Backing up our words with our actions
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What
is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go
out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not, ' but
afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave
the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, ‘but did not go. Which of the two
did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said
to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering
the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of
righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe
him."
Have you heard the phrase, “talk is cheap”? Of course you
have. It means that it’s easy to say one thing and do another. Or, how
convenient it is to tell a lie and get out of trouble. One of the greatest
movies of all time is “The Princess Bride.” (Just kidding, it’s good, not
great.) In one compelling scene Westley has been captured and Count Tyrone says
with a sinister smile, “Come sir, we must get you to your ship.” That was
completely false; they were going to torture and finally kill him. Westley
wisely replies: “We are men of action; lies do not become us.” Westley say
through the Count’s craftiness. You see, what makes talk cheap is that it is
not backed up by our actions, or worse, our actions go in the opposite
direction of our words; they undermine our words. Like any form of currency,
like the U.S. dollar or the European Euro, talk becomes cheap when it’s not
backed up by the gold of our actions and choices. Men of action always get the
best exchange rate for their words because their talk is never cheap.
In the gospel today we meet two kinds of men: one is a man
of action, the other is full of cheap talk. Jesus tells the parable of a man
with two sons, each of whom he asks to work in his vineyard. The first says,
“no” but he goes and works; the second says, “Sure!” but he doesn’t; he’s lazy
and stays home. Even the chief priests and elders could see the first son was
the man of action, the laudable son, while the second son was basically a
snake-oil salesman. Jesus drives home his point: talk is cheap, what matters
are our actions. You see, the chief priests and the elders talked a good game,
but their actions often contradicted true conversion of heart. The cash-talk of
the chief priests was cheap because it wasn’t backed up by the gold of their
actions; they were not men of action.
Recently, a distraught wife went to the local police
station, along with her next-door neighbor, to report that her husband was missing.
The policeman asked for a description of the missing man. The wife said: “He’s
35 years old, 6-foot 4-inches talk, has dark eyes, dark wavy hair, an athletic
build, weighs 185 pounds, is soft-spoken, and is good to the children.” The
next door neighbor protested: “Your husband is 5-foot 8-inches, chubby, bald,
has a big mouth, and is mean to your children.” The wife replied, “Yes, but who
wants HIM back?” The wife was looking for a good man of action. Isn’t that what
all women are looking for?
I’m currently reading Scott Hahn’s new book called
“Consuming the Word.” It’s about how the early Christians understood the Bible.
He made this surprising statement. He said: “The expressions ‘Old Testament’
and ‘New Testament’ were not applied to the sacred books [of the Bible] until
the end of the second century.” Hahn explains further: “For the Apostle Paul
and the early Christians the ‘new covenant’ [the New Testament] was neither a
book nor a collection of books, but rather the dynamic reality of the new bond
between God and Christian believers based on the person and saving work of
Christ” (p. 30). In other words, the New Testament was first sacred action
before it was a sacred word; it was the Holy Mass before it was the Holy Bible.
You see two centuries of liturgical action was like the gold that was needed to
underwrite the words that the apostles used to compose the New Testament.
Because the apostles were first men of action in living their faith, their
words were not cheap when they wrote about their faith.
You probably know by now that I’ve written a book myself.
It’s called “Oh, For the Love of God.” For the love of God, I’m glad it’s
finally finished! Now, if you’re thinking about writing a book, let me give you
a little friendly advice: DON’T DO IT!! Why? Well, first because I don’t need
the competition from other books better than mine. If you don’t write, better
chance someone will buy mine. Second, because writing a book is very humbling.
It took many hands to put together this book, and in the end, my own
contribution was rather small. But here’s the main reason: now people can read
my words and see what they weigh, whether my talk is cheap, or if my words are
backed by the gold of any good actions. Does my book reveal me to be like the
first son who was a man of action, or the second son, the snake-oil salesman?
And so, it’s much easier NOT to write a book, and because if you do, you learn
exactly what the exchange rate is for your words.
Of course, no one will escape having their name in a book, namely,
the Book of Life. There, the story of our whole lives will be written for all
the world to see. Our words will be weighed in the balance of divine justice,
and Jesus will judge whether we were men and women of action, or people full of
cheap talk. You know, it’s not an easy thing to write a book. The book of my
life is being written now, even as I speak these words. And so is your’s.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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