Please read this passage before reading the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
Which one did the father’s will, Judas Iscariot or the leaders of the people? Judas. He repented of his actions. The leaders did not café about his repentance.
Which of the two did the Father’s will? The one said no, but did; the other said yes, but did not. The one who changed his mind and did the Father’s will; this one is identified as one of the tax collectors and sexual deviants.
It is those who struggle with habits of sin and addictions who are doing the will of the Father. They show by their struggles that they have the intention of doing what the Father wants them to do.
Those who do not struggle seem content in their present state. They show no need to repent of their sin.
The first son said, “No”, but did. He was like the tax collector and prostitutes: greedy and deviant. The second said, “Yes”, but did not, like the leaders who did not care about Judas’s repentance.
This is a call to us that we not neglect the call to repentance and conversion. We are always those who at first said, “No”, but later repented.
In my experience, those whom society and “good” people consider bad or unwanted are the ones who do the will of the Father. These are the ones who identify more with the poor, the suffering, the disables and the one not wanted by society. They readily speak up for the underdog, those who are bullied, the nobodies of the world. These are the eons who are entering the Kingdom of God.
Those who are held in honor by society have to emulate the love for neighbor shown by those who are called tax collectors and prostitutes.