Will We Answer The Call?

As in the parable of the vineyard which we reflected upon last week, Jesus is again letting the chief priests and the Pharisees are not being found worthy of the promise. They failed to recognize the Son and so were unwilling to listen. The question being asked us is, “Will we be worthy?” We aren’t being asked to save ourselves, Jesus did that. All we need to do is say “thank you” and follow him. We know what that means, but we can get complacent and lazy. We can fall into old habits. We can forget to pray. We can allow anger or jealousy into our hearts or fail to ask forgiveness or to forgive. There are so many little ways that we can begin to stray. I am intentionally saying “we” because I am also guilty. There are people in my life that I consider “thorns” that I need to deal with and pray for. So I know that it’s not always easy! Sometimes, the closer they are, the more difficult it is, because we tend to expect more from those who say they love us. Other times, it is the workplace or the neighborhood that can be difficult. I have been lucky to work most of my life in an environment that was healthy for my faith. But other times, it could be challenging. As hard as we work at staying on the right path, there will be times when we are like the Centurion who approached Jesus to ask him to heal his servant when he said, “O Lord, I am not worthy!” Although the Jewish leaders were not always ready to see Jesus as the Messiah, there were others like the Centurion who were not Jews, who saw something special in him and were more than willing to answer the invitation. Those of us who have said “yes” to the invitation, must continue to say that “yes” with the quality of our lives.