The correct answer isn’t always right

This Sunday’s Gospel story was meant to shock people who think they’re okay spiritually but do not honestly examine how well they do the Father’s will. Jesus said that tax collectors and prostitutes (professions considered to be the most contemptible and unholy) were entering the kingdom of God ahead of religious experts!

These so-called “experts” knew the correct answer to the question that Jesus posed — they knew to say yes to God — but knowing the right answer and actually DOing the right answer is the dividing line between heaven and hell.

God doesn’t want right answers; he wants righteous actions. God doesn’t want dutiful compliance to Church teachings; he wants obedience motivated by love and an enthusiastic attitude of serving in the mission of the Church.

What’s the value of going to Mass every Sunday, for example, if it doesn’t result in deeds of holiness outside the Mass? Do you know someone who’s saying “no” to coming to Mass? If they’re doing good works because they genuinely love God, who’s to say they won’t reach full unity with him sooner than people who attend every Mass but do little to help others?

God wants us to do both: Know the right answers and be righteous. Go to Mass faithfully and be changed by it. Say yes to his calling to make the world a better place by uniting ourselves to Christ in church and following out him out the door, taking him to everyone we meet.

Donate to DSA