Thy Will Be Done

 

SERMON BY FATHER JONATHAN E MOORE - LINK HERE

26^th Sunday of the Year 2026         Thy will be done

The parable Jesus tells in this weekend’s Gospel is both short and sweet. Unlike the parable of those vineyard labourers, this story is not about the boss and his workforce, neither does it involve money at all. It is a very simple little  story with a cast of just three - a father and his two sons. The father asks the boys to go and work in his vineyard, and they react to his request in very different ways. At the end of the story, Jesus asks a straightforward question: which one of them did his father’s will?

Let’s look at the reactions of the two boys. The first says “Certainly, Sir!”, the second refuses. Try for a moment to imagine you know no more of the story than this. Pause the playback and ask yourself which of the two you would at this point judge to be the good and obedient son. Is it the one who says “Yes” or the one who says “Shan’t”? Well, it's really an unfair question, isn't it, because we all know what comes next. This highlights the abiding problem with human judgement of people and situations - because we don't know the end of the story, we are most likely wrong.

What happens next is that the “agreeable” son goes nowhere near the vineyard. No reason for this is given, so we need not be too harsh in judging. Maybe he set off full of good intentions, but was distracted by some pals off on a fishing expedition, or by a young lady he met. We all know how easily a youngster can lose interest. His willingness to agree to his father’s request shows his good will, but those good intentions are not enough. For whatever reason, he fails in his duty.

By contrast, the “disagreeable” lad finds himself troubled by his conscience. His immediate, blunt refusal and desire to please himself comes into conflict with a sense of duty and love for his father and, perhaps very unwillingly, he turns his steps towards the vineyard. He may have refused, he may very well go to work with ill grace, as I myself frequently did as a teenager when my Dad gave me to chores in the house and garden (!) but in the end he carries out his father’s will. 

Jesus asks you and me today to do more than deliver a judgement on the story, He asks us to see where we can find our own selves within it. Which of the two boys best demonstrates your relationship with God’s commandments today? 

When we pray it’s easy to say what we think God wants to hear, without really putting our words into action. In all likelihood this is not because of any ill intention, some days it may seem that there are too many other irons in the fire, distractions, harmless amusements, which mean that time runs away with us, and our love for God and neighbour ceases to be a priority. The choice may be between Sunday Mass and a day at Alton Towers, or homework and the “Playstation”, the family or the pub, daytime TV and housework, the choices are endless, but we can only ever choose right or wrong, there is no middle ground.  

The second son is more honest. He doesn't like the Father’s will, and says so. But he's a thoughtful person, and his initial refusal is followed by further reflection which leads him to obey the Father in spite of himself. For all his truculent refusal he makes the right choice, his brother does not.

This simple, straightforward little parable directs us to the very heart of the “Our Father”. The third petition says “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God wills only that which is best, eternally best, for His creation. Each individual human person, however, is possessed of free-will, able to choose to obey the Father, or to disobey, able to choose to speak high-sounding words unmatched by action, or to reject our rebellious inclinations and do God’s will in spite of ourselves. 

The Father is perfectly obeyed in heaven, because those who reject God’s will cannot be at home there. On earth, however, the story is different; here, God’s will is done by some, and disobeyed by others. Heaven is where God’s will is done. We might put this another way and say: wherever God’s will is done heaven is to be found. When Our Lord spoke of “The Kingdom of God”, He meant “God’s kingly rule”. When anyone on earth is doing God’s will, that Kingdom of God is made present, and our world is the better for it. 

The heart of Christian living lies in our daily efforts to  unite our own will with God’s, not trying to bend  God’s will to our own. 

Sometimes people worry because, while they know themselves to be trying very hard to obey the Father’s will, they don't feel any real enthusiasm for it, or take any pleasure in it either. They fear that they are hypocrites. Far from it! The son who did the Father’s will in spite of his contrary inclination showed himself the obedient one, the child of heaven. A hypocrite is someone who makes all the right noises, but whose actions do not match their words, like the son who said “Certainly, Sir”, but did not go to work. 

”Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Beautiful words which must be translated into acceptance of the Father’s will, and obedience to it, else in truth they mean nothing to us at all.