How often has God heard us respond to a divine invitation with the words of the first son in today's gospel passage: "I will not"? We may say "no" for a variety of reasons. Perhaps we think we are too busy, or the task seems boring, or we don't know what will be required down the road, or we're tired and have no energy or motivation, or we're afraid to do something different, or . . ., or. . . , or. . . . Fill in the blanks with what other excuses you have used with the Holy One.

The good news we find in the first son's reaction is that he wasn't so set in his ways, in the rut of the status quo, that he couldn't claim his freedom to change his mind. We all know folks who are so sure their way is the right way, the only way, that it's like their feet are stuck in a bucket of cement. They may realize they feel miserable, but they somehow can't do anything that would free them from what is holding them in place. They have lost their flexibility in mind and heart. They are unwilling to change, to accept the freedom that issues from God's invitation.

As the first son reflected on what was asked of him and his negative response, his heart was changed from within. As Paul tells us in our epistle for today: "It is God who is at work in you, enabling you to will and work for his good pleasure," transforming us from our self-centered rut into the imago dei to focus, in deep humility, on what benefits others.