Say yes and mean it

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A September 27, 2020 Matthew 21, 28-32 The kingdom of God, what is the Kingdom of God like? These past few weeks we have been considering the Kingdom of God. A few weeks ago in Matthew’s 18th chapter we were told that forgiveness was key in God’s kingdom: not only being forgiven but being forgiving as well. Last week it was the laborers in the vineyard and how all received the same reward. Today in Matthew’s 21st chapter it is about those who say yes but mean no and those who say no and mean yes. I think in all of these parables it is easy for us to miss the point, or to think that we get the point too quickly. Yes, we should forgive, yes everyone is treated equally in God’s kingdom and yes we need to not just profess our faith, we need to live our faith. All that is true, but there has to be some thing more. I can understand why Jesus would say the first son is going to get into the Kingdom. Sure he said no to his father initially but then he got up off his butt and went to work. Well the other looked good, “yes father, I’ll go.” But he continued to sit on his butt and do nothing. It reminds me of Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. Eddie always said the right thing, he was always polite but he seldom did the right thing. Whereas the Beaver might have been reluctant he might not have said the right thing, he always ended up doing the right thing. That part is easy to understand, it makes sense to me. The thing that I trip up on is Jesus saying, “The tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom first.” And whom is he talking to? the priests and scribes. He is talking to me and to all of us saying that the Tax collectors and prostitutes or the sinners are going to get into the Kingdom before us. Why are the prostitutes and tax collectors better then me? What’s wrong with being a priest or going to Church on Sunday even when we don’t have to? The problem is that we are paying attention to the wrong person in the stories. Two weeks ago it wasn’t about the person who wouldn’t forgive a small debt after being forgiven a huge debt. Last week it wasn’t about the laborers and today it isn’t about the two sons. They are not the lead actors in the story the story isn’t about them. They are not the ones we should being paying attention to. The main person is the master, the landowner the father. Don’t look at ourselves, look at God. It isn’t what we are doing to earn the kingdom, we don’t forgive to be forgiven, we don’t work long hours to earn the kingdom, and we don’t just say yes we mean it. No look to God. Because the parables aren’t about what we are doing for God it is what God is doing for us. The point of the story isn’t what we do to earn the kingdom of God. The point is that God freely gives us the kingdom. It is about God’s generosity. Jesus uses the example of the tax collectors and prostitutes to shock the priests and the elders to show them, to show us that we have it all wrong about the kingdom of God. God is forgiving; God treats all of the same and the people we think will never make it into the kingdom or the ones who are getting in first. When we focus on the secondary characters in the parables. When we forget that the parables are about God’s love we might end up thinking, “the more I forgive, the more God will forgive me.” “We might think, ‘I should live the life of a sinner and hope that a priest is called on my deathbed.” We might think there is no point in being good and following all the rules. That isn’t what Jesus is saying. No, Jesus’ point in the parables is to say that God’s love is so overwhelming it is given freely to all and no one is more worthy of God’s love than anyone else. Why are the prostitutes and tax collectors entering first? Because they get it! They know that they aren’t perfect; they know that they have sinned. They know that they need God’s forgiveness in order to enter God’s kingdom. Again, it isn’t what we do that matters, what matters is what God does! Jesus tells this parable to us. He tells this parable to me. I know I don’t always get it but the thing that gives me the most hope is when Jesus says, “The tax-collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom before you.” He doesn’t say that they are entering instead of me. He doesn’t say that I won’t get in he just says that I won’t be entering first. That is all right with me. I am glad that there is still room for me to enter into the kingdom, even if I have to be at the end of the line.