Mtr Kelli Joyce

"A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you." - Matthew 21:28b-31

Friends in Christ,

For as long as the Church has existed, debates about the roles that grace and good works play in the Christian life have raged on. The debate rages in the Bible itself: Paul says in Romans 3:28 that "a person is justified by faith, apart from works prescribed by the law." The Epistle according to James, by contrast, declares that "faith without works is dead." What are we to make of this?

Jesus' parable in today's Gospel reading can be helpful as an illustration. The first thing that we need to note is that the father in this story is speaking to his sons. Their sonship does not depend on their willingness to work in the vineyard. Their father's love for them does not depend on their willingness to work in the vineyard. Both of them are already sons at the beginning of Jesus' story, and both of them are sons at the end.

That said, this story makes an important point about what it means to be in a right relationship with God. The son whose words are wrong but whose actions are right is the one who does the will of his father. The second son knows what to say to keep the peace, and knows how to put on a good show of being a respectful son, but the actions he chooses when his father is out of sight make clear how little he values the relationship. (The first son repents of his rebellion and selfishness; the second son, on top of refusing to work, lies to his father about it!)

We are God's children by sheer grace - we have been adopted through our baptism into Christ, totally apart from any good choices we do or don't make. But to be in right relationship with God, we have to seek to truly do God's will - not to say the right things, or put on the right appearances, but to actually do the difficult, tiring, unglamorous work, getting our hands dirty. Our human ideas of who is moral and who is not, Jesus says, are not reliable indicators of who is in right relationship with God.

When God calls you to action that you would rather not take, what will you say? And more importantly: will you go?

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli