'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not, '
but afterwards changed his mind and went.
It is good to know that the ways of the LORD are more than fair. If they were merely fair, we'd be in trouble. But his mercy is better than fairness. If, when asked to go out and work in the vineyard today, we reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards change our minds and go we do in fact do the Father's will. The LORD is always ready to embrace us and welcome us back if come to repentance. Repentance means that we have a change of mind, like the first son, and turn from the wickedness we have committed to do what is just and right. Living lives of justice and mercy is exactly what going into the vineyard entails.
But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
he does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
We must be on guard against the possibility that we are actually the second son without realizing it. We are constantly invited by the Father into his vineyard. Quickly we respond, 'Yes, sir.' But do we respond too quickly? Do we actually end up going? There is a real sense in which the refusal of the first son forced him to reflect on the father's invitation. He knew that he had rejected it, and with it, his father's will for him. The second son spoke so quickly that he may have effectively shielded himself from realizing just what was being asked of him. He was able to maintain the illusion that he was doing his father's will, yet forgetting about almost as soon as he was asked.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, ‘but did not go.
Sometimes our obvious rebellions are better because they are, in fact, obvious. To repent of them is easier because we recognize them. Those other rebellions that we almost don't realize, where we say yes, but then forget and go back to business as usual, can be harder to perceive. The first step to avoid this is to avoid saying yes too quickly. The Father's invitation is always asking of us a change of mind and heart. His prophets are always asking us to believe him about the way of righteousness. We see this when tax collectors and prostitutes change their whole lives to follow him. When we realize what the Father is asking we may in fact have to struggle with ourselves to get to a yes. But when we do, it will be a real and permanent change. We will actually go into the vineyard.
Are there instances in which we have rushed past the call to the vineyard? Assuredly. The invitation, as we have said, requires a change of mind and heart. The specific change is the one to which Paul invites us.
Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
To go into the vineyard is precisely to share in this self-emptying of Christ in order to put all that we are at the service of others for the sake of the will of the Father. The good news, as we have seen, is that the Father is ready to welcome us onto the path as soon as we choose to embrace it. All we really need is to realize the ways in which we have not yet done so and then turn to him for mercy and help.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
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