Social Justice Sunday
A reflection on the Sunday readings and the 2014 Social Justice Statement: "A Crown for Australia - Striving for the best in our sporting nation".
You can download a copy of the Social Justice Statement here.
Todays' reading are about saying 'Yes' and doing what we say we will do.
Ezekiel is speaking to his people in exile, who regard their situation as unfair punishment and are blaming God for their predicament, What the Lord does is unjust. Ezekiel urges them to stop blaming God and others and to change themselves so they can more effectively cope with their situation. Regardless of the circumstances they can maintain their own integrity.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians encourages them say Yes to God in the way Jesus exemplified commitment. He emptied himself, even to accepting death so they we might live. The phrase let there be no competition among you seems to undermine the very basis every competitive sports club there is! However, the meaning is deeper than this. Paul is calling us to regard everyone as equal, even to consider the other person as better than ourselves so that nobody thinks of their own interests first but everybody thinks of other people's interests instead. The message Paul is imparting is: In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus. The analogy in sport – and life - is not difficult to see. When players focus on the team and not just on themselves, invariably it draws the best out of them as individuals makes for a better team effort. The opposite is also true; when players focus on themselves and draw attention to themselves, their own game suffers and the team is diminished.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable of the first son, who says No; he won't go to the vineyards to work but later he thought better of it and went. The second son says Yes he will go. But he doesn't.
Sports commentators often say of a team or of individual players, They have turned up to play today. This sounds like stating the obvious: of course they have turned up to play! However, it usually means that the players are not just taking their position on the field or court and running around to keep up the appearance of being there - they are playing their hearts out; they are making an all-out effort to play to the best of their ability.
The first son turned up to play. The second son didn't. The first son had a change of heart and followed through with his actions. The second son kept up the appearance of obedience to his father, but didn't follow through with action.
A simple interpretation of the parable might be that we should say what we mean and mean what we say. But in this parable Jesus is addressing the chief priests and the elders who, like the second son, profess to do the will of God but their actions are not congruent with their words.
Jesus constantly confronted the pious who seemed to epitomize a Yes to God by their strict observance of religious and ritualistic rule, yet lacked compassion for those oppressed by their strict interpretation of religious rules and observances. He accused them of putting burdens on the shoulders of others while being unwilling to lift a finger to help them. He called them hypocrites because they appeared to give a Yes to God, but in their attitude and actions, they were saying No to what God really asked of them. The apparently good people didn't see any need to respond to Jesus' invitation to change their lives and follow him.
The tax collectors and prostitutes on the other hand, the sinners, heard the message preached by John and by Jesus and took it to heart. In Jesus' parable they are making their way into the kingdom of God before the chief priests and elders. They have had a change of heart – and acted accordingly.
The parable encourages us to exercise the prerogative to change one’s mind, to recognise the graced moment when, like the first son, we think better of it and do what we know to be right. The God in Jesus' parable is the God of mercy, the God of second chances. God is present where there is hope for a life reformed. God is present where there is mercy.
Anyone who has played any form of sport knows the gift of the second chance – of next time, next game, next round, next week, next year…. Not even professional sports people get it right every time. But they try to – they train and practise and are open to their coach's advice; they are keen to improve their game. As are children learning a new skill. There is delight in seeing your team come good, as there is delight in seeing a child finally take a catch, connect bat and ball, or make it to the end of the pool. And if they don't – there is always next time.
The Social Justice Statement points out that:
".. sport has a wonderful capacity to reveal and model key values and aspects of life that go way beyond the playing arena. Even when a team spends years in the doldrums, the communities of players, volunteers and supporters around them show extraordinary resilience and keep faith that one year their loyalty will pay off.”
As we reflect on our lives for the last week, month or years, more than likely we want the second chance this parable offers us. We want to be able to change our minds, repent and do the good things we know we are called to do – and do them with the wholehearted Yes the gospel requires of us.