Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
September 28, 2008
Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass
of the
St. Thomas More Society
celebrated at
St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street
Scranton, PA
Matthew 21:28-32
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen
In the movie The Mission Robert DeNiro plays a reformed slave trader who came to his senses about the wickedness of his life only after he killed his brother in a duel. In sorrow for what he had done, he set out to visit the Indian tribe from which he had stolen people to sell as slaves. In addition, while traversing the jungle, he adopted the severe penance of dragging behind him a net full of extra weight. Thus, he did two things to demonstrate his sorrow for his sins—his severe physical penance and his visit to those he had wronged.
Our Gospel this morning shows us that the Robert DeNiro character in The Mission was on the right track. We learn this morning that if we truly are sorry for the sins we have committed, we will demonstrate our sorrow in a tangible, objective way. Saying sorry is not enough. We also must show we are sorry.
The parable Jesus told involves two brothers. Both are asked by their father to work in the vineyard. One says he will but does not go. The other says he will not, but later, in obedience to his father and as a demonstration of his penitence for dishonoring his father, the second son goes into the vineyard to work. That is, the second son does not simply say he is sorry for being disobedient—we don’t know if he said anything at all to make amends. All we know is that he demonstrates his sorrow—he shows he is sorry by changing direction 180 degrees, by going from laziness to work, from disobedience to obedience, from dishonoring his father to honoring his father.
If our repentance is real, it, too, will be demonstrated in a physical way, by which I mean a way that shows through our words and actions the sorrow we feel in our hearts. Just as the penance we fulfill in the sacrament of reconciliation shows God the true nature of our sorrow, so acts of reparation show those we have wronged that we truly are sorry for having hurt them in some way. For the man in the parable, it was to work in the vineyard for his dad. For us, it may be to return what we have stolen, to fix what we have broken, to visit the person we have wronged, if only to say “Sorry” in person. Always, always, always, our penitence must be manifested physically, discernibly—never only intellectually or spiritually.
The second thing we know from today’s Gospel is that we must hold out hope that those who have wronged us may repent of the evil they have done. If we identify positively with anyone in the parable, we must see ourselves as the second son, who even though he is ultimately obedient, actually was just a penitent sinner. He had done wrong, but had amended his ways. What is to prevent the first son from emerging from his sloth to make up for the lost time he was not working in the vineyard?
The point is that the second son was able to reform his life. So, the one still being disobedient at the end of the story might turn his life around, too. In other words, our past disobedience does not disqualify us from receiving God’s grace and favor. God will be pleased we have done His will, even if we did not do it the first time we were called. So the Lord will be pleased with the repentance of our neighbors, even if their repentance takes a lot longer than our own. Therefore, we must be careful we do not stand in judgment of our wicked neighbors, as if they were unworthy of the repentance we ourselves have undertaken in order to honor our heavenly Father. Instead, we pray that the next person on the path to repentance is the one who has hurt us badly. Robert DeNiro, climbing a mountain with a weight on his back, may arrive on our doorstep to beg our forgiveness. Indeed, in The Mission the Robert DeNiro character arrives at the village of the Indians he has hurt and is met by one who wields a knife. But the Indian, rather than using the knife to slit the former slave trader’s throat, cuts off the weight DeNiro had been dragging as penance for his sins. The Indians had become Christians and now desired life and forgiveness even for those who had harmed them terribly. And so we might be inspired to drop the grudges we have been holding for far too long. No matter how long it has been, it never is too late to say “Sorry” either to God or to the ones we ourselves have wronged.
The third thing we learn, after we have shown our penitence is real, after we have held out hope that others will repent as we have, is the reminder that the disobedient and impenitent ones are brothers. It would be easy to imagine that those who persist in a grave state of sin are so different from those of us that have repented that we need not concern ourselves too greatly with their intransigence. Even worse, we might even adopt a triumphal posture in relation to those who have chosen death rather than turning from their wickedness to live.
The reality is far more sobering. God desires us to see these impenitent souls as our brothers. Indeed, those very close to us may be akin to the first brother, lying to our father about a willingness to work, but doing nothing when all is said and done. Probably every one of us here dearly loves a person so in need of repentance that our heart breaks watching our brother choose death. Jesus would like us to understand that all our neighbors, all those around us who refuse to repent, are our brothers, for in loving them as our brothers, we will be that much more likely to reach out to them in charity. The disobedient and impenitent are our own flesh and blood. The people for whom we hold out hope are our brothers.
In this light, the task of being an example to others and calling our neighbors to repentance becomes that much more urgent. The alternative to their genuine penitence is too horrific to contemplate for we know that it means we would be separated eternally from the ones we love. Naturally, we do not want to keep heaven to ourselves; so we should be eager to share with our loved ones the promise of mercy that God holds out to all who turn to Him with penitent and contrite hearts.
Therefore, I recommend that we hold out to the impenitent and disobedient two truths to which all must be reconciled. First, the examples of the saints demonstrate that our penitence is very fruitful. Even if our neighbor is unwilling to hear our own conversion story, he may be willing to consider the example of sinners like St. Augustine, who turned from a life of licentiousness and confusion to be the most influential Christian theologian since St. Paul. They may appreciate knowing that the great agent of peace, St. Francis of Assisi, once sought glory and fame fighting in petty wars. Living examples of how true penitence is possible will aid you as you hold out to your brothers the promises of our Lord.
The second truth that we can hold out to people we heard today from St. Paul. He wrote in Philippians that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. God’s patience with is us not eternal. While it is true that it never is too late while we walk the earth to turn from our wickedness and live, it will be too late if we have not repented by the time Jesus comes back. When He does, there will be judgment of both the living and the dead. And at that time, all of us, every single one of us, will bow at the name of Jesus. Now is the time we have been given to bow voluntarily and in doing so to receive the same mercy from Jesus that the harlots and tax collectors received when they met Him face to face 2000 years ago. Eventually, we are going to meet Jesus face to face too, and God forbid that it be for us and for our loved ones an occasion for sorrow. So we would all do well to demonstrate our penitence now, and encourage others to do the same. We will not be sorry we did.