Professing but not practicing faith

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Word Alive

Professing but not practicing faith

By FR. BEL R. SAN LUIS, SVD

September 23, 2011, 11:42pm

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — A lady once confided to a neighbor, “Wives often talk against their husbands but I never do it, even if my husband is lazy, a gambler, and womanizer.”

Look who’s talking! Our Lord in this 26th Sunday’s gospel talks about prostitutes and even speaks kindly of them, saying: “Prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you” (Mt 21:11). Jesus says the same with tax collectors who were detested during his time.

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What does Jesus mean by the statement? The younger son represents the tax collectors and prostitutes whose lives have been a “No” to God, but who now repent and enter the kingdom of God. In contrast, the elder son symbolizes the Jewish leaders who professed to be religious but did not respond to John the Baptist’s call for repentance.

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Jesus was proposing this little “quiz” to see not how smart his listeners were but to drive home the point that, in their relationship with God, it is not what you say, not what you promise, but rather what you do or what you translate into action.

Once a businessman was ordering 500 ballpoint pens from an office equipment salesman. The latter was writing the order in his notebook, when suddenly the buyer exclaimed, “Hold on! I’m cancelling the order.”

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The salesman left the store wondering why the wholesaler suddenly changed his mind. “Why did you suddenly cancel that order of ballpens?” asked a surprised bookkeeper. “Why?” answered the man angrily. “Because he talked about ballpens to me for half an hour, using every convincing argument, and then he wrote out my order with a pencil! His practice did not agree with his profession.”

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In our relationship with God, it may not have to do about ballpens but the point is: Are we practicing what we profess?

The parable is, therefore, a WARNING for us. It cautions us not to get satisfied with professing our faith, and then failing to practice it; with making good intentions, and not fulfilling them. As the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

There are some Christians, for instance, who are faithful in fulfilling their Sunday obligations but then for the rest of the week they deal harshly with their helpers or cheat and slander their fellowmen. Or, there are those who pledge their love for their spouse before God in marriage, but then they have other women on the side.

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But besides warning us, the parable also expresses HOPE. Jesus consorting with notorious sinners did not mean approval of their activities, any more than Pope John’s embrace of the murderer implied approval of his crime.

By showing compassion to depraved people, Jesus hoped to appeal to the spark of goodness still in them as God’s children. We may have been slaves to some sin in the past, we may have been sensual like Mary Magdalene, dishonest like Matthew, greedy like Zacchaeus, or violent and rebellious like Paul, but we can rise from our sins. We can change. 

There’s always hope. There’s no room for despair.

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WATCH FAMILY TV MASS – on IBC 13, 9-10 a.m. every Sunday.  It’s also aired on GMA Pinoy Global Channel. For Mass intentions, call Brian at Christ the King Seminary (cf. tel. directory) or e-mail: familytv.mass@yahoo.com.