Ezekiel 18:25-28 / Philippians 2:1-11 / Matthew 21:28-32
To get a good head start in life is certainly a privilege as well as an advantage.
A good head start would probably mean having a stable family background and good upbringing.
It would also probably mean having the intellectual capacity and ability to attain a good educational qualification.
All these conditions would give a good head start in life. Or so it seems.
Let us take a look at Thomas Edison, Beethoven, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton.
They have renowned accomplishments and achievements in life, and we would presume that they have had a good head start.
But that was not the case in their younger years.
Thomas Edison was kind of deaf, and in school, his teacher called him unintelligent and unteachable. But he became a prolific inventor and the electric bulb is one of his many inventions.
Beethoven, the great composer, had a childhood marked by severe emotional and physical abuse.
Albert Einstein had speech delay and academic rejection, and yet he became a great scientist.
Isaac Newton was considered a lazy and inattentive and was always at the bottom of his class. Yet, from him came the Newton's law of motion and gravity.
These are enough examples of renowned people who didn't have a good head start, was disadvantaged, and lacking in many ways.
Yet they managed to overcome some of their early adversities, whether it was physical disabilities, poverty, trauma, or labeled as unintelligent.
But it also cannot be denied that there are many others who could not overcome their adversities and disadvantages.
In the Gospel, Jesus told the chief priests and the elders of the parable of the two sons.
In answer to His question about who did the father's will, they said it was the first son.
Then Jesus connected the parable to the conversion of the tax collectors and prostitutes, in contrast to the obstinate and stubborn attitude of the chief priests and the elders.
The tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners did not choose to be like that in life.
They probably didn't have a good head start, and they could not overcome the adversities and disadvantages in life.
But they responded to the message of John the Baptist, the message of repentance, and they embarked on the road of conversion.
The chief priests and the elders would have a good head start, and life was comfortable for them.
But they have become complacent as they were not seeing and hearing what God is showing and saying to them.
But regardless of whether it was a tax collector, a prostitute, a sinner, a high priest, or an elder, it is tragic when one does not see or hear what God is saying and showing.
I remember that many years ago I was going for home communion visits to an elderly couple.
The wife shared that they had four children. The first three were bright and intelligent. They were her pride and happiness. But the fourth child, a boy, was born with Down’s Syndrome.
The couple felt sad and angry about that fourth child. The wife also questioned God about being burdened by that fourth child and saw it as a kind of punishment.
So, while the other three children went on to achieve much in life, that fourth child was left without much in life and was like a burden for the family.
Eventually, the other three children got married and moved out of the home, leaving the couple with that son.
As the couple were getting on in years, it was that fourth child who was always with them to keep them company.
In whatever capacity he could manage, he was a help and a comfort to his parents in their old age.
As the wife shared all that, the son was sitting beside her, and I wondered if he could comprehend what his mother shared.
Finally, the wife said that what she thought was a burden turned out to be a blessing.
Today's gospel parable tells us that there are many who do not have a good head start, and they also do not have that many advantages and privileges in life.
We can be God's sign of hope for them, just as how the message of John the Baptist gave hope to the tax collectors and prostitutes.
Let us see these people as blessings and not as burdens, for through them God will show us what is love and humility.