St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Blue Springs, Missouri shared a reflection from the pastor on the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Rev. Richard Rocha wrote on Jesus’ parable in Matthew 21:31.

At the end of his parable, Jesus said some shocking words, which were that prostitutes and tax collectors were entering the kingdom of heaven before the chief priests and elders. 

“Of course Jesus was talking about tax collectors and prostitutes who had listened to his preaching and had converted. We can think of Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector. One of the Twelve Apostles, Matthew also called Levi, had been a tax collector,” Rev. Rocha wrote. 

The religious elite, on the other hand, had not obeyed the teachings of God before Jesus came and did not respect the teachings of Christ. 

The religious were like the son who told his father he would obey but then failed to follow through, whereas the ones who had no intention of obeying him but actually did were the worldly and more commonly considered as lost individuals. 

“Why were tax collectors and sinners able to open their hearts and respond to the preaching of Jesus while the chief priests and elders were not?” Rev. Rocha wrote. “In Jesus they found life as it was meant to be. Jesus offered hope to the tax collectors and sinners, hope they never before had.”

We must be careful to ensure that we, children of God, do not fail to obey him after saying we will. It is many times the case that we who have always had the mercies of God known to us will fail to act in a way that is coherent with the grace we have been given, Rev. Rocha wrote.

“Those who lived dark lives in the past and have undergone conversion experiences may be living life at a much higher level of meaning than many of us now,” Rev. Rocha wrote. 

For cradle Catholics, let us remember to do the will of the Father in both word and deed.