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Once upon a time, long, long ago in a galaxy – well, a country, anyway – far away, there lived a man with two sons. Not unusual, of
course – there are lots of people who have two sons, my daughter
does. But these two boys, and their dad, feature in several of
Jesus' stories.
Daddy was a farmer, we are told, and
one morning at breakfast-time, he said to the boys, “Right, lads;
busy day today, I'm going to harvest the big field. Either of you
free to come and help?”
The younger boy shakes his head.
“Sorry, Dad; I'm booked, I'm afraid. Told Sammy I'd go round to
his today.”
“Not a problem,” said his father.
“What about you, Joe?” to the older boy.
“Yes, I can come!” says Joe. “What
time do you want me?”
“Oh, make it about 10:30, we'll be
able to use you then. Great. See you later!”
All very well and normal, you might
think. But then what happens? Joe, in the hour or so between the
end of breakfast and 10:30, when he said he'd be at the field, begins
to have second thoughts. It's a horribly hot day, he could go
swimming with his friends; Dad wouldn't really mind, there were
plenty of other helpers.... and eventually, his brother sees him
heading off with his trunks and a towel under one arm, obviously not
heading for the harvest-fields.
So the brother does a bit of thinking
himself. Yes, Sammy was half-expecting him, but harvest was harvest,
and it was pretty sure he'd be wanting to help his Dad, too. So he
grabs a passing servant and sends him round to Sammy's with a message
that he couldn't come, after all, and heads off down to the field.
Well, that's the story Jesus told. And
one of the reasons he told it was to tell us that it's never, ever
too late to change your mind, not in this life. If you've not been
quite sure about God, about being Jesus' person, you can still change
your mind.... it isn't too late!
