Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel parable is the story of a vineyard owner and two sons. On the periphery the rhetorical question that Jesus poses to the chief priests is very simple. “Which of the two sons did his father's will?" The answer that Jesus opponents gave is also rather simple – “The first.” But then parables are never about the obvious. If I was a parent, I would not want a child who refuses my requests and then completes the task or a child who complies but then does not carry out the task. Would you? I would like my child to both comply and fulfils my request. The parable is actually about a ‘third son’ – Jesus Christ. This Son both said “Yes” to his Father AND fulfilled the task of human redemption assigned to him. But the chief priest and the elders could not look deep enough to recognize that.
There is another surprise in today’s readings. Within a span of two weeks, we hear the same passage from Philippians as the second reading. On Sept 14th, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we had heard the passage about Jesus who “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Unlike two weeks back, though, today’s passage comes attached with Paul asking the Philippians to “have the same mind as that of Christ.” Like Christ, he says, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”
Today’s readings are an invitation to be like Jesus. I would like to propose three ways in which to be like the ‘third Son.’
a) "Do nothing out of selfishness.” Paul says about Jesus that he “took the form of a slave.” Paul’s use of the term ‘slave’ for Jesus is surprising. Notice the contrast between Paul’s comparisons. Paul is not proposing that a human person became a slave; he is saying that God became a slave. Jesus, who is divine, was not content to become a human person, but rather, he became the least of the human persons. Slaves were deprived any dignity, identity or worth. Really speaking, then, Jesus became a nobody.
This stark contrast is doubly meaningful for us. We live in a world of exaggerated self-importance. None of us are exempt from it. Today, when we hear Paul’s words, let us not think about our neighbor, mother-in-law, spouse, or co-worker. Let us think about ourself. To some extent, we are all selfish. Most of our conflicts in our families, church, and society are caused by our exaggerated sense of self-importance. I remember, for example, the day when I had just gotten back home after a very long day. It was 9:30 and I had not had dinner yet. Just when I had had a wash, changed my clothes and served myself dinner, I got a call from hospice. A family who did not belong to our parish was asking for the last sacraments for their father. Nobody at the parish to which this person belonged would pick up the phone. At that moment, I was angry. I went grudgingly. After I had taken care of the person and consoled the family, I realized how important it was for me to be there with them. I realized that at that moment I was acting selfishly. Selfishness – it is not something we consciously work against every day. Yet, relationships are ruined, marriages break, people hurt and kill each other, wars begin and nations waste unimaginable resources arming themselves because of selfishness. Selfishness can destroy us. So Paul says to his community, “Do nothing out of selfishness.” We are being invited to be like the “third Son.”
b) “Humbly regard others and more important than yourself.” What is humility? The typical dictionary defines humility as “not thinking of yourself as better than other people.” Paul’s idea of humility is just a little different. He is not asking us to lower our worth or our dignity before others. Humility, for Paul, is giving others what is due to them – their dignity. So he says, “Consider others more important than yourself.” Humility is considering others more important than ourselves without compromising our own worth. This is exactly what Jesus did. He humbled himself without giving up his dignity as the Son of God. He even treated tax collectors and prostitutes with dignity and because of that, as today’s gospel reading says, they were entering the kingdom of God before the chief priest and elders.
Paul’s understanding of humility is very significant, particularly in light of the racial tension in the country. The social media posts about the events at Freguson, MO, Beavercreek, OH, and Columbia, SC, is indicative of what is wrong with us. If only people would act on the Pauline concept of humility we would be having a very different racial conversation. Imagine… simply imagine… if every person in our country “considered others more important than themselves.” And if we did this at home, and in our families and in our church… imagine! We are being invited to be like the “third Son.”
c) “Look out for the interest of others along with your own.” On the one hand selfishness is a personal evil. But our problem today is not that some people are selfish. The problem is that we have all become selfish together. Selfishness is a social and a systemic problem. We are born into, brought up and live within a culture of selfishness. It is almost as if, instead of being a negative trait, selfishness has become necessary tool for survival. Often, at conversations with people my age, it is not uncommon for us to look at the younger generation and see how self-absorbed they are! But it is only partially their fault. That is the kind of world we left for them.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus blames the chief priests and elders because they were changing the social fabric of Palestinian society. When John came and did good they refused to follow him. Selfishly they held on to their positions. But then, they did the same thing to Jesus and continued to hold on their selfish position. In their own selfishness, they were creating a selfish society. We can do the same as well. Our selfishness affects our family, our church and society. Paul response is that if Jesus who is divine can become radically selfless, so can we. As we look after our own interests, we must first also take care of the interests of others. And if we can all do this together, we would have a selfless world. How wonderful would that be! We are being invited to be like the “third Son.”
AS we gather here, we must remember that this Eucharist is possible because of the the selflessness and humility of Christ. As we receive Christ in the Eucharist, may we become like Jesus, the 'third Son." Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph