Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Obedient Friendship

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 12-13-22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr
Matthew 21:28–32
,br> Friends, today’s Gospel is the parable of the two sons,
a story about obedience to God.
To live the good life is not finally a matter of autonomy but of obeying commandments.

The obedience that Jesus desires is a surrender to the one who wants what is best for the surrenderer.
The entire to-be of the Son is a listening to the command of the Father,
and the creature, consequently, is meant to be nothing but a listening to the command of the Son.

This is why Jesus says in the Gospel of John,
"You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I do not call you servants any longer. . . . I have called you friends."
What was lost in the Garden of Eden was friendship with God,
symbolized by the easy fellowship enjoyed by Adam and Yahweh.

The whole of the biblical revelation—culminating in Jesus—
could be construed as the story of God’s attempt to restore friendship with the human race.
In the Last Supper discourse we hear the conditions for this restoration:
coinherence with God, which is tantamount to
an insertion into the coinherence that God is.

[MurphsLaw]

+++ Jesus said to the chief priests
and the 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.’
The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’
but afterwards he 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.”+++