WALKING THE WALK, NOT JUST TALKING

(September 6)

“What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented (μεταμεληθεὶς) and went. And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.’” (Mt 21: 28-32)

How is it that the tax collectors and harlots “went to work” in the Lord’s vineyard, after believing John the Baptist? It wasn’t by just talking about it or preaching. It was by “repenting” or changing the focus of their minds and hearts, which were to become productive in the Lord’s vineyard. Meanwhile, the talkers and preachers of the people, the chief priests and elders, to whom Christ is speaking here, kept talking as they did, as if they owned God’s vineyard, but remaining deaf to His voice in their midst. This was not productive in the vineyard, which was like one of those places in the developed world where the owners and most of the locals don’t want to work, so only the poorest people and immigrants do all the work there. It reminds me a bit of those churches where the not-ordained women and men do all the heavy lifting.

Let me be less concerned about “talking the talk” today, and more concerned about “walking the walk,” by re-focusing, first, on God’s voice in my heart. Let me gratefully accept my place, amidst those of us who are the tax collectors and harlots, who “go into the kingdom of God before” those of us who just talk about going there. “Remember me, Lord,” I pray quietly in my heart today, “when You come into Your kingdom.”