Second Chance Sunday: The Power of Grace!
Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32
“Justice” is a tricky concept in at least three counts. First, when pushed to its logical conclusion, justice negates or precludes mercy and compassion. Second, the power of justice is so linked up with the law that it forgets the lawmaker/lawgiver. Finally, when justice is misconstrued, the application of justice forgets that human beings are weak, fallen, and imperfect. Today, God reminds us of “second chances” for every sinner, who recognizes his weaknesses and imperfections. This is what “Second Chance Sunday” speaks to, and it reorients the Christian mind to the “Power of God’s Grace” and not to the issue of God’s injustice!
Today, our first reading places God in the dock, and he has to justify his actions because human beings doubt God’s justice: “You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?” (Ezekiel 18:25). This is not new to us. Individually and as a Christian community, we often challenge God to show his justice by defending the so-called just person or to defend us against our enemies because we always think that it is the other person(s) who is unjust and not ourselves.
What is important, though, from our first reading, is that repentance is a double-edged sword: repentance could either be turning from doing good into doing evil or turning from evil to doing good. On the one hand, God is disappointed that a good person abandons doing good to embrace doing evil; on the other, he rejoices that an evil person quits doing evil and embraces doing good. What is not debated is human free-choice, our ability to choose either good or evil. But God is so boxed to a corner that his grace is forgotten or rendered ineffective in this saga. Our gospel will correct this mindset.
Our gospel reading shows that no one can cage the power of God’s grace and mercy, not even his justice. Today, God is happy because tax collectors and prostitutes are making it into heaven: “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:32). Our gospel reading does not blame sinners for being sinners but praises them for quitting their sins. It is clear from our gospel that human words, “yes” and “no”, do not matter; human comportment is the measure of one’s “yes” or “no”. In the two brothers of our gospel reading, we have instances of spontaneous grace and reflective grace. Grace was spontaneous in the brother who said “yes” immediately a request was made of him by his father, but it fell through because he did not keep his promise. In the brother who said “no” and thought better of his response, reflective grace helped him to change his mind and to do the right thing.
The message of the gospel is that God’s grace reaches the Pharisees and all sinners through the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel—“When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did” (Matthew 18:32). In other words, when we hear or listen to the messenger of God, we listen to God. However, it is not enough to listen, we must both listen and execute the instructions of the message proclaimed to us. God uses John’s ministry as an invitation to repentance—the proclamation of repentance. Those who considered themselves sinners listened to John and changed their lives, but not the priests and the elders—the self-righteous. The ministry of preaching or evangelization is primarily that of extending God’s grace, the opportunity for repentance.
The audacity to accuse God of injustice, as presented in our first reading, and the self-righteousness of the priests and elders in the gospel, demonstrate to us two ways by which we refuse the word of God that leads to repentance: we consider ourselves holy—self-righteousness—and we are bold enough to accuse God of injustice. The good news of today, however, is that no one is bereft of God’s grace, despite all. Every single day, God’s grace sustains the good person to persevere in goodness, and it nudges the evil person to change from his/her evil ways. For human beings, it is the reflectiveness of grace, the conscious cooperation, or none thereof to the offer of God’s grace, that plays out at the end of the day. This is where our second reading sets the agenda for our Christian life: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
The advantage of humility is the ability to listen to what the good Lord says to us in all circumstances. For instance, when we suffer for the sake of the faith, we should not start raining curses on so-called sinners and bad people because we are sinners as well. When we consider others “better than ourselves”, then we think them worthy of being listened to and of God’s grace. The priests and elders could not avail themselves of the grace of God offered through the preaching of John the Baptist, and they lost out on God’s grace. After all, God’s grace needs humility, the precondition for its reception. Jesus’ death on the cross is the medium of God’s grace. As Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, the human person must humble himself/herself to receive God’s grace, the free gift of salvation.
Indeed, it is “Second Chance Sunday” today, an opportunity to experience God’s grace; but, are you ready for it? Since tax collectors and sinners are making it into heaven, how about you? Only the concept of justice that does not negate God’s grace as forgiveness of sin; only the concept of justice that allows God to be the lawgiver and best dispenser of grace even under the shackles of justice; and, only the concept of justice that accommodates human weaknesses and fallen nature avail sinners confidence in God’s grace—forgiveness and salvation. The confidence we need in God’s grace is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), and Jesus came for sinners and not for the righteous (Luke 5:32)!
Assignment for the Week:
Kindly choose a fellow sinner and pray for him/her all week long.