26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

It has been my experience that when people are in a tough place in their lives, if they are honest, there is reason to hope for better days.  Honest people can more readily admit when they have been wrong or have made a mess of their lives than those who are not honest.  Dishonesty is often accompanied by denial and those who aren’t willing to face the truth are unable then to make any changes.  They are trapped within their own selfishness that led to the lying in the first place. 

In the short parable in today’s gospel, Jesus was speaking to to the chief priests and elders in the temple.  When the father of two sons tells the first son to go to work, he simply said, “I will not.”  He was honest; he didn’t lie.  But upon reflection, he changed his mind, and ended up doing what the father had asked.  When his brother was given the same order, he told his father, “Yes, sir,” but he did not go.  He was dishonest and there was no change even considered.  The honest son, who was able to change, is the one who did the father’s will.

Jesus addressed the parable to the religious leaders who had rejected both John the Baptist and Jesus.  They couldn’t see themselves honestly and they certainly saw no need for change.  But when John the Baptist came preaching repentance, the tax collectors and prostitutes realized what John was saying was true; they were sinners who needed to change, so they responded to his call.  Similarly, when Jesus began his preaching, being honest people, these so-called “sinners” were open to him and became his followers as well.  They let Jesus and his words and works change them.

Honesty is needed for us to live according to God’s will.  When honesty forces us to examine our lives and see what needs changing, it produces humility.  And once we begin to be humble, God’s grace can do even more within us. 

The second reading today from Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one of the most beautiful passages in the Scriptures, for it tells of God’s humility, present in Jesus who becomes one of us and then humbles himself all the more by dying on the cross for us.  And when Jesus humbles himself unto death, God raises him on high.  To be a Christian is to follow Jesus’ example.  We need to be humble in order to be holy.  We need to bow low in order to be raised up.

Humble people have no delusions about who they are.  They know who they are and more importantly, they know who God is.  When we are humble, we can see when pride tempts us to believe that we can do it on our own.  We realize that any good that we are or any good that we do is only possible because of God, who needs to come first in our lives.  And when we are weak and fall and make mistakes and sin, our honesty and humility leads us back to God.

And it doesn’t matter how many times we need to ask God for another chance.  God is delighted each and every time we turn to him, willing again to do God’s will.  As Cardinal Newman said, to live is to change and to change often is to become perfect.  When we are honest and humble, we are on the road to perfection that leads to heaven.  We have begun to become wholly the person God created us to be, and that person will be holy.God humbled himself to share our humanity so that we might share in his divinity.  

Jesus has shown us how to live in order to get there, and so we set out on the path of honesty and humility each day, knowing that it leads to holiness and eternal happiness in heaven.