A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

First Reading – Ezekiel 18:25-28 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 24(25):4-9 ©

Second Reading – Philippians 2:1-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:23

Alternative Acclamation – John 10:27

The Gospel According to Matthew 21:28 - 32 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 As much as we might wish it to be, human justice is not an analog of the divine justice, even when human justice is at its best.

 The goodness or wickedness of a human being is not based on the sum of their actions, as if you could measure their merit or weigh them in a scale. The relative values of good and evil within the human heart must always be considered in relation to a person’s knowledge and freedom, their understanding of themselves and the world in which they act.

 No human can judge the ultimate value of an activity, in terms of good and evil, of any person’s deeds, including their own. We are not capable of judging such things.

 The things we do go out from us, and the consequences that flow from them take on a life of their own. Actions taken with good intentions may have harmful consequences, an evil deed may have good ones.

 This is one a mysteries.

 The things a person does in life continue to shape the world long after they are gone; what matters in terms of merit or culpability is the intention that motivates the action and the personal-reflection that follows.

 Consider the words of the psalmist.

 Lift up your spirit and give your life to God, the creator of the universe, to God who has given you everything.

 Do not expect God to take sides with you in any conflict, because God loves all of God’s children equally, and does not discriminate.

 God does not pick favorites.

 If you ask God to punish the faithless and the promise breakers, you must know that you are asking God to punish you—yourself…for as wisdom has it, we have all sinned and fallen short of the mark.

 Pray for guidance, knowing that God desires that you be well, knowing that God has made you and all of creation free, and that God will not intervene in the course of your life.

 Believe that God is merciful, that God has allowed for your existence even knowing of all your crimes; God accounted for them before the beginning time.

 God knew what you would do, and God knows what you have done, God has born the burden of your crimes and your guilty heart, and God has forgiven you…forgave you…before the beginning and in the end.

 Remember!

 All the ways of God are kindness and mercy.

 Walk humbly, love justice, be compassionate. This is the way.

 Know this!

 God is not concerned with glory. Jesus is not interested in having a name above all other names. Jesus is not a price or a king, he was our friend and brother.

 Do not worry about bending the knee, just confess the truth that God is love, and spend the days of your life in loving service to your sisters and brothers in God.

 Love fosters love, and there is always love for God is always with you.

 Be mindful,

 Grace is not transactional. Grace cannot be traded and bartered for like a commodity.

 Everyone who is, everyone without exception, everyone is somewhere on a path that leads to God. We are all somewhere along the way.

 There is no other way.

 Do not trouble yourself if you do not understand the journey that another person is on, God is guiding them, just as God is guiding you. God will be patient with you if you resist, just as God is patient with everyone.

 Be mindful.

 God will not lose a single one; none of us are lost to God. God is with us, and we are in God; there is no place where the divine is not.

 Consider the gospel reading for today, it is a piece of pure politics.

 The writers of Matthew’s gospel are making a direct appeal to the remnants of John’s followers, which is a recurring theme in Matthew, who would have us believe that John and Jesus were cousins.

 The writers of Matthew are doing everything they can to bring John’s followers into the new church, both by convincing them that Jesus was the heir to John’s ministry, and by convincing the new church to accept the outcasts among them.

 

First Reading – Ezekiel 18:25-28 ©

When the Sinner Renounces Sin, He Shall Certainly Live

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘You object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 24(25):4-9 ©

Remember your mercy, Lord.

Lord, make me know your ways.

  Lord, teach me your paths.

Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:

  for you are God my saviour.

Remember your mercy, Lord.

Remember your mercy, Lord,

  and the love you have shown from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth.

  In your love remember me,

  because of your goodness, O Lord.

Remember your mercy, Lord.

The Lord is good and upright.

  He shows the path to those who stray,

He guides the humble in the right path,

  He teaches his way to the poor.

Remember your mercy, Lord.

 

Second Reading – Philippians 2:1-11 ©

Be United in Your Love

If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:

His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – John 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia!

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 21:28 - 32 ©

Tax Collectors and Prostitutes Are Entering the Kingdom of God Before You

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, ‘What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, “My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not go,” but afterwards thought better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, “Certainly, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will?’ ‘The first’ they said. Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.’

 

The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)