26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Tree of Grace
Ez 18:25-28, Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, Phil 2:1-11, Gospel: MT 21:28-32
(Video: https://www.facebook.com/stanthonyofpaduadenver/videos/316321956331566)
Starts at 12:02
Who is the Church?
Last week’s Gospel Jesus told the parable about the generous vineyard owner who invited workers into His vineyard to work. Fr. Wojciech explained that this parable is a parable about the life of the Church.
Today’s readings continue to lead us into a deeper reflection on the mystery of the Church - the Body of Christ which we all share and help us to realize the beautiful mystery into which we have been incorporated.
The path into this mystery is indeed an unusual one. Today’s Gospel Jumps almost a Chapter from last week’s reading (You can go home and read about the part’s that we skipped). In today’s Gospel we encounter Christ in a conversation with the Scribes and the Elders, that began just before this section when they challenged Christ by asking “On what Authority do you teach?” He responded that he would tell them if they could tell him on whose authority John the Baptist taught. They declined to respond to that question, and so Christ begins today’s scripture.
Authority / Authenticity / Author
The question that the Chief Priests posed to Jesus led me to think about the word “Authority” - it is an odd word that shares a common root with Authenticity and Author. When I realized this I was struck, because all of the readings today call us to live an authentic life.
I think that one of the reasons why the Elders asked Jesus about his Authority is because they felt undermined by the Authenticity of His witness. He was a threat to them because unlike the Scribes and the Pharisees Christ spoke with Authority.
Roots of Authority / Authenticity / Author
The root work for Authority is the same as the word Author - which means creator. Jesus’ Authority stems from the fact that He is the creator - with the Father and the Holy Spirit He created everything. As the creator of a thing He has the right to govern the use of the creation - hence he does have Authority.
What really challenged the Chief Priests and the Scribes is the fact that not only does Jesus have the right, the Authority to teach and to rule, but he is Authentic in the way that he lives out his life and speaks about God. Authenticity is about being able to give an honest, consistent, “authentic” witness to the love that God has for us.
Honest / Authentic vs Dishonest / Inauthentic
Jesus goes on in the Gospel to share a parable with the Elders and the Chief Priests about Man’s response to God’s love, and he is placing the priests and the elders into the role of the second son. He gives them this example - A Man tells his son (tells you and I) - Go and work in my vineyard. The son (you and I) says “No” - but later thinks better of it and actually does the work. This is the image of a person who falls into sin (says no to God) and then repents (and does God’s will).
The other Son is told to Go and work in the vineyard and says “Yes” - but then does not follow through.
An Authentic vs Inauthentic Response to God
In this parable we have a contrast between an honest and dishonest (or Authentic and in-authentic) response to God. The first Son has an authentic response to his father's command - No, I will not. Later he reflects on his response and it troubles him, so he chooses to listen to his Father as an honest response to the love that his father has shown him.
The Second son has a dishonest response to his Father’s command and love. He lies - “Sure”, but then does not listen.
Knowing and Doing are 2 different things
Jesus contrasts the response of the two sons to the response of the Chief Priests and Prostitutes to the preaching of John the Baptist. He shows that while the Tax Collectors and Prostitutes are getting into the Kingdom of Heaven (because they address sin in their lives honestly), the Chief Priests and Elders are having to follow them - which is not as it should be - because they are inauthentic and dishonest in their response to Sin. This parable underlines that while we may know in our heads what to do intellectually (we can choose right from wrong) - if we don’t integrate our faith into our hearts then we will not reap the rewards that the Christ promises to us.
This Dichotomy is also in Ezekiel
The heart of this dichotomy is revealed in the first reading which comes from an entire chapter where God is pleading through Ezekiel to convert. In his argument Ezekiel points out that the sinner, the unrepentant one accuses God of being unjust, and God’s response is that vice has a consequence, as does virtue. It is good for us to repent and turn from our sin. This is exactly the response of the first son in the Parable that Christ shared.
Become rooted in repentance
The mystery of God’s goodness is that he reaches into our hearts when we find that we are trapped in the depths of our sin and plants a grace there that calls us to repentance. God roots our understanding of His love for us in the willingness that he has to give us the gift of grace, the gift of conversion in the midst of our suffering from the effects of sin.
The Church as the Tree of Grace - Roots / Trunk / Branches / Leaves
An image that comes to us from the readings today is the image of a tree.
Roots dig into the dirt - and honestly evaluate our sin.
The roots of the Tree are rooted in the dirt, in the depths of our suffering in sin - when, if we allow ourselves to think about it honestly (like the first son) we see that God forgives us and shows us mercy and calls us from death (sin) to life (grace).
The Trunk represents our acceptance of God’s Love
In changing my mind, changing the direction that I am going I turn towards God when I see the love with which he forgives me, and it is this repentance that leads us to discover the depths of God’s Love. This is the experience that is leading the Tax Collectors and Prostitutes to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Christ’s Authenticity is expressed in His Kenosis
We see this love expressed fully in the second half of the second reading from Paul’s letter the Phillipians. Here St. Paul shares with us the Kenotic Hymn. Kenotic comes from the greek word Kenosis which means pouring out. In this hymn we see the love of Christ expressed as a humility to not grasp (as Adam did) at being like God - but rather lowering himself to be with the sinners, and to authentically show them that He loves them. It is the experience of this love that leads the Tax Collectors and Sinners to turn back to God - because they have been seeking Love all along, and now they have fulfillment.
In Sin we often seek to know that we are loved
The Chief Priests and Elders are not actually seeking God (even though they say they are) - they are inauthentic, and so they are threatened by Christ and his authentic love.
The Branches is our response - imitating Christ
As Christians we are called to imitate the Kenosis of Christ - we are called to pour ourselves out in a life of humility - a life that seeks to place the other ahead of ourselves. When we encounter Christ’s love and respond by imitating His humility we open our hearts in a radical way to become conduits of God’s grace.
In our Humility we are called to imitate Christ
Humility is grounded in seeking out the truth of who God created us to be. To become humble we must acknowledge our sins - the ways that we have been rejecting God, and to repent - so that we can uncover God’s love and encounter the reality of His overflowing forgiveness. When that happens (through a life of humility) then we allow God to form us into the Body of Christ - the Church and our lives become a conduit for Grace.
Those who imitate Christ are conduits of Grace - the Branches
It is for this reason that St. Paul extols the Church in Philippi - “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”
This “Tree of Grace” is the image of the Church
This is the image of the Church - it is the community of those who have encountered the radical love of God, and in being rooted in the repentance from our sins we encounter God’s love that leads us to respond humility by imitating Christ and so open ourselves to be conduits for God’s grace into the world.
That is the mission of the Church - of me and of you. Do we have the courage to accept it?
