The parable of the two sons

Today’s Sunday Gospel teaching is about the Parable of the Two Sons, which is a very interesting story that surely one way or the other have happened to us. You can find in Matt.21:28-32.

“[Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people,] 28” 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.’ 29 He said in reply, I will not, ‘but afterwards he changed his mind and went. 30 The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes sir,” but did not go. 31 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. 32 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 say that, you did not later change your minds and believed him.”

To us parents, this story must have happened so many times, we merely take it for granted. I’m very sure that when we were kids ourselves, our parents must have asked us to do something like a chore or two and often we did what we were asked and often, we refused. Now that we are parents I’m sure that in turn, we’ve also asked our children to do some chores or favors for them to do and very often we get different results.

The reaction of our children largely depends if our children have some kind of ulterior motive, perhaps to ask us for something in return, then they would gladly jump and do what we ask them. More often than not, they reluctantly or grudgingly agree to do what we tell them to do. Then there’s always the various excuses that we parents get from our children, why they can’t do this or do that because they’re either too busy playing or they’re just ashamed to do what they are told. So in a way, the story that our Lord Jesus Christ teaches the chief priests and the elders is something that they already knew that may have happened to them. So what is the Lord trying to teach us in this story?

First let’s go back to the story of the first son, who was asked by his father to go and work in the vineyard. His immediate reply was a stern “I will not!” Yet later, he recanted and did what the father asked him to do. When the father asked the second son, he immediately replied with a resounding “Yes: that he would do what he was told. But then the son did not do what he was told. So the Lord asks, who among these two sons did the Father’s will? Of course the right answer was… the first son!

However this story may differ in each one’s situation. For all we know, when the father asked the first son to do something, he immediately refused perhaps because he was already busy doing something else. Often when a person is concentrated on doing something, he refuses to do something else. But when the first son finished what he was doing, he immediately did what the father asked him to do, although he earlier refused the request of the father.

With regards the second son, the situation may also be different. When the father asked him to do something, he most probably had nothing to do and immediately responded with a yes to the father’s request. Yet something must have come up that the son found more important and in the end, he didn’t do what the father asked him to do. Surely we have been in this situation before, where we said yes to our parent’s request, but eventually when our barkada came to the house, the father’s request was forgotten.

No doubt this story teaches us about our responsibilities. Both sons in a way refused their father, but then the first son eventually did what he was told. Remember the old saying, “Action speaks louder than words?” The first son did in action what he didn’t say in words, while the second son said the word, but failed to act on it.

In a sort of way, this story of the two sons may be meant for priests, bishops or pastors who already took their Holy Orders, embracing the vow of poverty and chastity, but later in life, they no longer do their mission in life, which is to save souls. They have succumbed to the material world and failed to remain chaste. They are like the second son who say, “Yes” to the father, but fails to do what they were asked to do.

The first son may be a man whom the father asked to enter the seminary to be a priest, yet he refuses the father and eventually gets married and have many children. Yet later in his life, he joins a Charismatic Community like the Oasis of Love, Couples for Christ or the Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD) and starts evangelizing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So clearly we can see who has obeyed the Father’s will. Perhaps now is the time to ask ourselves… are we the first or the second son? Maybe our priests and bishops should also ask themselves this question? Are we doing the Father’s will?

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