Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Understanding Father

Jesus is saying something important in today’s Gospel. He talks about tax collectors and prostitutes who repented after hearing John the Baptist preach. He must have shocked the priests and elders when he said those prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before them. After all, his listeners had spent their whole lives being faithful to the Law. Yet Jesus was saying that sinners who repented will enter God’s kingdom first. Jesus’ point was not so much about final salvation as about our daily choices.
Remember the parable about the two sons. The second son said what his father wanted to hear, with no intention of doing it. The first was honest about not wanting to go to the vineyard, but then decided to do it anyway. I suspect the father of those men knew what each would or would not do.
And whom do we want to imitate? The priests and elders said all the right things about obeying God’s laws, but they were more interested in looking important than living a holy life. Are we like that—telling everyone I am a good Christian, going to church every Sunday (or at least on Christmas and Easter), and yet never making any effort to be loving, forgiving, patient, honest, or any of the difficult things that Jesus calls us to be?
The tax collectors and sinners knew that they were unworthy, but they listened to the call to repentance and let God make them worthy. Are we honest enough to look at our lives and repent of our hatred, our selfishness, or whatever keeps us in sin, and then to follow Jesus with our whole heart? We may not always like doing what God asks of us, but God is an understanding Father who can accept our weaknesses and forgive them when we are ready to return to him.
Tom Schmidt

Short Version

Jesus must have shocked the priests and elders when he said that prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the kingdom of God before them. After all, his listeners had spent their whole lives being faithful to the Law. But Jesus’ point was not so much about final salvation as about our daily choices.
Remember the parable about the two sons. The second son said what his father wanted to hear, with no intention of doing it. The first was honest about not wanting to go to the vineyard, but then decided to do it anyway. I suspect the father of those men knew what each would or would not do.
And whom do we want to imitate? Are we honest enough to look at our lives and repent of our hatred, our selfishness, or whatever keeps us in sin, and then to follow Jesus with our whole heart? We may not always like doing what God asks of us, but God is an understanding Father who can accept our weaknesses and forgive them when we are ready to return to him.
Tom Schmidt