St. Henry Catholic Church

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Understanding Father

Jesus is saying something important in today’s Gospel. He talks about tax collectors and prostitutes who repented after hearing John the Baptist preach. He must have shocked the priests and elders when he said those prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before them. After all, his listeners had spent their whole lives being faithful to the Law. Yet Jesus was saying that sinners who repented will enter God’s kingdom first. Jesus’ point was not so much about final salvation as about our daily choices.

Remember the parable about the two sons. The second son said what his father wanted to hear, with no intention of doing it. The first was honest about not wanting to go to the vineyard, but then decided to do it anyway. I suspect the father of those men knew what each would or would not do.

And whom do we want to imitate? The priests and elders said all the right things about obeying God’s laws, but they were more interested in looking important than living a holy life. Are we like that—telling everyone I am a good Christian, going to church every Sunday (or at least on Christmas and Easter), and yet never making any effort to be loving, forgiving, patient, honest, or any of the difficult things that Jesus calls us to be?

The tax collectors and sinners knew that they were unworthy, but they listened to the call to repentance and let God make them worthy. Are we honest enough to look at our lives and repent of our hatred, our selfishness, or whatever keeps us in sin, and then to follow Jesus with our whole heart? We may not always like doing what God asks of us, but God is an understanding Father who can accept our weaknesses and forgive them when we are ready to return to him.

Vigésimo-Sexto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

El Padre Comprensivo

Jesús debe haber sorprendido a los sacerdotes y ancianos cuando dijo que las prostitutas y los recaudadores de impuestos entrarían al reino de Dios antes que ellos. Después de todo, sus oyentes habían estado fieles a la Ley por toda la vida. Pero el punto de Jesús no se trataba tanto de la salvación final como de nuestras decisiones diarias.

Recuerda la parábola de los dos hijos. El segundo hijo dijo lo que su padre quería oír, sin intenciones de hacerlo. El primero fue sincero sobre no querer ir a la viña, pero luego decidió hacerlo de todos modos. Sospecho que el padre de esos hombres sabía lo que cada uno haría o dejaría de hacer.

¿Y a quién queremos imitar? ¿Somos lo suficientemente honestos para mirar nuestras vidas y arrepentirnos del odio, del egoísmo o lo que sea que nos mantiene en el pecado, y luego seguir a Jesús con todo el corazón? Puede que no siempre nos guste hacer lo que Dios nos pide, pero Dios es un Padre comprensivo que puede aceptar nuestras debilidades y perdonarlas cuando estamos listos para volver a él.