The
Gospel next Sunday presents us with this curious little parable: A man had
two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard
today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and
went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered,
‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
(Matthew 21:28-31)
Perhaps
in today’s climate there‘s nothing very strange in that story. Each son changed his mind later. You’re allowed to do that… indeed, you hear
it stated as a kind of sovereign freedom: “Well, I changed my mind!” On the other hand, in politics for instance,
changing your mind gets labelled immediately as doing a U-turn, or
flip-flopping, a sign of weakness and prevarication. “Never back down” is seen as a sign of
strength, even when you were plainly wrong.
This
is the passage where Jesus goes on to inform the chief priests and the elders
that the tax collectors and the prostitutes get into the kingdom of heaven
before they do – scarcely, one would think, a career enhancing statement. But there are indeed these two types of
religion. The religion of the temple
priests and the elders, the scribes and pharisees, as Jesus saw it, is giving
lip service to all the fine precepts of faith, but not actually doing it.[1] Jesus’s truth is not allowed anywhere near
the part of them where vital decisions are made and actioned. They see religion
as something to be professed, but living it is a private and personal matter
and no one else’s business. The other
sort is what Jesus can see in the tax-collectors and the prostitutes. They may have no time or inclination at all
for religion and its lofty principles – but in some important ways, they do
what God requires. Of course it is not
always so – you can’t generalise like that.
There are however these two approaches to religion. The appearance of faith and the generally
reassuring practice of its rites and rituals, along with a general public
decency and charitable works, suits some people fine. ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.
The
other approach flows out of repentance and faith. The tax collectors at that time were men who
contracted with the Roman government to collect all taxes. By extortion they were able to make a good living
out of it. And we know how the
prostitutes lived. These are the ones
who may have no use for the church, but Jesus could see in them much that is
coming from God, however disguised, distorted, defaced at times… their
neediness, their suffering, their hidden strivings and wishes… like the tax
gatherer who stood at the back of the temple and prayed, Lord, have mercy on
me a sinner.[2]
As
Jesus told it: He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and
went. No doubt I have
over-simplified, but the Apostle James picks up this same theme when he writes:
…those who look
into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers
who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.[3] Our Christian
Meditation, indeed our Christian discipleship, is not about religion. It is not about the way we feel. It is about loving God, our neighbour and
ourselves... about doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly.[4]
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