Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's Gospel and homily.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Matthew Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, what is your opinion?
A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, son, go out and work in the vineyard today.
He said in reply, I will not.
But afterward changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, yes, sir, but did not go.
Which of the two did his Father's will?
They answered the first.
Jesus said to them, amen. I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
This gospel comes up on Sunday every three years.
The Word of God is always fresh, always alive, not just a rehash.
Because the Lord is present in His Word.
And the Lord speaks to us here and now through His Word.
All of which is to say, in reading this gospel afresh this year, something struck me that I had never thought of before.
Now, not everything that strikes me should necessarily strike you, but for the Word of the Lord is addressed to each of us in an individual way.
But I have a feeling that what struck me may have the same effect upon you.
It has to do with saying yes or no to the Lord.
We have examples in the Gospels of people who said yes or no to the Lord.
There was the rich young man whom Jesus called to follow him.
He thought it over and he said no.
There was Peter, Andrew, James, and John, whom Jesus called to follow him, and they said yes.
They left their boats and their nets and followed Jesus.
But later on, Peter said no.
He flat out denied Jesus three times.
Then, after Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter said yes.
Jesus asked him three times, do you love me?
And Peter three times said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
Then there is Mary.
She said yes.
She said, let it be done to me according to your word.
Then there was Judas, who, having first said yes to Jesus and accepting the call to be one of the 12, later said no and handed Jesus over to be arrested.
This raises some questions and some thoughts.
I think that we say yes to the Lord in those long haul decisions. For example, to be a member of the Church, to come faithfully to the Eucharist, or to be a lay minister or a religious or a priest.
But in the short term decisions, I don't think we say yes or no to the Lord.
We just sort of figure that the general direction of our life is a yes and that's it. We've said a long term yes.
We belong to the Church and are faithful in participating in the Eucharist and we live out our yes.
The problem I think has to do with our short term yes or our short term no.
I'm not sure that in our day to day short term decisions we say yes or no to the Lord on a given day. There are a lot of yeses and no's.
If we allowed ourselves to think about it, we'd be pretty sure of what the Lord is calling us to do or not to do. To say or not say.
In the situations of day to day life, we don't flat out say no to what the Lord is calling us to do or not do.
Instead we say nothing.
We don't say no. We simply don't do what the Lord is calling us to do.
It comes down to this.
We know that we have made a long term yes and we maintain that yes by remaining a faithful member of the Church.
But then we waffle on the short term yeses of day to day living.
We go our own way and never consider the fact that we're saying no to the Lord.
After all, we're living out our long term yes.
But in the short term stuff of the day, in day out living of our lives, we say no time and time again without even thinking about it.
I ask you this, and I ask myself this.
Would you or I directly say no to the Lord?
I think not.
So I have a suggestion.
Taking this parable seriously, we need to be upfront and honest.
Is the Lord calling me to do or not do this?
We need to have the honesty to say yes or no.
If I decide no, then I should say it.
You know what, I don't think we would do that very often.
If instead of avoiding the decision, we looked it in the eye, we would say yes.
We might say no at first, but as the young man did in today's gospel, we'd come to our senses.
It comes down to are we willing to listen to the Lord in the short term situations of day to day life?
And honestly say yes or no.
I believe if we faced up to it in that way, we'd say yes much more often than we do.
It would be a good idea to make those yeses explicit, and it would be a good idea to make those noes explicit.
It's not only a good idea, it could make all the difference in the world.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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