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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A October 1, 2023
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What does it takes for anyone to not change their minds later in life about any topic? Isn’t true that every person will change their minds on some important matter as they grow older & hopefully wiser? As opposed to saying, “I know of someone who has never changed their mind on anything?” Which, of course, would be impossible to believe. Who is correct from the start on every thought and statement made over their entire lives? This is known as lack of humility, with no lack of arrogance and obstinance. Which would be the Chief Priest and Scribes, the confronters of Jesus.
Changing one’s mind on important topics of a religious nature can be good and not so good. Changing our minds is not good when some present belief we hold contradicts the great teachings of our faith. Many Catholics have done so on the Sacrament of Matrimony. They once believe believed marriage was between one man and one woman. Now, many Catholics believe any type of relationship can be married. They changed their minds.
God hasn’t changed his mind on this holy, religious teaching. If he did, he left me off his email list when he sent it out. But if we return back to where God wants us on this topic, if we re-change our minds, then we return to what the Good Teacher teaches. It’s good for our souls and our salvation. And that’s just one topic of a religious nature.
What seems to drive Jesus a little over the edge with these people before him is their choice to not be open to changing their minds and hearts on the topic of God, and who God is. The most important topic in the history of the world. And so important – and touchy – that it’s one of two topics, the other being politics, that most families avoid at Sunday dinner or Thanksgiving, and avoiding throwing turkey at each other.
God, and the Son of God, is a topic where some folks, not all, should be open to changing our minds as we grow older & hopefully wiser.
When John the Baptist taught the tax collectors and prostitutes, they were open to “changing their minds.” And hearts. They were open to good adjustment, sure growth, a wise move that will lead toward goodness, holiness, self-respect, and toward our Creator, rather than continuing to live a life of cheating, squalor, and disrespect on to oneself and one’s body.
The tax collectors and prostitutes, because they were open to listening to John, then even more to Jesus, to the point of heavenly conversion from their old self and old ways, to their new self and new ways, they remain to this day most excellent examples, along with the Samaritan Woman and others in the New Testament, of what Jesus calls “changing your minds.” Jesus correctly points out to the Chief Priests and Scribes they “did not later change their minds and believe John.”
How difficult was it for this other group gathered as one before Jesus, this group of tax collectors and prostitutes, to move on from sinful ways of living, and transform their actions into the person God created them to be? It would seem the Chief Priests and Scribes, being religious minded, would have an easier time pulling off such a transformation than the group of sinners. But that’s not what happened.
They lived the harder side of life, cheating people through greed, or selling their bodies for whatever reason. They were the ones who opened their minds and hearts to God’s mercy and grace, overcoming their evil, transforming their ways into an objectively good lifestyle. They were some of the first Christians who applied the challenge of Jesus to change their minds.
So, changing our minds in one direction or another is part of our Christian living in a couple ways. First, to guard against not being true to Christ and the faith he taught us. Very powerful forces in our culture are trying to draw us away from him. May we not change our minds and openly support what Jesus did not teach. Political pressure and political desires have turned many souls away from Christ. Remain grounded in Christ Jesus. Ask his Mother for help if you need some.
And second, in the spirit of these converted sinners, where in our personal lives, do we “change our minds” concerning some struggle that entangles us? What needs an outpouring of grace and forgiveness found in the Sacrament of Confession? Where God’s power returns us to the better way on a holy path of understanding?
Under normal circumstances, we’re not accepting of the lives of “tax collectors and prostitutes.” Or bank robbers and drug dealers. But this group Jesus visits in this Gospel … I like this group. They changed their minds for the Lord. And for themselves. They are supreme models in our faith on conversion and transformation. They set for us a good path to follow in our Christian lives after Jesus took their side. As he does for us.