three characters, two sons and a father. This presumes equality amongst the children. Neither one is identified as older or younger. Neither one is identified as more skilled, more successful, or having more favor. So, in such a case, we can presume equality. Their actions and behavior in the story stand on their own without reference to anything more. Either of them could have done what the other did. Their different actions and behavior are the only components to form an opinion about the story.
Jesus then flips the story by saying the son who did the will of the father was like the tax collectors and the prostitutes who followed John the Baptist’s path to righteousness. Not only was Jesus’s audience of chief priests and elders not like them, but even in observing the conversion of the tax collectors and prostitutes, they did not see the error of their ways and change themselves. So, it was a double miss on their part. They didn’t recognize the truth on their own when they are religious leaders who profess it, and then upon witnessing the conversion of those they condemn, they did not change their ways either.
But aren’t some folks just not meant for salvation as they are just innately too evil? The chief priests and elders disregarded the prostitutes and tax collectors which impeded them from seeing the truth. We are all equal in the eyes of God and to think otherwise is not just an injustice to others, but an injustice to ourselves. Who are those you push aside? Who are those you’ve already condemned? Who are those that have committed no direct wrong to you, but you already dismiss them for what they symbolize? How have you possibly contributed to their demise? Is there something else to blame? What will it take for you to see your equality, learn from it, and recognize salvation present for you both? The father in Jesus’s story gave both sons the opportunity as John did to the prostitutes, tax collectors, chief priests, and elders. If we do the same, we are doing the will of God.
