+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dad asked me to mow the lawn, and I said “okay.” But then I learned that there was a special matinee at the Teatro del Lago― The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold! So I bicycled over to the theater and saw the movie. And I did not mow the lawn. So I have a special feeling for the second son in Jesus’ parable of the Two Sons. Let’s take a closer look:
“What do you think?” Jesus asks the chief priests and the elders of the people. “A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’― notice the second son’s respectful address―; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”
It doesn’t matter that the first son originally said “No.” What matters is that he changed his mind and did the will of his father. And it doesn’t matter that the second son originally said “Yes,” and even called him “sir,” because later on he didn’t do the will of his father. It’s not the past that matters; what matters is the present. Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders of the people that the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom― present tense― because like the first son in the parable, they changed their minds. And that brings us to our reading from Ezekiel (18.1-4, 25-32).
“The word of the Lord came to me: What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.”
Notice that there’s a rather gap in our reading― Verses 5-24 have been omitted. These verses include examples of righteousness and iniquity:
“If a man . . . gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment . . . such a one is righteous; he shall surely live, says the Lord God.
"[But] If he has a son who . . . oppresses the poor and needy . . . [the son] shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.
"But if this man has a son who sees all the sins that his father has done, considers, and does not do likewise . . . but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment . . . he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. . . ."
These verses from Ezekiel anticipate Jesus’ parable of the Great Judgment later on in Matthew’s Gospel (25:31): “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’”
Now let’s return to this morning’s reading from Ezekiel:
“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?”
Last Tuesday this article appeared in The New York Times, titled “2010 Data Show Surge in Poor Young Families,” by Sabrina Tavernise.
Here are some excerpts:
“More than one in three young families with children were living in poverty last year, according to an analysis of census data by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.
“At 37 percent, it was the highest level on record for the group . . . . By comparison, the rate was about 25 percent in 2000.
“‘Young families with children are now six times as likely to be poor as elderly families.’"
“Children bear more than their share of the burden of poverty, accounting for 35 percent of people who were poor last year, but only 24 percent of the population. . . .”
Just think: children comprise less than a quarter of our population but account for over a third of our people in poverty.
“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
“When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity― like the second son in the parable― they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.
“Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right― like the first son in the parable― they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.”
On Friday an article appeared in the Chicago section of The New York Times, titled “Hunger in America, Visible if you look for it,” by James Warren. Here are some excerpts from it:
“. . . On Tuesday I met Rector Bonnie Perry of All Saints Episcopal Church on the North Side for coffee. The church runs a food pantry on Tuesday evenings.
“By 4 p.m., or 90 minutes before opening, 38 people were already lined up outside and 20 more were in the nave. Two weeks earlier, the pantry cooked meals for and gave out food to 406 people, a record.
“. . . figures released Wednesday by the Greater Chicago Food Depository― in the past year, 5.1 million visits to the 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters it assists in Cook County. That’s a 60 percent increase since 2008. . . .
“The food depository crunched 2009 census and Department of Agriculture data to discern ‘food insecurity,’ essentially poor access to food or a decent diet, or not knowing where a next meal will come from.
The depository broke down figures for every city neighborhood and for suburban Cook County. As sky-high as the city numbers are, the surprises are in the suburbs. About 11 percent of people in LaGrange are hungry or ill-fed, while the figure is 15 percent in Elmwood Park . . . [and] 14 percent in Wheeling . . . .”
“Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.”
Amen.
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