Homily, Changing Your Mind
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 21A, 2023
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Tequesta, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever heard someone say, “Nothing you say can change my mind.” Have you heard that? Or maybe you’ve said it yourself?
Depending on the context, that can feel like power. That’s something we can admire. To be unwavering in your beliefs. To be clear about your perspective. To be unchanged by the influences of the world around us. To stand firm. To be consistent. Reliable. Decisive. Those are things that are valuable to us.
In fact, in our society we often expect people to be like that and when someone changes their mind, we often criticize them for it. We call them a hypocrite, a flip-flopper, a flake. We say they are fickle, unstable, or weak-spined. Especially our leaders.
And yet, maybe all of that isn’t particularly helpful or healthy. Because after all, changing your mind can also be a sign of personal growth. It can be a sign of empathy—allowing yourself to see something from the perspective of another. It can be a sign of intellect—the collecting of new information and adjusting your perspective accordingly. It can be a sign of humility—the ability to admit that you were wrong. And finally it can be a sign of courage, the stepping out of a comfort zone into something new.
And for those reasons changing your mind is the challenge of Christ in our gospel reading today.
We’ve been slowly making our way through the Gospel of Matthew, and today we reach the point of the story when Jesus enters Jerusalem and finds himself challenged by the religious authorities there. In fact, all through the month of October, every gospel reading will take place around this tension between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day.
And the reason for that tension, is that Jesus didn’t fit into the religious boxes that they had set up for themselves and the Jewish community they were leading. He said and did things that challenged both their own religious beliefs, and perhaps more importantly, their own status as leaders of the faith. And even as they witnessed with their very own eyes the fruit of Jesus’ ministry—that people were being healed, that sinners were repenting, that even Gentiles were coming to faith—they couldn’t wrap their minds around the work God was doing among them in Jesus.
And so in our gospel passage today, Jesus tells them a parable. A man had two sons that he asked to go work in the vineyard. The first son said no, but then changed his mind and went. The second son said yes, but then refused to go. So which son did the will of his Father?
“The first son,” they responded. “In the same way, it’s not enough to simply say that you follow God; you have to actually do it. And you have to do it, even when it requires you to change your mind.” Jesus continues, “you didn’t believe God sent John the Baptist. He didn’t fit into your theology. And even after seeing the good fruit of his ministry, you refused to change your mind about him. And the same thing is happening now. And because you are unable to change your mind, even when the fruit is right before you, you are missing out on the kingdom of God.”
See, the chief priests and elders were unwavering in their belief. They were faithful to it. They stood firm. They were dependable. Decisive. But in the face of Jesus, God was actually asking them to let go of something. God was actually asking them to change their mind. But they were unable to do it.
Sometimes God asks us to stand firm in what we believe. But sometimes—hear this—sometimes, God asks us to let go of something we believe. Sometimes the things we believe are actually preventing us from seeing the fruit of God’s work among us. And the question is, will we have the courage and the humility to change our minds so that we can follow Jesus to unexpected places?
I’m not talking here about having a wishy-washy faith. I’m not talking about relativism. I’m talking about having a faith strong enough to follow God even when God leads us outside of our own personal ideologies. I’m talking about having a faith that is strong enough to grow, and to change, and to draw ever closer to God as God is, and not as we think God should be.
So what are the things that we are holding onto that are actually preventing us from fully participating in God’s kingdom? What beliefs do we have that need to be revised, updated, changed so that we can see the fruit of God among us? What beliefs do we have about ourselves, or others, or the world around us, or God, Godself, that we cling to so tightly, that even when Jesus asks us to let go of them, or change them, we are unable to do so?
The kingdom of God is before us. The fruit of Christ’s ministry is here. Are we able to change our minds to see it? Amen.
Thoughts on Faith 