December 15, 2015 Tuesday,
3rd Week of Advent 1st Reading: Zep 3: 1-2. 9-13 Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32
Jesus went on to say to the chief priests and the elders of the people, “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him: ‘Son, today go and work in my vineyard.’ And the son answered: ‘I don’t want to.’ But later he thought better of it and went. Then the father went to the second and gave him the same command. This son replied: ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what the father wanted?” They answered, “The first.” And Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you: the publicans and the prostitutes are ahead of you on the way to the kingdom of heaven. For John came to show you the way of goodness but you did not believe him, yet the publicans and the prostitutes did. You were witnesses of this, but you neither repented nor believed him.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The readings in today’s liturgy must be taken side by side with the parable of the hired workers (Matthew 20:1-6) where the master paid all laborers equal salaries regardless of the number of hours served. God’s mercy can’t be tied to performance. This finds support in today’s first reading (Ezekiel 18:25-28) which says that a righteous man is doomed if he shifts to a sinful life and dies, while an evil person who turns away from his sinful life and dies will live forever. Unfair? But that’s how God’s generosity operates (Matthew 20:15). God’s ways are not man’s ways (Isaiah 55:8).
Past performance is not prejudicial to a repentant person. In the parable of the two brothers the disobedient one who later shaped up won the Gospel’s commendation. God evaluates men not the way men evaluate their own kind. The past cannot tie the generous and merciful hands of God.
Despite God’s readiness to forgive, however, it is dangerous to procrastinate. Our life is seventy or eighty for those who are strong (Psalm 90:10). Eighty years pass so quickly, and we cannot even take this number literally, for many have died at a tender age. Moreover, we are not computers that can be reformatted anytime in order to delete past inputs. Our past will always have residual effects on the present. Like eyes accustomed to darkness that must be slowly introduced to the light, a bad person cannot just barge into the halls of morality without traumatizing his system.
Yes, our merciful and compassionate God looks at the ending, but time may not take us to a favorable end. When time is over, make sure abundant fruits of faith are there (Luke 18:8).- Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website:www.frdan.org. May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT <message/ name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.