Have you ever responded to a request with the line, “I’ll get a round to it?” Well, I have more than once. One day, a dear friend handed me a cross section of a tree branch, about the size of a thick poker chip, on which were written the letters, t,o,i,t. I asked her what was the meaning behind this and she explained, “Well, you keep saying that one of these days you’ll get around to it, so I figured you needed one!”
How often do we say that we will get around to doing something, only to discover that time passes and the resolution remains undone? Perhaps that resolution was breaking a bad habit like smoking, losing weight, simplifying one’s lifestyle, become more prayerful, spending more time with loved ones, getting more exercise, or writing that long overdue letter. Yes, our good intentions often remain good intentions that have yet to be carried out.
Beginning with Adam and Eve, people have long made excuses when, for whatever reason, they chose not to follow the will of God. Many made the promise to, as did the second son in today’s parable, but they never carried out their good intentions.
Jesus shared this parable of the two sons with the chief priests and elders to rebuke them for acting holy, yet inwardly failing to do their part in bringing about the kingdom of God. Like the second son in the parable, the chief priests and the elders made their promises but in Jesus’ opinion, they were not obeying his Father’s will.
Jesus undoubtedly startled them when he said, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”
“Excuse me?” must have been their immediate reaction. “You question our holiness?” Indeed Jesus did for they were not backing up their words with any credible evidence of holiness. Like the son who agreed to go to the vineyard, they were not carrying out their promise.
On the other hand, Jesus praised the tax collectors and the prostitutes, whom the chief priests scorned, for being the ones who ultimately did what God asked of them. You could say that they got around to it. They heeded the call of John the Baptist to repent and change their ways. They were doing the will of the Father.
By changing their lives, Jesus pointed out that sinners were entering the kingdom of God. He didn’t say they were going to at some future date. He said they were entering. In other words, through conversion, Jesus tells us, we can enter the kingdom of God in this lifetime. The choice is up to us.
At baptism, when we entered into a faith relationship with God, we promised to work for the coming of the kingdom, to make God real in our lives. Our very presence suggests that we hold a common belief in God, but are we willing to obey God in all that he asked of us? Have we the attitude one finds in Jesus Christ?
I suspect not always. We tend to be selective in what we believe and what we do, so far as the teachings and commands of our faith go. Claiming that the Lord’s ways are unfair, we sometimes ignore God’s will, regarding it as being old fashioned and out of touch with reality. Consequently, we do sin and in those instances, our selfish ways prevent us from making the kingdom evident to those around us.
Do you remember Mary Poppins? In the 1964 movie, she is the magical nanny hired to care for Jane and Michael Banks. At the end of the first spectacular day, she is putting her new charges to bed. Jane asks Mary, “You will never leave us, will you?” Her younger brother quickly adds his own rash pledge; “Will you stay if we promise to be good?” Mary Poppins smiles and replies, “That is a pie crust promise. Easily made. Easily broken.” Jesus sees this tendency in his own “pie crust promise” disciples, who are slow to repent and believe. Does he see this in us, too?
If we want to enter the kingdom of God, then we must imitate the good son. We can choose to make a difference today in making the kingdom of God very real. How? For starters, we could choose to love, rather than hate. We could choose to smile, rather than frown. We could choose to build, rather than destroy. We could choose to persevere, rather than quit. We could choose to praise, rather than gossip. We could choose to heal, rather than wound. We could choose to give, rather than grasp. We could choose to act, rather than delay. We could choose to pray, rather than despair. We could choose to forgive, rather than curse.
When asked what remedy there was for the evils in the world, St. Francis of Assisi observed that we must first be what we ought to be; otherwise, evil would remain as a disorder everywhere. Each day brings us opportunities to choose between doing God’s will or doing evil. Do you see yourself being what you ought to be and taking on the attitude of Jesus? If not, when will you get around to it so that others can see the attitude of Christ in you?