Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Live the Yes

There is a big difference between saying yes to God and actually living that yes. And that’s really what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel.

One son says no, but then he changes his mind and goes. The other one says yes, but never goes. And Jesus asks a very simple question: Which one actually did what his father asked?

And that’s a question for us too. Because all of us have said yes to God. We said yes at our Baptism. Every Sunday we stand together and say, “I believe…” And in a few moments, we’ll come forward for Holy Communion. The minister will say, “The Body of Christ,” and we’ll say, “Amen.”

That’s a yes. Yes, Lord, I believe. But I think the Gospel asks us to go a little further: Does the yes that I say become the yes that I live?

Something happened in the Church this week that I think fits very well with this Gospel. Archbishop Fulton Sheen was declared Blessed.

Many of you probably remember Fulton Sheen. He was on television for years. Millions of people listened to him. He was a wonderful speaker. He was intelligent. He was famous. But that’s not why the Church calls him Blessed. What mattered was the life behind the words.

Fulton Sheen had a great devotion to the Eucharist. For years, he made a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. And I think there’s something beautiful about that. Before he went out and spoke to millions of people about Jesus, he first spent time with Jesus.

And maybe that’s something for us to think about. We can know our faith. We can say our prayers. We can come to Mass every Sunday. We can say all the right things. But eventually we have to ask: What difference is all of this making in my life?

Is knowing Christ changing me? Is it changing the way I treat people? Is it making me more forgiving? More patient? More willing to put someone else before myself?

Because St. Paul tells us today, “Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.” And what was that attitude? Jesus humbled himself. He emptied himself. He gave himself.

That’s the Christian life. It’s not just believing something about Jesus. It’s allowing Jesus to change us.

And there’s something else in today’s readings that I think is important: We can change.

That first son said no. Maybe he meant it when he said it. But something happened. He thought about it. He changed his mind. And he went.

Maybe there’s an area of our own life where we’ve been saying no to God. Maybe there’s somebody we need to forgive. Maybe there’s some anger we’ve been holding onto. Maybe our prayer life isn’t what it should be. Or maybe we know there’s something God has been asking of us, and we keep saying, “Later.”

The beautiful thing is that God doesn’t give up on us. He simply keeps inviting us: Go into my vineyard today. Not yesterday. Not someday. Today.

Fulton Sheen had millions of people listening to him. Most of us will never have that kind of audience. But we don’t need one. God isn’t asking us to speak to millions of people. He’s asking us to be faithful right where we are.

And so when we come forward for Holy Communion today and we hear those words, “The Body of Christ,” and we answer, “Amen,” maybe we can hear that word a little differently.

Not only, “Yes, Lord, I believe,” but also: “Yes, Lord. I want to live what I believe.”

Because in the Gospel today, the son who did the will of his father wasn’t the one who gave the right answer.

It was the one who went.