Jesus Knows the Real Condition of Our Mind, Heart, and Conduct

With The Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32), Jesus reveals the Father’s frustration and disappointment with the lack of reliability of some of his children whom he invites to work with him for the betterment of his “vineyard,” the Church.

Jesus challenges us to dig a little bit deeper into our inner attitude and conduct to see whether, at times, we might be like the second son, hoping that our nice promises and our loud, clear ‘Yes, sir’ would be enough to keep the appearance of Catholics in good standing. We might choose elegant disengagement for a variety of reasons, some well-known to us and others buried in our subconscious. But we must come to grips with the fact that hot air and hollow words do not cut it with God. At best, they can fool some people for some time, even for some years, before full exposure and our ensuing, inevitable embarrassment.

Confronted by Christ, who is Light and who is Truth, our process of being made anew must begin with the sobering admission of our spiritual poverty, of the existence of pockets of phoniness in our attitude and conduct. If we want to be more explicit with ourselves, we should begin by entertaining the possibility of feeling comfortable among sinners, or to be blunter yet, with tax collectors and prostitutes, i.e., with those who have never attempted to hide their true identity and conduct behind fancy shields and impressive credentials.

My dear friends in Christ, let me try to reason out loud with you: Jesus knows exactly the real condition of our mind, heart and conduct both in private and in the public eye. So, there is no fooling him now and, even less, as our Judge on Judgment Day. What other people think of us is totally inconsequential and irrelevant. It is time for us to admit our poor performance as, at times, we wasted large amounts of energy, time and effort to appear better than we are. It is time for the Truth, who is Christ Jesus, to set us free.

This is, therefore, the route that will lead us to Christ with whom all things are possible and without whom everything is impossible except a flimsy, temporary perpetuation of posturing. Like the second son, we might look and sound good as we shout our “yessir” while continuing our disengagement. Most of the time, though, we act as the first son. Our imperfect love for the Lord reprimands our conscience and we go to work in the vineyard of the Father. However, our going to the vineyard is no guarantee that we do it out of love for our Father and for the vineyard.

The times in which we work purely for the glory of God, for love of him and for the vineyard are few. Usually, they are tainted by self-interest, accolades, praises, recognition or by fear of punishment. Such love for the Father and his vineyard, especially if we do not routinely check our real intentions, might appease our conscience and create in us the illusion of piety and filial devotion; yet it cannot please him. 

Personally, I can think of very few times in my whole life, in which I did good purely and exclusively for love of our Heavenly Father and his vineyard, the Church! So, embarrassed by my lukewarmness, in the intimacy of Holy Communion, I am going to tell the Father to forgive me for my tainted intentions and beg him to make me like his only begotten Son, Jesus.

If we look at the Gospel more closely, we discover the ideal son and daughter. They are aware of the Father’s concern for the vineyard. They make theirs his frustration with the limited and halfhearted cooperation he gets from his children; so, they anticipate his request. Quietly, without drawing attention upon themselves, they sacrifice time, talents and treasure for the vineyard. Like Jesus, the perfect Son, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they make their own the care and concern the Father has for the Church and find their joy in giving him honor, praise and glory.

May you, too, ask the Father to make you sons and daughters of whom he is pleased the way he is forever pleased with his Son Jesus. Amen.