On the Back Porch
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
This well-known parable is located within a section of Matthew’s gospel when Jesus is being questioned about the source of his authority. While the scribes and Pharisees have already reached a conclusion (Jesus is in league with Satan), they are seeking to have Jesus make a public statement about the source of his teaching and miraculous powers. Jesus’ response to the challenge to his authority indicates two possibilities: authority can come from heaven or from humans.
One biblical scholar offered, “First, there is human authority. No matter how sophisticatedly it is packaged, human authority is a matter of raw power. If you have enough people behind you or guns with you, you have it, and what you say goes, period. Divine authority, on the other hand, has to do with truth, the truth of God, the truth about who God made us to be. In the short run, human authority can appear to overwhelm divine authority – even to crucify it – but, ultimately, God’s truth prevails.”
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Parable of the Two Sons, Andrei Monorov, 2012 | CC BY SA 4.0
Fairness
In the first reading for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel: “You say, ‘The LORD’s way is not fair!’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?“
When we assert that something is “unfair,” in Biblical terms we are saying it is “unjust.” We want to restore fairness, restore justice. It is a need in our world today and a controversial topic. But what is justice, exactly, and who gets to define it? In this video, we’ll explore the biblical theme of Justice and discover how it’s deeply rooted in the story-line of the Bible that leads to Jesus.