26th Sunday on Ordinary time

Now is the time to repent; there isn't a moment to spare

"... you did not afterward repent and believe him"

Matthew 21:32

A Sunday-school teacher had been telling her class of youngsters about "heavenly rewards" and "crowns of glory" for people who believed and lived good lives. "Now tell me," she said at the close of the lesson, "Who will get the biggest crown?" There was silence for a moment, then one bright youngster piped out, "The one who has the biggest head."

Another Sunday-school teacher asked one of her students this question: "Johnny, can you tell me what we must do before we can expect forgiveness of sin?" "Yes sir," Johnny replied. "We must sin."

Still another Sunday-school teacher asked, "What do you think a land flowing with milk and honey would be like?" "Sticky," came the answer.

In this 26^th Sunday Gospel, Jesus makes things a bit sticky for some sinners who have big heads: the pious, Church-going, self-righteous religious leaders of His time. Throughout the Gospels, the language Jesus uses to condemn their hypocrisy is always harsh and uncompromising. He says:

They preach but they do not practice.

They bind up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders.

They do all their deeds to be seen by men.

They love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues.

They pay tithes while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith.

They are frauds, blind fools, blind guides; they are like white-washed tombs, beautiful to look at on the outside but on the inside full of filth and dead men's bones.

They display a holy exterior, but inside they are filled with evil.

Fools! Frauds! Blind guides! White-washed tombs! Notice again that these very strong words of Jesus are not directed toward atheists or agnostics or criminal-types or public sinners. They are directed at respected Churchmen--men who publicly profess faith in God, who publicly adhere to religious law, who publicly participate in sacred ceremonies. Thus far that sounds like most of us, does it not? We believe in God; we try to obey the Commandments; we keep holy the Sabbath. Yet Jesus indicts these men as sinners of the worst sort. Why? Because they used religion as a showcase for their own virtue. They practiced a religion of the "letter" but not of the "spirit," of the "head" but not of the "heart." They acknowledged God but closed themselves off to the Spirit of God. They used God to attain public esteem and, worse still, to confirm their own self-esteem. They emphasized the manner in which the sacred rites were conducted rather than the meaning they were intended to convey. Displaying a virtuous image was more important to them than being virtuous. They were always busy adjusting their haloes to their big heads. And, because of their self-centeredness, egoism and pride, they were unwilling to conform their lives to the Will of God.

He is telling you to conform your value system to the Will of God. He is telling you to acknowledge your human frailty, your ongoing sinfulness, your need for forgiveness. He is telling you to abandon all traces of the holier-than-thou, know- it-all attitude of self-righteousness.

During a Sunday sermon, a baby began to cry at the top of his voice. The child's mother immediately left her pew and carried the baby toward the Church door. "Stop!" said the preacher. "Your baby isn't disturbing me." The mother turned around and said, "But you're disturbing him."

Jesus has a disturbing word for us in today's Gospel. There are, He assures us, harlots and gangsters in this world who are closer to salvation than some of us pillars of the Church. He says to the Pharisees: "Let me make it clear that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you" (Mt. 21:31). Does this surprise you? What on earth does Jesus mean? He means that the prostitutes and gangsters (tax collectors) to whom He refers are public sinners who know they are sinners. The self-righteous Pharisees, on the other hand, will not acknowledge their own sinfulness. The self-accused sinner at least knows he or she is in need of forgiveness; the self-righteous hypocrite admits nothing, including the need for forgiveness.

Jesus is not asking us to come together in order to proclaim our virtues to the world. He is asking us to acknowledge our sinfulness to the world. He is asking us to admit that we do not know it all. He is asking us to hear the Word of God, always, in an attitude of expectancy. He is asking us to remember that the Word of God is filled with surprises.

God's forgiveness and love and mercy (they all mean the same thing) are available to us to the extent that our hearts are open to forgiveness and love and mercy toward all our brothers and sisters. There is no possible way for you to divide your Christian commitment into separate compartments. There is no possible way for you to love God today and love your neighbor tomorrow. There is no possible way for you to love God "over here" and your neighbor "over there." It's all one piece. It's all inextricably bound up in your one heart and soul and mind and body. Genuine repentance demands total, simultaneous commitment.

Now is the time to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is here. You haven't got almost an hour. There isn't a moment to spare!