The Parable of the Two Sons

 What is your opinion? That is the way Jesus begins our Gospel today. We all have our own opinions on what it means to be a disciple of Christ. We all hear the same Gospel and we all decide for ourselves how we put that into practice in our own lives. What we don’t have and what we have never had is Jesus standing up here giving us his opinion of our efforts.

The chief priests and elders also had their own opinions on what it meant to be in relationship with the one true God. Their opinions were based upon their education and their experience which led them to a strict dedication to the law, not the law maker. Unlike us, they did have Jesus standing before them. And as we heard he let them know in no uncertain terms what he thought of their efforts.

In his rabbinic style Jesus starts off with the parable of the two sons. The first eventually goes off and does as his father asks him to after he has a change of mind. The second says yes with his lips but then goes off and does as he pleases. Jesus is very critical of those who only say yes with their lips and refuse to change their minds. This was the point he was trying to make with this parable, the importance of changing one’s mind. The word used in Greek is metanoia and from that we get the word repentance. John the Baptist came preaching repentance. Jesus followed teaching that repentance is the only way to eternal life.

Imagine how that message was received by the chief priests and elders. No one would have been surprised if repentance were preached to just the tax collectors and prostitutes. But these were men who have studied the Law and had dedicated their entire lives to the practice of their faith. Now they were being told to change their minds; that sinners were getting into the kingdom of heaven before them. As the first reading goes, “That’s not fair.” But then, we don’t have a God of fairness. We have a God of love. Jesus didn’t come to say what made the people feel good, but what they needed to hear. Love is love even when it is hard to accept.

Jesus loved these people and he only wanted what was best for them. He didn’t tell them to stop what they were doing or to do something differently. He was simply trying to point out that even when they thought they were doing what God wanted that they not become complacent in doing it. He knew that in their complacency they began to exalt the law over the Law maker and to view the people around them as problems to be solved and not as people to be served. In doing this, love became a precept of the law and not the very heart and reason for it.

This parable is no easier for us to hear today. Still, Jesus is not here to tell us what makes us feel good but what we need to hear in order to have a deeper relationship with him. His voice echoes through the scriptures challenging us in our complacency, just as he challenged the chief priests and elders. This is not meant to be an insult to us, nor does it mean that everything we are doing is wrong. He is calling out to us through love alone.

In whatever we are doing, no matter how much we think we are doing what God wants, we must never grow self-satisfied or complacent. Rather, we must constantly resolve to never cease changing our minds, to never stop repenting, until that moment comes when we have the mind of Christ. Only then can we be one with him.