26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A — 27 September 2026
Fr. Louison Emerick Bissila Mbila, C.S.Sp. (translated from the French original)
Ezekiel 18:25–28; Psalm 24 (25); Philippians 2:1–11; Matthew 21:28–32.
Dear brothers and sisters,
1. We often think of God’s omniscience in these terms: “God knows everything. Since he knows everything, he knows the past, the present and the future. He therefore knows who will be saved and who is already condemned. If that is the case, why should we bother? If it is settled that I will be condemned to live separated from God for all eternity, why make any effort, why come to Mass? Would it not be better simply to enjoy life?”
Today’s readings reveal to us the living and true God, the One God, not a god born of human imagination. The God who makes himself known in Scripture did not create us as machines or pre-programmed software. He created us free, capable of change. In short, nothing is decided in advance. Otherwise, we would be wasting our time trying to walk the path of righteousness and holiness if our fate were already sealed.
2. God made us for life, a life that is not limited to this world. He desires that all of us, the good and the wicked alike, may live eternally with him. In the first reading, the surprise lies above all in what God says about the wicked. We would normally think that God wants the wicked to perish, and that is all. But no! The Lord also looks upon the wicked with mercy. God does not love evil, but he loves the person and wants that person to live. How? By being converted. At the same time, God encourages the one who does good to persevere to the end. If the wicked turn away from their wickedness, they shall live. But if the righteous turn away from their righteousness, they shall die. Human beings are capable of change, for better or for worse, but God wants it to be for the better.
3. In the Gospel, Jesus takes up the same theme as the prophet Ezekiel. This time he addresses a category of people who believe they have no need of conversion: the chief priests and the elders. Saint Matthew tells us that Jesus addresses the parable of the two sons specifically to them. There is one son who begins badly and ends well, just as there is one who begins well and ends badly. The first son had refused to go and work in his father’s vineyard. But afterwards, coming to his senses, he decides to go. In terms of the first reading, this is the situation of the wicked person, the one who said no to God by his way of life but who later converts and returns to the Lord. For Jesus, this is the case of the tax collectors and prostitutes. When they heard the message of conversion of the Kingdom of God, they changed their way of life.
However, there is the second son, who said yes and in the end did nothing. He began well only to end badly. He reminds us of the situation, in the first reading, of the righteous person who turns away from the right path. And Jesus warns the chief priests and the elders of the people that they are in this situation because of their refusal to be converted. It is then that he addresses to them the shocking words we have just heard: “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you.”
4. Is Jesus encouraging tax collectors and prostitutes in their wrongdoing? Of course not. In reality, if we follow the logic of the parable, Christ is referring to repentant tax collectors and prostitutes. It is true that for people, for these priests and elders, they are nothing more and nothing less than tax collectors and prostitutes. But for the Lord, they are people renewed on the road to salvation. These people, regarded as detestable, are presented as models of cooperation with divine grace.
5. For us today, let us remember that we will be judged on our deeds and not on our fine words. What counts is doing the will of God, not even the fine words we profess, important as they may be. How many promises have we made that have not been kept? It is not enough, for example, to have said this or that on one’s wedding day. One must live it out, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.
6. Finally, the Lord our God does not lock us into our past, whatever we may have done. Christ sets us free from slavery to the past. The worst insult to his mercy is to believe that what we have done is too great for it. In the same way, let us not lock others into their past. There are people who, even after confessing their sins, receiving absolution and doing their penance, do not believe that God has forgiven them. This shows that they are still prisoners of the past. Christ Jesus holds out his hand to free us from all our prisons, including the prison of an existence that locks us in the cells of the past. Will we seize the opportunity offered to us? Amen.