—Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21:28–32

Which would you prefer? A person who says no when the outcome is yes or a person who says yes when the outcome is no? The first response is more genuine, because the person who does the right thing even when it hurts is more to be admired than the person who merely gives lip service but has no intention of doing what’s right.

This parable in Matthew 21:28–32 was addressed by Jesus to the Pharisees who were fond of giving lip service to the Word of God while their hearts were not in it. On the other hand, public sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes, who converted, were more to be admired than those goody-two-shoes who indulged in rhetorical slogans without following through on their words.

You’ve heard the maxim: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” This saying, attributed to St. Bernard, stresses the need to have more than good intentions if we want to enter the Lord’s kingdom. We need to mean what we say, we need to follow through on our intentions by doing what we say.

Hell, they say, is full of good intentions, but heaven is full of good works.

In this delightful parable, Jesus gives the example of two sons. The first son disagreed with his father, but went off and did what he was told. The second son gave lip service when his father asked him to do something, but did not do it. The Lord asked his listeners, “which of the two did his father’s will?” And, they all answered, “the first.”

Actions speak louder than words, and the Lord commends honest action over good intentions. “It is not the person who says ‘Lord, Lord….who will enter the kingdom of God, but rather the person who hears the word of God and keeps it” (Matthew 7:21).

Fanciful talk about our faith is not good enough. We must be willing to deliver on the promises of our faith. This has practical implications for everyone. It is not good enough, for example, to say yes on your wedding day. You must say yes to the demands of love in your marriage every day. It is easy for a parent or sponsor to say yes at the baptism of a child but it takes true courage to say yes to all the things a parent or sponsor should do for the child during the years of a child’s upbringing. It is easy to say “I am a Christian,” but it is another thing to follow Christ, day in and day out, in good times and in bad.

Saying ‘yes’ and meaning it, is what this precious parable of Jesus is all about. The positive response to the demands of God’s word leads to conversion as in the case of the first son who did the right thing even when he felt like doing the opposite.

Feelings, in themselves, are neither right or wrong. We are born with conflicting and negative feelings which are at war with the better angels of our nature. What we do about them is what counts in the long run. We can give into them or we can conquer them by living a life in conformity with God’s will.

Conversion means change that makes the doing of God’s will your will. It means saying ‘yes’ when ‘yes’ means ‘yes.’

Let us pray, “Lord, not my will but yours be done.”

—Fr. Hugh Duffy