28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
St. John of the Cross was a 16th century Spanish priest, mystic and leading figure of the Counter-Reformation. He is also considered one of the giants of Spanish literature and is a doctor of the Church. Born into poverty, John entered the Carmelites where he came under the influence of St. Teresa of Avila. He supported her efforts to reform the order and was actually imprisoned and tortured for eight months by Carmelites opposed to the reform. His suffering at this time marked him profoundly and he began writing afterwards. During his imprisonment, he felt overwhelmed by darkness and emptiness and this would later inspire him to write about “the dark night of the soul”. Both in this work and in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, John sought to explore the soul’s ascent to God and the difficulties, as well as the mystical events, it encounters on the way.
Fittingly enough, given his role in the reform of both his order and the Catholic Church, the gospel for his feast concerns those who do God’s will as opposed to those who simply say they are doing God’s will. The conflict between word and deed is at the heart of this reading. A father asks both his sons to work in his vineyard. The first says he’ll do so but does nothing while the second refuses but changes his mind and goes out to work. Notice that there is no mention of the first changing his mind – clearly he never intended to do as he promised.
The context of this parable is Jesus dialoguing with the chief priests and elders. The father represents God while the first son signifies the tax collectors and prostitutes. The second one symbolizes the chief priests and elders who, although they profess religious belief, fail to do God’s will. Jesus places them below the unjust and the unchaste, people considered great sinners and even outcasts by the society of the time. That this passage was chosen for St. John’s feast shows a clear criticism of the Church leaders of his time (and perhaps of our time as well). Following Jesus is not an easy thing and demands profound changes in our life, which sadly, many of those who say they follow him, are not willing to do. Maybe we should all, in this advent season, examine the relationship between our words and deeds as well.
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