Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“What is your opinion?
A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said,
‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’
The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’
but afterwards he changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go.
Which of the two did his father’s will?”
They answered, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the Kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
What is our opinion of the two sons?
Who is doing the father’s will?
Both heard the same call from their father. One first said no but later changed his mind or perhaps had a change of heart. And did as his father asked. The second son heard the call too, we are told now it was an order for both of them. Not just a request.
He voiced his agreement to follow the order but it was only words and no action followed.
Both heard the same order. One heard it, even denied it, but his heart changed and his spirit changed too and now did the will of the father.
The second was never going to be faithful to his father will and his heart was full of other things and other motivations. So he said what he thought would please the father with no intention of following his will. For he held his own desires and ambitions higher than the father. His words were lies and his heart was never the father’s heart.
Do our actions and choices in life reflect a heart that does the will of our Father in heaven?
We can say all we want and even profess we believe at mass. But if our actions do not flow from our love of God then we are not doing the will of God and are not following the commandments of Jesus Christ to love God with all our mind, soul, and heart.
Everything we do is leading us to God or away from God. Everyone we meet is either sent to us from God and for building the kingdom or is sent by the evil one, sent only to lead us astray or distract us.
Everything we do is a choice for God or against God. There are no neutral actions or choices in life.
We may not have always said yes to God. But now is the time to say yes to him with our actions and love. We need to continually ask ourselves if what we spend time on is from God or not. If who we spend time with is following Gods will….or not. It may be others are sent to us from God to help them or to help us. But if it leads us away from doing the will of God we are growing away and need to turn back.
Let us all say yes to God and then do the will of God in everything.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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