Good Work No Matter What

"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.

"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

"The first," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him." (Matt. 21:28-32)

This parable jumped out at me after seeing the movie Gran Torino. In the movie, Clint Eastwood plays Walk Kowalski, a crusty old racist. He could have been my neighbor when I was growing up in Buffalo, New York. The guy next door was so mean to us that every time our ball rolled into his yard, he ran out screaming at us. In fact, my neighbor made Walt Kowalski look mild-mannered.

After thirteen years of terror, my relationship with this neighbor changed when I was seventeen. His wife died. This had a devastating effect on him, and he began talking to me, sharing how much he missed her. Wow! I was stunned that he would even talk to me in a civil tone. That had never happened before. On several occasions, my neighbor broke down sobbing right in front of me. I stood there and listened, feeling sorry for him but unable to forget that he had terrorized me for most of my life.

About a year later, on a snowy night in Buffalo, I was at a friend's house across town when my mother phoned me. She had a strange request. Our neighbor's car was stuck in the middle of the street and wouldn't start. She asked if I could come home to help him. "No!" That was my immediate response to my mother's request. I yelled at my mother on the phone about how badly this man had treated me over the years, but I finally agreed to help him.

As I watched the movie version of my neighbor in Gran Torino, I could identify with the neighbor boy but also the young priest who tries to befriend Walt Kowalski. Walt wanted nothing to do with either of them. Old Korean War prejudices kept Walt from embracing his Vietnamese neighbors. Consider this short exchange:

Sue Lor: "There's a ton of food."

Walt Kowalski: "Yeah, well just keep your hands off my dog."

Sue Lor: "No worries, we only eat cats."

Walt's disdain for the young priest was rooted in the priest's youth and Walt's ambivalence toward the church. At one point, the priest asks simply,

Father Janovich: "Why didn't you call the police?"

Walt Kowalski: "Well you know, I prayed for them to come but nobody answered."

A cynic, racist, and insensitive father, Walt is not a likeable person. But in the end, when facing his own death, he makes a series of choices that overpower his failings. Just as in the parable, what Walt does defines him more than what he says.

When my mother called me to help my neighbor, my sinful nature responded with hatred. That hatred and disdain filled me so that I even acted with disrespect toward my mother. When I calmed down, I responded as a faithful follower of Christ and agreed to help.

What I did defined me more than what I said I would do. That's because what we do, more than what we say, demonstrates when we are conforming to God's will.

I can't say that I felt deep love for my neighbor. I still didn't want to help him. But I did help him. And often that's what matters the most.

Questions for personal reflection, online discussion, or small groups:

• What acts of service are most difficult for you—at work, at home, at church?
  
• Have you ever done the right thing even though your heart was not in it? Did your behavior affect your thinking?
  
• Similarly, have you ever used words in a way that changed your behavior—for better or worse?
  
• For a funny story about doing the right thing in hard circumstances, enjoy Howard Butt's audio message "Right Motivation."