I confess that I have been struggling on how to approach this sermon this morning. We are coming into the season where we talk about stewardship and ask that you consider what your support to the Church will be in the next year. My instinct on these matters is always to be non-direct. But the gospel lesson for this morning, you heard it, makes it hard to do that. It is anything but non-direct.

It is one of Jesus' shorter parables, just a few lines. It begins with the question, "What do you think? A man had two sons." He told one to go into the field and work. He said he would, but he didn't go. He told the second one to go into the field and work. He said he wouldn't, but he went. "Which one," Jesus asked, "did the will of the father?"

The question is addressed to the chief priests and t…