Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 21:28-32
December 13, 2022 | Tuesday

Today’s Gospel

Jesus went on to say, “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him, ‘Son, go and work today 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 his other son and said the same thing to him. 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, and you did not believe him; but the publicans and the prostitutes did. You were witnesses of this, but you neither repented nor believed him.

Today’s Reflection:

Jesus teaches us that true repentance is not a poetry beautifully spoken nor a promise easily broken; it is a daily struggle of accepting one’s need for God and an effort to follow Him amid these struggles. This differentiates those who considered themselves experts of the law and those who did not have access to the study of the law during the time of Jesus. The former were like the second son who promised to follow the law yet did not actually follow it (v. 30). They had all the access to the law since they regularly studied and taught it in the Temple. People respected them because they were their “teachers.” The latter, however, were like the first son who said that he would not go to the field but later on went there and worked in the vineyard (v. 29). For Jesus, publicans, prostitutes and those condemned by the Jewish society can enter the God’s Kingdom because after recognizing their sinfulness, they realized their need for God. /Vulnerasti, 2022