The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen. Today’s Gospel does not speak about salvation, that is, how God the Father has made you His own dear child and heir. Today’s Gospel speaks about your attitude concerning the salvation you have already received, now that God has adopted you (Galatians 3:26), washed you clean of your sins (1 Corinthians 11:6), and promised you an inheritance in heaven (1 Peter 1:4). A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” His son answered, “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind and went. The man went to the other son and said the same. That son answered, “I will go, sir,” but then did not go. Dear Christian friends: Because it is easy to see the speck in my neighbor’s eye, even though I have a log in my own (Matthew 7:3-5), it is not difficult to apply today’s Gospel to other people. For example, I often think of my confirmation classes when I hear Jesus speak about that son who says he will go and work in the vineyard, but then does not. How many confirmation students have paid us similar lip service? How many have sworn in the presence of witnesses that they do not wish to depart from our fellowship—only to disappear like smoke as soon after Confirmation Day? Like the son who said, “I will go,” but then did not, these Christians tell us with their words that they want to dwell here among us, but with their actions they say, “I’ll be back when it is time to get married or buried.” As easy as it is for me to locate other people in this Gospel, it will do me no good. It will not do you any good, either. Dear God, save us from applying these Words to other people! Grant us Your Spirit, Lord, that we may learn to apply these Words to ourselves! But self-application creates a problem. If the father in this Gospel represents the Lord our God (as he does), then we each must be either one son or the other. That is the problem: neither son has done well with regard to his father. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” His son answered, “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind and went. The man went to the other son and said the same. That son answered, “I will go, sir,” but then did not go. 2. Even a blind Pharisee (Matthew 15:14) can see that this second son—the one who said, “I will go,” but then did not—this second son is not the guy any of us wants to be. He is the man who pays lip service and no more. This second son is that man who wishes to be labeled “Christian”—and who occasionally keeps the appearance of faith whenever the situation requires—but that is absolutely as far as he will take it. The words of the Apostles’ Creed pass into his ears and sometimes out his mouth, but they bounce off his heart with no effect. He has no hunger at all for the Holy Communion. Even at Christmas and Easter, the very thought of a sermon makes his eyes glaze over. His name is only on the church role because his mother will have it no other way. (Church life has shown that mothers must be allowed their illusions concerning their sons.) For this second son, the Word of God is mere information and he has heard enough. He wants the resurrection, but not the cross (Matthew 16:24); the Baptism but not the teaching (Matthew 28:19-20). It is quite enough that his sins are forgiven; he has no use for the sorrow and the repentance and the “go and sin no more” (John 8:11). From the look of things, this second son does not seem to be the shoe that fits your foot, Cinderella. It is possible that you a good actor. It is equally possible I am an evil priest (FC, SD VII.24). We certainly could all be faking it, but let’s assume the best about each other (Eighth Commandment, Small Catechism). Our regular presence here suggests repentance. Our regular presence here suggests that neither you nor I wish to be called that second son—the one who said “I will go,” but then did not. 1. That leaves only one option. As the Pharisees in today’s Gospel could rightly see, that it is far better to be that first son, the one who answered, “I will not,” then afterward he changed his mind and went. But this boy is unbecoming. Where the second son at least gave his father the appearance of love and obedience, the first son’s first impulsive is No. His gut reaction is to reject his father’s word and command. It is not native to his disposition that he should obey. An idol has been driven like a fencepost into the middle of the first son’s heart. The idol is him. Given the choice between what his father commands and what he wants, the decision comes quickly; too quickly; before he considers anything more than himself. Then something goes to work upon this boy’s heart and mind. He answered, “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind and went. What happened? • Was he teased into action by the thought of his father’s abiding and unwavering love for him? For how long has this child lived in his father’s house and consumed his father’s goods, receiving day after day the things he needs to support his body and life? Now he has been asked to give a day’s labor. Such a small effort can hardly be called a purchase price for his place at the table! “I am such a jerk,” the boy says to himself. “After all that my father has done for me, I could not show him this token of my love and appreciation? I have changed my mind. I will go. It is the least I can do.” • Then again, perhaps there were no sweeping realizations about the greatness of his father’s love for this first son. Perhaps it was simply the power of his father’s word and command that exerted itself upon the boy’s thinking. “My dear father knows what he is doing,” says the boy. “He clearly has no need for me in the vineyard, since his hired men can easily handle the work. Nevertheless, he has commanded me to go. There must be some reason—some benefit, some good result—hidden for me in the word and command he has spoken. I repent. Yes, I previously refused, but now I will go and work in the vineyard, according to my father’s command. I will hurry to obey, so that I do not miss whatever blessing and benefit my father has graciously stored up for me there. Of course, this first son’s initial, insolent response requires us each to admit certain things about ourselves. It is not a miracle that any of us listens, that any of us turns and keeps the Word of our father? This son requires us to recognize and admit that the Words and commands of God do not naturally appeal to our sinful and corrupted flesh; that our first inclinations and our knee-jerk reactions are quick to refuse and ignore and reject the things that our Father in heaven so clearly says to us. The fencepost is deep in the clay. Look again at this first son and see here the precious miracle that God our heavenly Father performs for us on a daily basis! “The son answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.’” Praise be to the Lord our God, and to Christ Jesus His only Son! Through His patience, through His mercy, through the powerful Word of His forgiveness and grace, the Lord our God has likewise overcome our most natural and basic inclinations. Like this son, God the heavenly Father has similarly changed our hearts and our minds so that we may indeed go where He bids, even if we do so feebly. • Is it the thought of the heavenly Father’s abiding love toward you, made plain to you in the death and resurrection of His only-begotten Son, that daily changes your course? • Is it the pure, miracle-producing power of His Word and command that has re-directed your feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79)? • Must we really distinguish between these two? God’s Love is His Word, God’s Word is His Love. And these things have come to us, brimming with forgiveness, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Call it the daily strength of your Baptism, that is, the remembrance of how God has made you His child. Call it the power of the Word, which is powerful enough to soften even stony hearts; powerful enough to turn that which otherwise cannot be turned. Call it the residual effects of the Body and Blood of Jesus sour Christ, given to you in the Holy Communion, given for you for the forgiveness of sins. Call it the abiding presence of Jesus in your heart and in your mind. By the power and presence of God, you have been turned. Even the Pharisees in today’s Gospel can understand what this divine turning means for you. It means that you are now a doer of God’s will—whether or not it personally feels as if you have done God’s will. Despite your regrets, despite your initial refusal, despite your daily need to turn again, Jesus nevertheless asks in today’s Gospel, “Which of the two sons did the will of his father?” The Pharisees got it right. They have no choice but to point jealously in your direction. “The first,” they said, “He changed his mind and went.”
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