Last Sunday we heard Jesus’ parable about the laborers in the vineyard and how each one received the same wage no matter what hour of the day he began to work in the vineyard (Matt 21:1-16). The parable was teaching us the generosity of God who welcomes people no matter how late in life they convert and turn to him.
Today we hear another parable from Jesus with a vineyard—the vineyard owner asked his two sons to work in the vineyard (Matt 21:28-32). One refused to work in it but had a change of heart and went to work in it. The other son said he would work in it, but he also had a change of heart and did not go to work in it. As usual there is a link with the first reading where the prophet Ezekiel gives two similar examples—an upright man becoming a sinner and a sinner renouncing his sin and becoming honest (Ezek 18:25-28). The two sons represent the two different reactions: tax collectors and prostitutes converted after listening to John the Baptist and became disciples of Jesus while the religious leaders did not (Matt 21:31-32).
Just like the two sons in the parable who had free will to obey or disobey their father, God has given us all the freedom to respond to him in love or not. If we were controlled or forced to respond to God, then it would not be love but coercion. But since we have freedom to choose how we respond to God, we can genuinely love God. We show we really do love God every time we choose in a way that pleases God or gives glory to God. In that way, we also choose our salvation because with our free will we can cooperate with God. St. Augustine said in a sermon, “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” (Sermon 169, cited in Catechism §1847) God does not send anyone to hell; people send themselves to hell by deliberately choosing against God. Because we have free will, we can choose to do good or evil and have accountability for our actions. God gives us grace and we have free will, and this has been summarized in this way: God provides the wind, but man must raise the sail. God has given us all the wind, but it is up to us to raise our sail.
If someone were to say that our lives are controlled by the alignment of the stars at the moment of our birth, then we would not have free will. But of course our lives are not controlled by the stars and we have free will. Again, St. Augustine helps us understand. In one of his books, he gave the example of twins who are obviously born under the same alignment of stars and yet are different in so many ways, act differently, and have different health which proves our lives are not controlled by the alignment of stars at the moment of our birth (City of God, Book 5, Chapter 2). Instead of our lives being controlled by the stars, certain influences can reduce our responsibility, and the Catechism gives a list of them: ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors (§1735).
Sometimes we may hear someone say, “I can do whatever I want.” Of course we have that freedom, but our freedom is freedom to love God and neighbor. If we were to choose not to love God and neighbor, would we really be happy? It would not be a real, deep happiness. In the parable of the prodigal son, the younger son had the freedom to do what he wanted and he did, but eventually he came to his senses and returned (Luke 15). In John 8:34 Jesus says, “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” What does that mean? Sin can lead to a habit and then to a vice or addiction and that is certainly not freedom or happiness because a vice or addiction controls the person who is not really free anymore and, to use the words of Jesus, “is a slave to sin.” That is why the catechism says, “there is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just.” (§1733)
The catechism also makes another interesting point. It says, “the more one does what is good, the freer one becomes.” (1733) So choosing well and loving God and neighbor build momentum. Every time we love God and neighbor, we become better at loving God and neighbor and surely become happier people.
The two sons in the parable had free will to obey or disobey their father. God has given us all the freedom to respond to him in love or not but “there is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just.” “He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.” God provides the wind, but we must raise the sail.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2026
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday Year A
All should bend the knee at the name of Jesus 2020
Do you only know about Jesus or do you know Jesus? 2008
Related Homilies: Some of each son in us 2007
Second Reading: Jesus is the measure of truth (same attitude as Jesus) 2025
Having the same attitude as Christ
Stories about conversion