THE BROKEN VOW AND FREQUENT FALL

Today's liturgy reminds us of the various vows and commitments we made before God and his people as witnesses. As clerics and religious, we made the vows of obedience to our legitimate superiors and bishops, and the vows of chastity and poverty. To couples, before the Altar and the people of God, you promised “I will” or “I do” during the matrimonial rite. ‘How far’ about your promises? Have you forgotten you made such promises, or are you acting in disobedience? At baptism, we promised obedience to God and the teachings of the Church. Are these vows and promises which we made still intact, or are they all broken? Do we seek reasons to justify our disobedience to God? Once again, let us ponder on today’s readings.

In the first reading, a picture of the justice and mercy of God is presented to us through the prophet Ezekiel. God reminds the people of Israel of their claims in an attempt to justify themselves for their sufferings at the hands of their captors and enemies in exile when they said, “The way of the Lord is not just” (Ez. 18:25). Is it God’s way that is not just or the way of man? Last week we reflected on the justice of God shown to the labourers he employed to work in his vineyard, whom he treated equally, with unconditional love and generosity (Lk. 20:1-16). Today, the justice of God is reflected as a merciful Father.

God points to the Israelites that they are responsible for their predicaments; there is no need to shift blame because they renounced their integrity of being sons of God. Renouncing their integrity of being righteous people to become sinners is clear disobedience to the will of God, of which the consequence is death. On the other hand, when a sinner turns from his evil ways or wickedness to obey God’s laws by keeping the vows he/she has made and doing what is right, the sinner shall live again. Ezekiel points out to us the necessary need for repentance in order to regain our integrity as children of God. 

Christ in the Gospel presents to us the consequence of disobedience to the will of God through the parable of a man with two sons. The parable shows two different kinds of sons. Christ in this parable distinguishes the attitude of the Pharisees and Scribes from that of the tax collectors, prostitute/harlots and all who are considered sinners. The two sons failed their father, either by words or by action. The first son responded to the call of the Father, saying, “I will not go!” and after reflecting on the goodness and faithfulness of the Father, he repented and later went to the vineyard. Exactly what the prophet Ezekiel said in the first reading: “When a wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is right, he shall save his life” (Ez.18:27). On the other hand, the second son said, “I will go” to the vineyard but did not go. He represents the righteous one who turns from his righteousness to do evil, and the consequence is death. 

It is a pity that many of us Christians are like the second son who are fast in making vows, saying, “I will go, sir, but did not go,” neither do we make efforts to fulfill any of the promises we made in obedience to the will of God. The second son represent those of us that have been baptized, confirmed, ordained or married, who boldly said “I will” or “I do, to all questions posed to us during the sacraments before God and before man that stands as witness, but never or partially fulfil these promises. Put differently, we are always on broken vows and frequent fall. We admit the Word of God is true, we intend to get serious about it someday, and we talk about doing the Father’s work. We keep the external appearance of our religion, but our hearts are not right with God. We make many promises without fulfilling them; we promise to repent but will not repent, and we speak of believing in God, but do not believe. We promise to be submissive, but do not submit ourselves to the will of God; neither are we submissive to our spouse, parents, superiors or bishops. So many promises we make end as mere promises. It will be more terrible and dangerous for us if we continue this way because we are lying against the Holy Spirit, which makes our conscience more hardened. These are the things Christ saw in the lives of the Pharisees and Scribes that made him say to them, “Truly, the tax collectors and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Mt 21:31). This parable also brings hope to sinners who have abandoned righteousness and embrace wickedness. All we need to do is repent and obey the law of the Lord; for the Lord is compassionate, slow to anger and rich in mercy.

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ