“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Sunday, 1st October 2017.
Twenty Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Ez 18: 25-28;
Ps 24: 4-9;
Phil 2: 1-11;
Mt 21: 28-32
DOING GOD’S WILL.
Today the liturgical readings present a loud and clear message to all of us: ‘Doing God’s will makes one a worthy follower of Christ’. At the very beginning of our reflection, let us personalize this message by asking a question to ourselves: Which of the two sons of the parable do I represent – ‘Yes and then No son’ or ‘No and then Yes son’?
A father had two sons and he wanted that his sons obey him. He ordered them to do a specific work. These two sons are different in their character, in their approach to the command of their father. Hardly do we find two brothers, sisters or even twins having the same character and behavior. And these two brothers were no exception to this. The first one immediately agrees, but then changes his mind. In his haste he was over-zealous, ready and prepared to listen to his father and act accordingly. His readiness, as far as his reply is concerned, should be appreciated. Many times a failure to take a prompt decision allows tepidity to enter and it makes one lukewarm accompanied by procrastination. The second son is also prompt in deciding. He was sincere in his response to the father that he would not like to go to work. He said what he felt within him. But the scenario changed while coming to the second level of the parable, the level of living and practicing. Both of them decide to do otherwise, to do what they had not agreed upon. And in the bargain the first one displeases the father, whereas the second son pleases the father.
Are the two sons of the parable two different individuals? It is true that they are two sons or two different characters in the parable. But if we see more closely at our own life, these may not be two different persons, but two different attitudes, two different ways of doing things in the same person. So the two sons of the parable do not necessarily represent two different characters or two different persons, they can also represent a single individual who makes contrasting choices. And then change them either for good or for worse. At times we say ‘yes’ and at other times it is ‘no’. But then we disapprove what we had approved and vice versa. This may be true with regard to the choices that we make in our everyday life as well as the choices that we make before the Lord, in doing His will.The parable can be rightly called ‘the parable of the speakers and the doers’. Those who only speak and base their lives on words do not get converted and follow God’s call.
In the first reading prophet Ezekiel invited the wicked people to conversion, inviting them to turn away from sin, from the world of dishonesty to God, to God’s will. And the one who converts and follows God’s will, lives fully. The last verse of the chapter, which we do not hear today, is a call from God to “repent and live!” Jesus not only preached the will of God, but also lived it. ‘Although God, He became one among men not by appearing, but by becoming a human being’. St. Paul writing to Philippians exalts the self-emptying of Jesus and invites us to have the same sentiments of Christ: Kenosis. With us it is sometimes “yes” and sometimes “no,” but for Jesus it always was, is now, and ever will be, “yes!” to the Will of God.
The message today is to follow our words and if our words are not according to the will of God to change them as God wills and to follow them. It is a call to live in honesty. And all those who convert and listen to God’s voice like the converted ‘tax collectors and prostitutes’ get the reward of happiness and joy.
Prayer: Lord make me attentive when I say ‘your will be done’; help me be prompt to change my erroneous choices; and assist me with your grace to do your Holy Will. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.