SECOND THOUGHTS
INTRODUCTION
The title and theme of my homily today is “Second Thoughts”.
Part of being a human being is to have second thoughts.
Second thoughts.
“You know, I was thinking. Would it be okay if I a, a, a ... changed my a, a, a ... mind?”
Seconds thoughts.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
That thought hit me when I read today’s readings, especially
today’s gospel [Matthew 21: 28-32].
A man has two sons. He asks the oldest son to work in the
vineyard that day. And the oldest says, “I’m on my way” and he disappears. So
the father asks the second son and he says, “No!”
But the younger son has regrets. He has second thoughts. So
he changes his mind and goes and does the work.
And Jesus asks, “Which one does the father’s will? Which one
does what the father wanted?”
And obviously, the answer has to be the younger son.
And obviously Jesus is pointing out that the prostitutes and
the tax collectors, the sinners were the ones who had second thoughts and
started to convert when John the Baptist preached repentance. The elders and
the chief priests didn’t.
Second thoughts.
FRANK AND KATIE
Years ago I was preaching a parish mission down in Ohio. There
wasn’t any room in the rectory so myself and the priest I was working with stayed
in parishioner’s homes. Tom was with one family and I stayed with another
family. Neat.
The couple I stayed with had three kids. Two boys were away
at college -- Ohio University and the daughter was in her first year of college
-- but living at home -- and going to a community college -- much to the
delight of her parents. Three kids in college at once. Big time bucks!
Well, I came into the house -- in the back door on Thursday
afternoon and Katie, the wife and mother was in the kitchen and she says to me,
“Did you do the dishes?”
I said, “No!” but I lied. Katie said, “Oh!”
I went upstairs to change and I met Frank and he says to me,
“Did you do the dishes?”
I said, “No!” I lied again. I didn’t have any second
thoughts. I wanted Liz to get the credit.
Well, when I got downstairs a few minutes later for supper,
they both said to me, “You lied!” Obviously they compared notes. Then they
said, “Liz never does the dishes.”
Once more I lied.
There were only some cups and bowls and some plates from
breakfast and I had washed them after I had a sandwich for lunch. I didn’t want
to wear out my welcome.
Then at supper Frank and Katie said, “I guess we spoiled our
kids.” Then Frank went on. I ask Mike to cut the grass and he laughs and says,
“No!” Then I ask John and he says, “Yes!” but he doesn’t do it. Then surprise I
come home and one of them just did it. Then
at other times neither of them cut the grass. Knowing that sometimes I then do
it. But sometimes Mike does it fast and then I have to redo it. Smart kids.”
Well, when I read today’s gospel, I felt right at home. Very
real stuff.
But wouldn’t it have been great if Liz had second thoughts
and did the dishes?
LIFE IS SECOND
THOUGHTS AND THEN ACTING ON THEM
Life is having second thoughts and then doing something
about our thoughts.
We say the wrong thing. We do the wrong thing. We make a
mistake. We become lazy. We get into patterns that the other knows like the
plates in the kitchen. Isn’t it great when we surprise each other? Isn’t it
great when we do the dishes or empty the dishwasher or cut the grass or clean
the garage or put the seat down in the bathroom and surprise the other or
others. Surprise! I was thinking .....
TODAY’S SECOND
READING
In today’s second reading we have this great early Christian
hymn that St. Paul presents to us -- the kind of thinking we should have --the
kind of attitude we ought to have. It’s having the attitude of Christ. [Cf. Philippians 2:1-11]
God created the world and all was good.
Then we got our hands on it and messed it up.
Then God got angry.
Then God had second thoughts.
He called Abraham, Moses, the prophets.
Finally God had the great thought -- to send his Son to us
-- in the fullness of time. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word
become flesh, and lived amongst us. Then the Son had second and third and
fourth thoughts -- becoming our servant, then dying on the cross for us. And
because he did all this, the Father lifted him up.
Resurrection!
New Life.
Jesus is Lord -- the Lord of it all.
THE SECRET OF IT
ALL
There it is -- the secret of it all. Being human like being
God, we can have second thoughts. We can make changes -- significant changes.
We can have second thoughts and then surprise every one
around us with new and better behavior.
Isn’t that the secret of a happy marriage? People start to
do some thinking about their behavior. People start to have second thoughts.
“Hey I can be better. I can give more of myself. I can start to serve rather
than serving. I can start giving more than wanting to always get.”
Then the person does it. Surprise. Life. Resurrection.
Exaltation.
That’s how people make it to their 25th, 30th, 40th wedding
anniversary. Amen.
CONCLUSION
Let me give a small example to conclude this homily.
This is an example I saw in some book or a magazine
somewhere. I used it a few times this year in our parish missions and I think
someone said they also saw it somewhere. It’s a good example on second
thoughts.
It goes something like this:
“Recently I witnessed a moment of deep soulfulness between
two strangers. I was at a bus stop, sitting next to a woman reading a
newspaper, but I was totally engrossed in the performance of a 14-year old boy
on a skateboard. He had his baseball cap turned around with the bill in the
back, and was skating beautifully and very fast. He buzzed by us once, then
twice. When he came by a third time, he accidentally knocked the woman’s
newspaper out of her hands. She said, ‘Oh, why don’t you grow up!’
“I watched him glide to the corner of the block, where he
stood talking with his buddy. The two of them kept looking back over their
shoulders at the woman. She hesitated for a moment, then rolled up her paper,
tucked it under her arm and walked into the street, motioning to him. ‘Won’t
you come here?’ she called. ‘I want to talk to you.’
“Very reluctantly, he skated over to her, turned his cap
around with the bill in front, and said, ‘Yeah?’
“She said, ‘What I meant to say was that I was afraid that I might get hurt. I
apologize for what I did say.’
“His face lit up, and he said, ‘How cool!’
“In that moment, I witnessed what is called in Spanish a milagro
pequeno -- a small miracle. This small miracle was a holy, healing
moment between generations, between two human beings who had just become
important strangers to each other. The woman chose to shift the shape of her
experience by moving out of reactivity to creativity. This kind of shape
shifting is possible when we allow ourselves to speak directly from our soul.’”
[1]
NOTES:
[1] p. 39 in Homiletics. From Angeles Arrien in “Walking the
Mystical Path With Practical Feet,” in Nourishing
the Souls, ed. Anne Simpkinson, Charles Simpkinson & Rose Solari, (Harper San Francisco, 1995) p. 104
