{"id":1080,"date":"2012-08-25T00:43:50","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T06:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2015-11-18T20:24:12","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T02:24:12","slug":"parable-of-the-two-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/catholic\/parable-of-the-two-sons\/","title":{"rendered":"Parable of the Two Sons"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Carl Bloch, 1890<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The degree to which we receive Christ, His mission, His word, His covenant, His peace and His command is important since our commitment to Him will determine our actions. That is, what we say should be the same as what we do. There are four ways to respond to Christ. Two of them are mentioned in the parable of the Two Sons in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew. The other two we can deduce. Let’s look at Matthew.<\/p>\n

Matthew 21:28-32<\/div>
28<\/span>But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard.<\/div>
29<\/span>And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went.<\/div>
30<\/span>And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not.<\/div>
31<\/span>Which of the two did the father's will? They say to him: The first. Jesus saith to them: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you.<\/div>
32<\/span>For John came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him. But the publicans and the harlots believed him: but you, seeing it, did not even afterwards repent, that you might believe him.<\/div><\/blockquote><\/p>\n

Here we have two possibilities: to say no but do yes, and to say yes but do no. There are also two more possibilities, to say no and do no, and to say yes and do yes.<\/p>\n

Say No\/ Do No
\nThe one who said no and did no is Lucifer, the enemy and the accuser. In tradition the Latin phrase, Non Serviam, I will not serve, is attributed to Satan. He is the one in Isaiah 14:13<\/span> who said, \u201cI will scale the heavens above the stars of God and set up my throne,\u201d and yet he is thrust down to the depths of the pit. Even so, there are legitimate times to say no, such as when you are getting burnt out or over extended. One must also consider his vocation. A husband and father of seven kids is needed at home.<\/p>\n

Say Yes\/Do No
\nTo say yes but to do otherwise is to do your own will and not to do the will of God. Judas said yes and followed Christ in the inner circle of apostles and yet he is the one who betrayed Christ and is the one who served himself at the same time that Christ was serving others at the Last Supper.<\/p>\n

Say No\/ Do Yes
\nWe have already seen in the Parable of the Two Sons that those who repent of their selfish ways and do good works are true sons. Jesus teaches this explicitly in Mark 3:35<\/span>
\n\u201c\u2026Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say Yes\/ Do Yes
\nWe can certainly say that Jesus is the good son since He speaks and does the will of His Father. Yet there is another who embodies the perfection of all grace, one who received God\u2019s word, agreed to it and remains sinless. I am speaking of our Blessed Mother, Immaculate and Most Holy Mary. She is the one who received the word of God and gave her fiat; she said yes. She said, \u201cBehold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.\u201d Mary gave her entire self to God and God gave His entire self to us. The way that salvation came to us is through a young girl who reserved nothing. What a great example of how we ought to give.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>Isaiah 14:13<\/span>
View in: NAB<\/a> Vulg<\/a> Hebrew<\/a><\/span><\/div>
13<\/span>And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>Mark 3:35<\/span>
View in: NAB<\/a> Vulg<\/a> Greek<\/a><\/span><\/div>
35<\/span>For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>

The degree to which we receive Christ, His mission, His word, His covenant, His peace and His command is important since our commitment to Him will determine our actions. That is, what we say should be the same as what we do. There are four ways to respond to Christ. Two of them are mentioned … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1281,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}