26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026

 

Last week, I watched Michael J. Fox receive the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the Emmy Awards.

(Watch the full speech here)

Most of us remember him as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties or Marty McFly in Back to the Future.

But in 1991, at just 29 years old, Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

For years, he kept his diagnosis private.

In his acceptance speech, he explained that he was afraid of what would happen if people knew he was sick.

Would it affect his career? Would audiences still laugh at his jokes?

Those were understandable fears.

But eventually, something changed.

He realized that accepting Parkinson's didn't mean surrendering to it.

Instead, he began asking himself what he could do for other people living with the same disease.

He went public with his diagnosis, became an advocate for patients, raised money for research, and established a foundation dedicated to finding a cure.

And as I listened to him speak, I was struck by something.

His circumstances hadn't changed. But his response to them had.

He began looking beyond what might happen to him and thinking about what he could do for others.

And that brings us to today's Gospel.

Jesus tells us about a father who asks his two sons to go out and work in his vineyard.

The first son says, "I will not."

But later, he changes his mind and goes.

The second son says, "Yes, sir."

But he never shows up.

And Jesus asks a simple question:

"Which of the two did his father's will?"

Of course, it's the first son.

But here's what I find interesting about this parable.

Neither son gets it right the first time.

One says no. The other says yes but doesn't follow through.

The difference is that the first son is willing to change.

And I think that's where Jesus is challenging us today.

Because changing our minds isn't always easy.

Sometimes it's difficult because we don't want to admit that we were wrong.

Sometimes it's difficult because we're afraid of what other people will think.

But sometimes—and this is where things get a little uncomfortable—we don't want to change because we're getting something out of the way things are.

Think about it.

We might refuse to forgive someone because holding on to our resentment gives us a sense of power over them.

We might refuse to admit we're wrong because being right protects our pride.

We might refuse to change the way we've always done something because the current arrangement is comfortable for us, even if it makes life difficult for someone else.

And so we hold on.

Even when we know that God might be asking something different of us.

That's what makes Jesus' words to the chief priests and elders so challenging.

They had heard John the Baptist's message. They had seen tax collectors and prostitutes respond to his call to repentance.

But even after witnessing that change, they refused to reconsider their own response.

Jesus tells them:

"Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."

In other words, the problem wasn't simply that they had said no.

The problem was that they were unwilling to change their answer.

And that brings us to St. Paul's letter to the Philippians.

Paul tells us:

"Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves."

And then he gives us the example of Jesus himself.

Jesus did not cling to his divine privileges. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

He shows us that love sometimes requires us to let go of something we're holding on to.

Our pride.

Our comfort.

Our insistence on having things our own way.

And perhaps that's the question we need to ask ourselves today:

What am I holding on to that's keeping me from saying yes to God?

Maybe it's an old resentment.

Maybe it's a relationship we've refused to repair.

Maybe it's a habit we know we need to change.

Or maybe it's simply our unwillingness to admit that someone else might be right.

Whatever it is, today's Gospel offers us some very good news.

Our first answer doesn't have to be our final answer.

The first son said no.

But he changed his mind.

And then he did something about it.

That's important.

Because he didn't simply sit around thinking, "You know, I probably should have helped my father."

He got up and went to work.

And that's what genuine conversion looks like.

It's not simply feeling differently about something.

It's beginning to live differently.

I keep thinking about Michael J. Fox and what he said in that acceptance speech.

He couldn't change the fact that he had Parkinson's disease.

But he could change how he responded to it.

And by doing so, he found a way to make a difference in the lives of countless other people.

His decision to keep his illness private had been understandable. But when he was ready to take a different path, he followed through.

And perhaps that's the invitation Jesus is extending to each of us today.

Maybe there's something God has been asking you to do for a long time.

Maybe you've been saying no.

Maybe you've been putting it off.

Or maybe you've been saying yes with your lips, but your feet haven't moved.

Whatever your first answer has been, it doesn't have to be your final answer.

It's not too late to change your mind.

And it's not too late to get to work in the vineyard.