The parable in today’s Gospel offers us a glimpse into the very heart of the ministry of Jesus.  He came preaching the Good News of a God who offered salvation to all, a God whose reign was open to anyone who was willing to accept this offer of forgiveness by turning their lives around and placing their faith in Jesus and in his message.  However, Jesus’ message of unconditional love was simply too much for the religious leaders of his day to accept.  Their reading of the Law had convinced them that repentance required retribution, something that was clearly impossible for the most wicked members of society – the tax collectors, prostitutes, and so forth.  They were in the eyes of their contemporaries, literally beyond hope.

Jesus’ deceptively simple story of the two sons leads his audience to an obvious conclusion: that a change of heart leading to a change of life-course truly is possible.  But Jesus’ application of that simple truth to the situation of those whom the religious leaders considered beyond hope was an outrageous leap for his pious listeners among the chief priests and elders of the people.  All that Jesus seems to require of the tax collectors and the prostitutes is a change of heart and new direction in life, nothing more.

As if this teaching was not enough, Jesus goes on to confront his audience with the hypocrisy of their own situation.   Like the second son in the parable, they pay lip service to God’s will, but in the final analysis they, too, fall short because they inevitably transgress the Law.  In the world of Jesus’ parable, what sets them apart from the tax collectors and others whom they despise is their own self-righteousness and refusal to recognize their need for God’s mercy.  Like all of his parables, this little tale of Jesus’ explodes in the awareness of his hearers and demands of them a radical rethinking, a true conversion of heart, and a commitment to this vision of God’s reign – a world transformed, where mercy and forgiveness are offered instead of demands of retribution and punitive justice.

A naughty sister gets an ice cream cone.   Someone lets a rude driver in line ahead of you.  The slacker in your work-group gets just as much credit as the rest of you for the great presentation the group makes.  Maybe it’s not fair, but the examples in today’s Scriptures show us that it is the way of God and the way to build the Reign of God in the world.

We are free to hold on smugly to our self-righteousness and miss the life-giving opportunities that await us in God’s reign of mercy.  We are free to hold others accountable for their sins against us and their guilt before God.  Yet God offers each of us an equal opportunity every day simply to turn away from our sin, turn to the Lord and live.

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