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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept.

25, 2011 (Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32) Paul continues his instructions to the Philippians which began last week. He addresses proper conduct for Christians in a list which includes: Do nothing out of selfishnessrather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. He then quotes an early Christian hymn which reflects on the humility of Christ Jesus, whom the Christian is called to imitate. The hymn speaks of Christ emptying himself of his divinity. Indeed, he did not regard his equality with God something to be grasped. Some mistakenly think that grasped means to be understood. Its actual meaning is to be jealously held on to in the sense that he might have been reluctant to let go of his divinity. But Christ Jesus emptied himself of his divinity to take on the form of a slave. That is one of the harder things for Christians to understand about Christ. That means that all Jesus said and did, he did as a human being. He took on the form of a slave and as a slave he died, humbly, on a cross. This led to his exaltation by the Father and a return to his equality with God. Thus, having reclaimed his divinity, he has a name above every other name so that at his name, every knee should bend and every tongue should proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Depending on when Paul wrote this letter (mid 50s AD), it means that this hymn came together in the thirty or so years since the crucifixion had taken place. It is astonishing to think that early Christians were able to accomplish this depth of thought in such a short time. Here it seems appropriate to give a nod to Church musicians whose own musical genius has enabled us to pray twice as St. Augustine suggested for those who sing. Their work since the reforms of Vatican II has transformed us into a singing Church. May it ever be so! The audience for the Gospel scene (the chief priests and elders of the people) adds to the drama because they are the ones to whom Jesus speaks. They are forced to admit that talk is cheap and that action is what is necessary. It was the tax collectors and prostitutes who responded to the reform message preached by John the Baptist. Professional religionists did not. Thus Jesus equates their lack of action with children who say yes to the fathers bidding but who then do nothing. The son who said yes, but did nothing, is equated to the chief priests and elders who thought they were righteous, but they did nothing when John came to them in the way of righteousness. But the tax collectors and prostitutes were like the son who said no but then changed his mind, and did his fathers bidding. Thus

they are entering the kingdom of God before the priests and elders who already considered themselves righteous. It must have galled them to be compared with tax collectors and prostitutes, but Jesus did have his way of discomfiting the comfortable. He continued to shame the elders and the priests by noting that even after they saw tax collectors and prostitutes repent, they still did not change their minds and believe in John. They have already questioned Jesus authority to do the things he does (both his actions and his teaching) and they will do so again. By rejecting both Jesus and John, they have shown that they have no intention of changing. This amounts to a warning, much like Isaiah envisioned in the first reading.

Fr. Lawrence Hummer

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