Our Lord Jesus lived his whole life to glorify God his heavenly Father. He humbled himself to the point of death in obedience to the will of the Father. With every breath he said yes to God’s will. Because of this as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians God greatly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name.

In today’s Gospel proclamation we are introduced to two brothers, both sinners. One openly denies his father, yet later repents and does his father’s will. The other verbally agrees to obey, yet does not follow up with his action. This may be a good time to make a deep examination of our own minds and hearts.

In baptism we have entered into the family of God being redeemed and adopted into sonship/daughterhood through the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Does our life reflect this great calling? We are provided opportunities each day to do the will of our heavenly Father, in our families, our work places and in our everyday situations.

In these times do we choose compromise over obedience? Do we choose comfort over doing the right thing? We may go to church services and prayer meetings and know many prayers by heart and know the language of Christian living, but words can be meaningless if not followed through with action. Are we Christian in name, but worldly in our actions?

Being a true follower of Christ is not an easy calling, denying our flesh and walking in the ways of Christ is one of the hardest things we can do, and it is impossible to do this by ourselves. But Christ in his great mercy has already redeemed us, he paid the price for us and sent the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian receives this wonderful gift of the Spirit at our baptism: God living in us, and working through us. When faced with difficult circumstances, when we need to make the choice between the will of God and the world we can lean into the grace that flows to us through the Spirit.

Christian repentance is recognition and turning away from sin. It is a turning towards God. It is a change of mind and heart in response to the great love our God has bestowed upon us and a deep desire to not offend him anymore.

As we examined our lives we may have come to the conclusion that we have fallen short of God’s will in many areas of our lives. But let us not be disheartened because there are no sinners who cannot be reconciled with God when they repent. There is no sin that is too big for God to forgive.

Prayer: Abba Father, forgive the many times I have disobeyed you. Empower me with the Holy Spirit. Amen.