Do you have a junk drawer in your house? A bursting closet, storeroom, basement, or attic? Don’t we all? Depending on how long you’ve lived in your present house, over the months and years, you’ve probably been tossing all kinds of things into your junk drawers, or closets, or storerooms, or basements, or attics. Maybe you’ve finally convinced yourself that you absolutely have to do some clearing out. These days magazines like Woman’s Day, the AARP magazine, and USA Weekend, to mention just a few, harp on our need to declutter – perhaps to make room for what we’ll acquire during the holiday shopping season! These articles also acknowledge that decluttering is difficult. Psychologists tell us that we should begin the clearing out process by asking ourselves what keeps us from getting started. Do we feel overwhelmed by all our stuff, is it difficult to find the time to begin, or do we fear the negative emotions we might dredge up? More pragmatic organization experts suggest a sorting approach, i.e., taking our kitchen implements, clothes, books, mementoes, pictures, whatever, and sorting them into at least three piles: 1) love it, use it, look at it, or wear it all the time; 2) use it, look at it, or wear it occasionally; and 3) haven’t used it, looked at it, or worn it for at least a year. The things in category 1 go back to their places to continue to be used or treasured. The still-usable items in category 3 go into a donate-to-charity box, and the useless items get tossed. The items in category 2 are carefully examined again, and finally are either kept or discarded. Such sorting is not easy, but for most of us it is a needed and ultimately freeing exercise.
How about the rest of your life? Do you have a spiritual junk drawer, or closet? Our Scripture lessons today, especially our Gospel lesson, bid us also to take an honest look at our spiritual lives and consider whether and where spiritual sorting may be called for. In our Gospel lesson, Jesus has triumphantly entered into Jerusalem – an event that we remember on Palm Sunday. Filled with zeal and anger, Jesus then charged into the temple and made all the money changers and animal sellers get out. No wonder the religious leaders wondered where Jesus had gotten the authority to do what he did. Wouldn’t you have, in their shoes? Jesus flung their question back at them with a question of his own about the role of John the Baptist. Of course, Jesus was alluding to John’s identification of him as the Messiah, thus implicitly answering their question. But Jesus also reminded the religious leaders that John had called for all people to repent, to change their way of thinking and the way they lived their lives.
Then Jesus told a little story about two sons. After initially refusing, the first son did what his father had asked. After initially agreeing, the second son did not do what his father had asked. Jesus forced his listeners to choose between the sons. Of course, they gave the right answer: ultimately what matters is what we do in response to God’s call, not the beliefs we profess or the long prayers we intone. Yet I wonder. Isn’t it a little too easy to think that people can be identified and grouped this way? Perhaps Matthew’s community saw the first members of the Kingdom of God as those, both Jews and Gentiles, who had followed Christ, and saw the Jewish religious leadership as lesser members. But again, I wonder. It’s so easy to be judgmental. It’s so easy to see one group as redeemed and another group as unworthy, so easy to think that we are among the redeemed – because we’re of the right gender or ethnicity, or because we have a beautiful liturgy, or we profess the right beliefs, or we give generously to the poor – and to think that others who don’t share our identity, practices, and views are cast out.
Brothers and sisters, the truth is that today’s readings, and especially the story of the two sons, invite us to take a both/and approach. Aren’t we all sometimes and in some ways like both sons? Aren’t there times when we promise what we can’t or won’t, or don’t have the will to deliver? Conversely, aren’t there aspects of our lives that we deeply regret, that we are striving to bring more closely into line with God’s expectations? Our Gospel story suggests that both sons actually need to repent, to change their lives. And the good news is that we can repent. In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, God assured the Israelite exiles that repentance was always open to them: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.” In Jesus’ little story we are reminded and reassured that we are not bound by the past. We are not saved by our past promises, but neither are we determined or condemned by our past deeds. We can all repent, we can all turn around, and we can all change, with God’s help.
And yet we know that repentance is difficult. Just like decluttering, repentance requires of us a deep, self-examination, a true clearing out of spiritual junk drawers and closets. What keeps us from engaging in this kind of honest appraisal of our lives? What keeps us from following through on our best intentions and responding to God’s call to a more honest life? Do we think that our drawers and closets are already spotless? Are we like those who are sure of their own righteousness, certain that they have nothing of which to repent? Or conversely, are our lives, like our overflowing closets, such a mess that we feel overwhelmed by the prospect of even beginning? Are we afraid of the time such self-examination might take? Or are we afraid of what we might find if we do begin the process of self-examination?
Perhaps we need to follow the organization gurus. Perhaps we need to begin by taking baby steps, or breaking the task down into small manageable parts. Perhaps we can look first at our beliefs and prejudices. Perhaps we can engage in a kind of sorting process. What do our social or political beliefs look like? Where did or do we get them? What should we keep, what discard? Do we have positions on issues of which we are still absolutely certain? Are there positions which we’ve inherited perhaps but don’t agree with anymore? Do our views on some issues, capital punishment, abortion, immigration, health insurance, global poverty, or peace need rethinking? What about our spiritual beliefs? When was the last time we truly examined what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, evil, salvation, prayer, the sacraments, other religions? Of which of our long-held convictions are we still absolutely certain? Are some of our convictions out of date? Do they need to be discarded? Which beliefs bear closer examination? Should we perhaps engage with others in examining what we think we believe?
Perhaps our practices also need the same kind of sorting approach, both for us as individuals and for us as a parish. Can you take a hard look at your traditions as a family? Are some to be cherished, and others to be changed, now that your life circumstances have changed? Don’t we often find that holiday traditions need to be examined closely as our circumstances change? What about our personal spiritual practices? Can you take a hard look at them? What should be kept, what discarded, what rethought? What about our worship life here? What should we keep, what might we stop doing, what do we need to examine more closely?
Taking a hard look at our spiritual lives is often difficult. We know that, which is why we are often so reluctant to engage seriously with spiritual issues. And yet, God through the prophet Ezekiel and through Jesus in today’s Gospel asks us to think, to ponder, and to reflect. Today’s readings offer us hope that honest self-examination, repentance, and change of life will bring us closer to one another and nearer to God’s kingdom. They also remind us that we must continue to look at our lives carefully, regularly, perhaps even daily. Even ten minutes a day, as we say our last prayers, will help us to begin the process of self-examination. As we let go of unneeded aspects of our lives, as we declutter our spiritual lives, God, who is “slow to guide and swift to bless,” will move in to graciously direct more and more of our lives. As our paths become clearer and freer of unneeded burdens, we become more and more the person that God created us to be, and our feet are ever more firmly fixed on the path that leads us into the Kingdom of God. May Jesus ever give you a clearer vision of the way into the Kingdom.
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