Walk the Talk

The reading we hear this week from Matthew’s gospel challenges us to walk the talk. In the reading, one brother talked the talk, while the other brother walked the walk. Jesus asks, “which of the two did his father’s will?”

Today’s gospel is a short but powerful parable. To an audience of talkers, Jesus says that talk Microsoft Word - Newsletter Sep 27 2020

is cheap. Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem and he has not come to find favour with the religious movers and shakers. He certainly has not come to whisper sweet nothings in their ears.

It seems that Jesus is the new sheriff in town who does not like what he sees and what he hears. The Pharisees had argued the life right out of God’s covenant. Their endless debates and rituals had replaced the purity of devotion. And with it came the pride of self- satisfied, pious frauds.

Then along comes Jesus to blow the hot air right out of the temple and replace all the cheap talk with a priceless message: Love the Lord with your whole heart and your neighbour as yourself. Got it? Good, now go and do it. Don’t just talk about it.