December 15, 2020
One Heart, Both Sons
The way our minds work, we put ourselves very often in either/or situations, when it can be, and sometimes should be, both/and situations. We tend to eliminate possibilities very easily. We tend to eliminate possibilities without even thinking about it.
In today's Gospel reading, we got this story about two sons, okay, and their dad comes to them and says, "Hey, go off and work in the vineyard." And the first son says, "No, I'm not going." But later he thinks better of it, he goes out and works in the vineyard. The second son says, "Yes, Dad, I'm on my way. I'll do it, no problem." But then he doesn't go. When we hear these kinds of readings in the Gospels, our tendency is to ask ourselves, okay, which of the two sons am I. But what I've discovered over time is that I'm both of the sons. I'm both of the sons at different times. I'm both of the sons in different situations. I'm both of the sons. There is sometimes when I say to God, "No, God, I'm not going to do that." I know what he wants me to do. I'm clear about what he wants me to do, but I don't want to do it because I'm lazy, or procrastinating, or just want to do my own thing. But then later I think, ah, don't be an idiot, and I go and I do what he was calling me to do, to begin with. There are other times when I say to God, "Yes!" with great enthusiasm. "Yes, I'll go. I will do that." But then I get distracted, or whatever, and I don't.
I think as we read the Scriptures more and more, and sometimes we'll say to our things like, "Well, I've heard this one a hundred times." Yes, we've heard it, but have we gone into it? As we read the Scriptures more and more, we realize, okay, we're in each and every single person in this reading.
So we're both sons. We have things to learn from both sons. We have been both sons in the past and we will be both sons again in the future, most likely. The question is today: what is God calling you to do today, you know? He called the sons to go and work in the vineyard. What does that represent for you today? And how are you going to respond to God? Are you going to say, "Yep! I'll go," or are you going to say, "No, I won't"?