The Lord’s parable is one that surely resonates with every parent. Our Lord asks us to consider the behavior of two sons. In response to the father’s directive, one son says, “Yes, I will go,” but he does not. The other replies, “No, I will not go,” but in the end, he does.
The “yes” of the son who did not obey, was just a display to hide the “no” within his heart. Isn’t this son rather similar to the elder brother in the Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son? Outwardly he was obedient but interiorly he had wandered away from his father. On his lips was the “yes” of respectability, but in his heart lay the “no” of resentment.
The father goes to the other son, perhaps the one who was so often resistant, rebellious. This son says “no” but then has second thoughts that emerge from the goodness that is within him. Down deep he understands what is right. Here grace was at work which broke down the walls of pride and selfishness so that he would respect and love his father.
One son spoke the right words but produced no deeds, while the other son spoke the wrong words but produced the right deeds. Who was the better son? Who possessed the better, the upright disposition? St. Ignatius of Loyola reminds us that “It is better to be a Christian without saying so, that to say so without being one. This is a continual challenge…to match our words with our deeds. It is a challenge because we know that how we can do many “good things” but with a wrong motive, a bad intention, or just for the sake of appearance. This is what afflicted the religious leaders in the time of Jesus, but it is a malady that afflicts us as well.
This parable offers us the powerful lesson that we can change our “no’s” into “yesses.” No matter how many times we sin, no matter how many times we have said “no” to the Lord, no matter how many times we do things with the wrong intention, no matter how often our actions are just done for appearance sake, we are not beyond the reach of God’s mercy and love.
Change is always possible. Do we believe this? We can change with the help of God’s grace. Another challenge is allowing another to change. At times, we think others are “unchangeable” We place them in a box and paste that label on it. His grace transforms our many rebellious no’s into beautiful yeses. Let us ask for this grace today! Let us heed the words of Blessed John Henry Newman: “To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
