Walking the Walk

Sunday's Readings: Philippians 2:1-13 & Matthew 21:23-32

I have a friend who lives in New York City.  He’s been there since he graduated college, about 15 years now.  He has a great heart but is notorious for falling through on things.  When I moved back to the east coast after college and seminary in the Midwest, my first call was to a church near Allentown, PA about a two-hour drive from my friend in New York.  He was eager to visit me, see my new place, and explore the area sometime.  We planned ahead and I took vacation time off, but the morning he was supposed to come, plans fell through.  Of course something came up.  I was a little annoyed, but he apologized and I let it go. 

I was surprised when, a week or two later, he called me somewhat randomly and told me he had the night off, so he’d rented a car and was on his way to visit.  It was a Wednesday and we had worship that evening, so he came, hung out a bit, joined me at church, and then drove back to the city all in a matter of hours.  He may be the type of friend who has a tendency to not follow through on plans, but he’s also the type of friend with the best of intentions who will randomly make it up to you with a spontaneous surprise visit. 

I thought of this friend when I considered Jesus’ parable in the Gospel reading today.  The parable of two sons.  One says he’ll go work in the vineyard but does not.  He breaks his promise.  He says the right thing, but doesn’t follow through.  The other says he won’t work, but ends up surprising his father and does work.  We might say that one of the sons talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.  Whereas the other doesn’t say the right thing but ends up doing the right thing.  One son has the right words; one son has the right actions.   

On the allegorical level we might look at these two sons representing two groups of people: the Pharisees on the one hand and the prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners on the other.  And that’s a fair reading.  But on a deeper level I think what we see in this parable is Jesus inviting us to reflect on the spiritual truth that we all, like my friend from New York, have the traits of both sons in us.

I’m reminded of the apostle Paul in Romans for example, writing about how he got so frustrated with himself at times, because he knows the right thing to do but finds himself doing the opposite.  Romans 7:19: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”  We’ve all been there, I think.  Most of us know what it’s like to let someone down.  To mean well but not follow through.  To not live up to expectations.  Or to give in to temptation or addiction.  Or to lose our temper or say something we didn’t mean.  Theologically we call this being subject to sin.  Less formally we could say it’s us not always living into our best self.  Or not always acting in alignment with the divine.  This wanting to do good but doing the opposite is part of human life.   

By the same token though, hopefully we’ve all experienced a time or two when we’ve surprised ourselves with how we managed to pull something off we weren’t sure we could do.  When we don’t know what to say but end up saying just what the person needed to hear.  When we don’t have much confidence in ourselves, but we trust in God and our leap of faith pays off.  Or when we feel unequipped and unprepared, but it all falls into place anyway.  Maybe it’s luck or maybe it’s God working through us in spite of our selves. That too is part of the human experience.

The psychological truth and spiritual reality here is that sometimes our words and intentions line up with God’s will, but our actions do not.  Then sometimes our actions align with God’s will even when we weren’t sure what we were doing to begin with.  Now: aligning both our words and actions with the will of God is what the journey of discipleship is all about.  It’s a big part of what Christians mean when we talk about the process of spiritual transformation.  Say what we mean and follow through on it.  Talk the talk and walk the walk.  Our Buddhist friends talk about the eightfold path, which includes right intention and right effort as well as right speech and right action.  Their point is that living in alignment with what’s right requires being attentive to every step in the process, not just the results.  Jesus seems to be getting at the same thing here, the idea that both words and actions are important.  Both present opportunities to be in alignment with God’s will.  Both present us with a form of spiritual practice.

We should look at this earthly life as an opportunity to grow up into mature children of God.  Into people who walk the walk of discipleship, who live in alignment with the divine.  Individuals who bear good fruit and manifest God’s goodness and love in the world.  Christian author CS Lewis used the example of a toddler learning to walk as an example of how God looks at us as we grow on the spiritual journey and learn to walk the walk of discipleship.  He says, I paraphrase, “every parent is delighted when they witness their child’s first steps. But every parent hopes and expects their child to grow into a healthy, fully walking adult.” 

Likewise, God is delighted to see our attempts at holiness when we mess up, even when we don’t follow through, even when we fail.  We won’t always do it perfectly.  We will sometimes stumble and fall.  But this life is about learning to walk the walk.  Learning to live into the divine image we were created to be.  And God will see to it that we grow into a fully functioning adult child of God too.

Now let’s be clear.  All this talk of growing up and learning to walk the walk is not something we have to do to earn salvation or make ourselves worthy of God’s love.  That’s already taken care of, because Jesus walked the walk.  Jesus walked the walk for us all the way to the cross.  And because Jesus walked the walk, our world is redeemed, reconciled, restored.  Through Him we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, inspiring us to grow and transform.  And we have the teachings of Jesus like this parable, which guide us and help us to walk the walk of discipleship.

Some days we may be the son who says the right thing and does the opposite.  Other days we might say the wrong thing but do the right thing.  And on our good days we might actually do both.  Whatever the case, trust that God is at work in your life, know that you are unconditionally loved already, and recognize that God is calling you to grow, making you holy, and teaching us all to walk the walk of manifesting God’s Kingdom way of being in the world. 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Pastor Brian Rajcok | Sunday, September 27, 2026 | Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost