Homily | September 27, 2026 | The Parable Of Two Sons And Real Obedience (Episode 287)

There's one sentence in today's gospel that may be more important than we realize.

Jesus tells us that the first son said to the Father, I will not.

That's not the beautiful part.

The beautiful part comes next.

But afterwards he changed his mind and went.

He changed his mind.

There is the gospel.

Because Christianity is not the story of people who always get it right.

It's the story of people who discover that they have been wrong, and by the grace of God, change.

That's conversion.

And Jesus tells this little parable because he's standing in the temple speaking to the chief priest and elders.

These are not atheists, these are not people who have abandoned religion.

These are religious people, very religious people.

They know the scriptures, they know the commandments, they know prayers, they know the rituals, they know what God expects of them.

And that's precisely why this gospel should make every religious person a little uncomfortable.

Because Jesus is warning that it is possible to know the language of faith without actually surrendering your life to God.

The father goes to the first son and says, Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.

And the son says, I will not.

At least he's honest.

There is rebellion in him.

There is resistance.

There is something in him that does not want what the father wants.

But then something happens.

Jesus does not tell us what.

Maybe the words of his father stayed with him.

Maybe his conscience began bothering him.

Maybe he realized how selfish he had been.

Or maybe he simply recognized my father's right, and he gets up and he goes.

But then the father approaches a second son, the same invitation, son, go out and work in the vineyard today.

And this son gives the perfect answer.

Yes, sir.

Beautiful, respectful, orthodox, exactly what a father would want to hear.

There's only one problem, he never goes.

And suddenly Jesus has brought us to one of the great dangers of religion.

It is possible to say yes to God with our lips while saying no to God with the way we live our lives.

And perhaps that's the question this gospel puts before us.

Where is there a yes on my lips and a no in the way I live my life?

We say, Yes, Lord, I believe, but I refuse to forgive.

Yes, Lord, I trust, but I insist on controlling absolutely everything.

Yes, Lord, your will be done, provided that you agree with my will.

Yes, Lord, I will love my neighbor, except this neighbor and that person and that person.

Yes, Lord, I know that person is made in your image, but I will still gossip about them.

I will still hold judgment and yes, Lord, I want to follow you, but not if following you requires me to change the way I am living right now.

Yes, Lord.

And then we never go into the vineyard.

That's the danger Jesus is exposing.

And notice something else.

Jesus does not ask which son said the right thing.

He asks, which of the two did his father's will?

That changes everything.

Because the measure of discipleship is not simply what I know.

It's not what I intend to do.

It's not what I promised God ten years ago.

It's not the Catholic vocabulary I have learned.

It's not the crucifix around my necks.

It's not the Bible sitting in my house.

It's not even simply that I come to Mass.

While those things matter.

But Jesus asked something more demanding.

Has the gospel actually changed the way you live?

And that's why Jesus says something shocking to the chief priest and elders.

Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

Imagine hearing that.

These were the people religious society had written off.

And Jesus is not saying that sin does not matter.

He is saying exactly the opposite.

Sin matters so much that it must be changed.

And here's the extraordinary thing about God.

Your past does not have to become your future.

The first son said no, but his no was not the end of the story.

That may be the word somebody needs to hear today.

Your first answer does not have to be your final answer.

Maybe you've spent years saying no to God.

Maybe you've been away from the church.

Maybe there's something in your life you know is not right.

Maybe your marriage is wounded.

Maybe you've carried resentment for years.

You've compromised yourself.

Maybe prayer disappeared from your life a long time ago.

Maybe you become somebody you never thought you would become.

Or maybe you know exactly what God has been asking of you and you've been avoiding it.

Then I want you to listen carefully.

The Father's still calling you into the vineyard.

That's mercy.

Mercy does not mean God pretends our no was a yes.

Mercy means God gives us another opportunity to answer.

That's why Christianity can never be reduced to appearances.

God's not interested in maintaining the appearance that everything is fine.

God wants your heart.

And sometimes the most dangerous place spirituality is not rebellion, it's complacency.

The person who knows he has said no to God may still repent.

The person who has convinced himself that he has already said yes may never realize that his life is moving in the opposite direction.

That's what happens to religious leaders.

They knew so much about God that they stopped allowing God to surprise them.

John the Baptist came calling people to conversion.

The sinners listened, the respectable people analyzed him.

Jesus came.

The broken drew near, the experts stood back.

They knew the words, they knew the rules, they knew the religion, but when God himself stood in front of them, they could not recognize him, and that should frighten us a little.

Because we can spend years around holy things without becoming holy.

We can receive the Eucharist and still hold grudges.

We can know the commandments and still treat people terribly.

We can defend the faith and never allow that faith to confront us.

We can know everything about Jesus and still resist becoming like Jesus.

So perhaps today we need to stop asking, am I a good Catholic?

That question is almost too easy.

Ask instead, what is Jesus asking me to change?

Now that becomes personal.

Where have I been saying no?

What relationship needs to be repaired?

What sin have I learned to excuse?

What resentment have I baptized as righteousness?

What apology have I refused to make?

What habit is slowly taking possession of me?

What part of my life have I carefully kept outside the reach of God?

That's the vineyard.

But notice one final detail.

The Father says, Go out and work in the vineyard today.

Not someday, today, right here, right now.

That word appears again and again in Christian life because grace always comes to us in the present.

We love someday.

Someday I'll pray more, someday I'll have a little bit more time, someday I'll be more committed, someday I'll be able to get to the place where I can forgive.

Well, someday, hopefully I'll go to confession, someday I will repair that relationship.

Someday I will take my faith more seriously.

Someday I will become the person God is asking me to become.

But someday is one of the easiest places to hide from God.

Jesus says today.

You may have told God no yesterday, tell him yes today.

You've been wandering for twenty years, come home today.

You've promised him, you've made promises you've never kept, well, begin again today.

You've fallen a hundred times, get up today.

Because the great tragedy of this gospel is not that the first son said no.

The great tragedy would have been if he had never changed his mind.

And the great danger is not that somewhere in our lives we've failed God.

We all have.

The danger is becoming so comfortable with our failure, so comfortable with appearances, so comfortable with saying the right religious words that we no longer believe anything actually needs to change.

Well, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not say the right things.

The gospel is come follow me.

Get up today, go into the vineyard, let grace change you.

Because in the end, the question will not simply be, what did you say you believed?

The question will be, what did your belief make of your life?

And if there's something in your in you right now saying, I know I need to change, don't silence that voice.

That's grace.

The Father is still calling, the vineyard is still open, and there is still time to change your mind today.

Amen.