26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

October 1, 2017

Readings:

First Reading – Ezekiel 18:25-28

Psalm 25

Second Reading – Philippians 2:1-11 [or 2:1-5]

Gospel reading according to Matthew (21:28-32)

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Homily: Working in the Vineyard (Kingdom) of God

All of us are called by God the Father to serve him by working in his vineyard, (his Kingdom), the Church.  God the Father was the first one who came to and looked for us.  “He came to the first son . . .” (Mt. 21: 28).  “The man came to the other son . . .” (Mt. 21:30).  Instead of calling his sons to him, he was the one who looked and came for them.  That is our God; he is always ready to seek us, to look after us, to find us even in our lowliness and sinfulness.  He is always near us and with us.  Also, God is working and continuously creating something new in his vineyard, in his Church.  He does not leave us, his sons and daughters, alone in his vineyard.  He is also there working together with us, to give us an example.

On the one hand, the first son in the gospel said to his father, “I will not, but afterwards he changed his mind and went” (Mt. 21:29).  Here is a son who first disobeyed the will of his father. He did what he wills, but later repented and changed his heart.  He realized that he is going to work in their own vineyard.  As if, this son was referred by the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading, “When someone turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life, since he has turned away from all the sins which he committed; he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ez. 18:27-28). Jesus representing the first son as tax collectors and prostitutes, those sinners who do not know their left and right hands, who are poor and uneducated, those ignorant of the Law of Moses and their Temple leaders and elders.  On the other hand, the other son said to his father, “Yes, sir; but did not go,” (Mt. 21: 30) to the vineyard.  This other son is unfair to his father.  He responded positively to his father to show to his father that he is a good son, but he disobeyed his father’s will by not going to the vineyard and worked in their property and family business.  We can refer the other son as what the prophet Ezekiel called as “Someone virtuous who turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity that he committed that he must die” (Ez. 18:26).  This other son, whom Jesus representing the chief priests and elders, (the Pharisees and Sadducees, the scribes, the whole Sanhedrin) whom they think they were holy and good chosen people, obeying God’s commands, doing the Law of Moses to the letter, and observing the lives of the prophets, that they were righteous and not sinful; but in reality they violated all the things God has commanded for they are selfish and only interested to their own businesses and showmanship..      

Jesus asked us, “What is your opinion?”  The prophet Ezekiel also is asking us, “Thus the Lord says, You say, The Lord’s way is not fair? Now, is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?  Amen, I say to you, those sinful people who amended their lives, changed their minds, repented and obeyed God’s command will enter the Kingdom of God, his vineyard.