Homily October 1, 2017- the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel actually is located in Matthew’s gospel in Holy Week after Jesus’ entrance and his cleansing of the temple. It is in response to a challenge by the chief priests. His question was who did the father’s will between the two sons. They said the first and he said, that yes the son who said no actually did the work, while the son who said yes appeared to be doing the right thing but was only looking out for himself. In light of this, Jesus asked that when you had John the Baptist, the tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners believed and followed him but you did not. You stuck to keeping the appearance of following the law but were only concerned with your power.

There is a big lesson here for us today. God calls us to love and respect all who are around us. It means we must be ready to forgive and always ready to welcome even those we do not know. It means that we not put our self first, that as Jesus served and even offered his life so we to are called to serve. It means that in our life we have a position that in someway oversees others, we must humbly and in a just way manage and serve those we serve.

We know that Jesus encounter in today’s gospel was preliminary to his execution, yet Jesus was faithful to why he came and to what was to come. It certainly means for us that the right thing is not always the easiest thing.