1 October 2023 18th Sunday after Pentecost
How many of you, when you were young, or when your children were young, broke into the relentless chorus ‘are we there yet’ when you were on long journeys in the car. There is no answer to that question that will give you peace and pacify a ‘bored’ child. But this is where we find the Israelites today, they have been taken out of slavery, they have been saved from horrible treatment and starvation, and offered a ‘new land’, offered better life, but because they have encountered a few ‘hiccups’ on the way, like scarcity of food and water, they would rather return to enslavement in Egypt, and Moses is fearful for his safety. How often do we ‘cry out to God’ when our lives strike a few hiccups; how often do we complain because life is not going the way ‘we’ want it to go, or at the pace ‘we’ want it to go. And God usually responds to us, in a similar way to how he responds to Moses, and we then find an answer, a solution, a new opportunity, and the reason for our angst disappears. God moves in wonderful and mysterious ways in the lives of each of us and we are cautioned to remember God will make a way where we previously could not see a way. God takes us from scarcity to abundance in so many ways and situations. And we do well to ‘re-think’ our anxieties, put them into perspective and consider God’s gentle providence which moves in and through our lives.
And Matthew’s gospel challenges us ‘walk the talk’. Your theological background, or even correctness, is less important than what you do. Jesus is not dismissing the correctness of the chief priests or elders, he is just pointing out that while they may ‘know’ what the right thing to do is, they are not ‘walking the talk’. And he is pointing out that those who the chief priests and elders see as ‘sinful’ or ‘not worthy’ or outside God’s vision, are ready to make amends and change their ways, they are willing to ‘turn around’ and say ‘yes’ to God’s vision and follow Christ’s path. And Jesus’ challenge to the chief priests is one he makes to us too. How easily do we ‘assume’ that, because of their background or the way some people live, they are outside God’s view and welcome or that they are not willing to follow God. Sometimes, those we consider ‘sinners’ may end up being the most faithful.
When we look at the parable Jesus used, it is an interesting exercise to put yourself in the middle of it and try to work out which son you are. But the problem is, I am probably both, at different times and situations and for different reasons. Sometimes it is easy to say ‘yes’ and follow through, sometimes we may say ‘yes’ but other things ‘trump our intention’ and we get distracted or interrupted or overwhelmed and we do not do what we said yes to. Other times we may initially say ‘no’ but, after some thought, we change our mind and agree to do it. Life is a mix of differing needs, and expectations and being true to our intentions and to where we are being called to go or do is not always as easy as it should be. But this parable also gives us hope that someone who has rejected listening to God in their life, someone who has not entertained any thoughts of what God might want to be doing in their life, can change their mind. It shows us that is it never too late to respond to the grace of the Gospel. Hope that our past does not have to determine our future. This parable opens to up to us that God is eager to meet us in the present and offer us, even secure, an open future. It is never too late, God is here. God is inviting us into the kingdom that not only lives out in front of us, it has the capacity to shape our every moment from this one forth. Each moment is pregnant with the possibility of receiving God’s grace, of repenting of things we have done or have been done to us, of returning to right relationship with God and those around us, and of receiving the future as open rather than ‘predetermined’.
And God’s promise about an open future shapes our present here and now. And it invites us to consider, and reflect, are there things that are holding me back from receiving God’s promises. What things in my life am I holding on to that make it hard for me believe and accept God’s forgiveness or to imagine that my future can be different from my past.
God is in solidarity with us. God is ready to respond to our needs and inspire us to discover personal resources beyond our wildest imaginings. We may have feelings of impatience and scarcity at the moment, we may feel unworthy and anxious, but, in the middle of all that, we may also discover God’s vision of what we may become.