Loading...In my first job out of college, I was an assistant manager in a small drug store chain. In about four years with the company, I was transferred several times to work with different managers to learn different management styles and to hone my skills to eventually, hopefully, to become a manager in charge of my own store, which, thankfully for my life story, never happened.
I learned a lot in those four years and brought a lot of myself into those stores. But there is one story I want to tell you about.
Merchandising was an ongoing process. We would change out endcaps frequently, placing focus on a product or a theme, sometimes based on a sale, or maybe because of ordering too much of something.
There were times when creativity came into play. Sometimes putting giftwrap on the back or adding a flourish to draw attention to it or to gussy it up a bit. We did not have planograms or maps to tell us what to put where, as most stores have now, so there was a lot of trial and error on shelf and peg placement.
I was raised with the belief that it’s best to do anything I did right the first time. Because of this work ethic, I would take time on these little resets to do it right so that it was done and we wouldn’t need to worry about it until the next change.
The thing about doing it right the first time is that it sometimes took more time than my manager liked. One day, the manager I was working with came to me and told me to just get it done and we’ll fix it later. The to-do list was too long, and I was taking too much time.
For a person raised on making the most of each moment, of limiting trips by consolidating effort, who was reminded every time I went past the big freezer in the laundry room where there was a poster that said, “autograph your work with excellence,” I was perplexed and hurt to learn that sometimes things can be “good enough,” and can be reworked to be better another time. That simply wasn’t how I understood the way the world worked.
Wasn’t it most important to do everything well, so well it didn’t need to be tweaked or modified later?
It’s been about thirty years since I received this lesson. And I still struggle with being okay with “good enough” when time management becomes a burden, especially when I’m bombarded with so much to do and so little time to do it. I still want to do many things right the first time.
But over the years I’ve learned that, often, there are many ways to accomplish a goal, complete a project, or build a community. It can be very important to try something and have it fail, or fall short of expectations, to try again, and sometimes again, to come to a “good enough” conclusion. And “good enough” can be enough—sometimes forever, and sometimes for now. Sometimes it leads to an even better result.
The point is: I learned that perfection, or expecting to do it right the first time, is unrealistic. It’s okay to change the endcap. Life is not a race, and I am given this life to change, through trial and error, education, challenges, the people I know; through accepting that I do not know what I do not know, and ultimately, to recognize that change is a part of living. And even though it hurts sometimes, I often come out of it with a better understanding of something I once felt very differently about.
Jesus seems to focus on change throughout his ministry. In today’s Gospel, he tells the story of two brothers who have been directed by their father to help with the family vineyard. One says he doesn’t want to go, but ultimately does, and the other says he will go, but he doesn’t. Jesus asks the religious leaders which of the son’s obeyed their father. They responded that the first son was obedient. Let’s talk about him.
But first. I learned a little bit this week about one of the Greek words used in Matthew’s telling of the story. Mind you, I did not study Greek or Hebrew, so I’m always interested in learning something about both languages and how, even though these words were translated into English with the King James version of the Bible, there are scholars who are continually studying to ensure the translation is accurate. They research, learning why certain words are used. They also study the place in time to understand the political, historical, cultural, and religious context. They do this to help readers understand the text more accurately. That’s why there are so many versions of the Bible. Being exposed to a variety of translations provides the opportunity to understand stories more deeply, or to even to understand stories differently than before.
Jesus frequently uses the Greek word metanoia, which has been translated as “repent.” Over time, even the word “repent” has been workshopped to get to a deeper meaning. Scholars have broken it down to mean something more like “change of mind,” “change of heart,” or “change of life.”
If you remember, when John entered the scene, he was saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!”[i] Change your mind! Change your heart! It will change your life! Then Jesus was baptized by John, and his first teaching was around repentance.
We are called to change.
However, in today’s parable, Jesus did not use the word metanoia. Instead, the Greek word was metamelomai, a word with a slightly different definition of “change” that holds an important distinction: The literal definition is “to change one’s cares,” or “to feel remorse,” or “to regret.”
In this story, the first son did not just change his mind. It went deeper than that. He recognized that he was, perhaps, prioritizing the wrong things, or realized that his response could hurt his father’s feelings, or that his behavior might harm the family business, or that his desires were less important than what his father needed from him, and out of remorse, or regret, he changed what he cared about, and did what his father asked him to do.
It feels to me that Jesus is teaching that while people are called to change their minds, hearts, or lives, sometimes they need to understand why changing their minds matters.
Whenever I built a display on an endcap and thought it was complete, I would sometimes be hurt if someone moved an item or shifted a shelf. I was in my 20’s and had much to learn, so I don’t begrudge my feelings. I needed to learn how to let things go…especially things that really were not all that important.
It has taken me years to understand that there are so many moving parts in nearly everything I do. For every action, there is a reaction. And sometimes, the way I communicate, participate, evaluate, prepare and perform in my personal and professional life needs adjusting, needs tweaking; it needs to change.
Sometimes that’s because of how someone else reacted. Or it is because I have learned more and need to make a change to do or be better.
Other times it is about learning something new or different than what I knew before.
Through this parable from Jesus, I now better understand that there are a few different ways to repent. It isn’t just about being a part of a religion where Jesus, our teacher and guide, calls us to turn our lives around so that when we do, we can help the world’s focus turn upside down. Why? To place the focus back on God. It isn’t only about saying “I’m sorry, I’ll do my best to change.”
When I learned about metamelomai, I gained a better grasp on the impact of what it means to more fully repent. I learned that motivation to repent might stem from feeling remorse or regret, and as a result, humans have the capacity to change priorities, attitudes, and behaviors. Change can be very good.
To lean into the idea of change, I want to offer you three questions that were posed in one of the commentaries I read to prepare for this sermon. They are worth sharing here for your consideration.
The commentator began: “If we have ears to hear, we can receive the parable as if it’s addressed directly to us:
- What change of mind is God calling us to?
- What pang of regret may help us chart a new way forward?
- How is God challenging us to “change our cares,” to reset our priorities, to rearrange what most concerns us?”
I know that I need to pay attention to these questions, because change for the sake of change might be a waste of time.
Change to be a better steward of my gifts and talents so that they can impact the world in more Christ-like ways, is good.
But changing, particularly a behavior, an attitude, or a misguided belief system that has been harmful or hurtful, is different. It requires a different kind of attention—more than simply moving product around on an endcap. Sometimes it requires tearing it all down and starting over.
Sometimes it is like the first son in our story saying “no,” but then recognizing the impact of his original response and realizing that he made the wrong decision. He dug into the depths of his heart and changed his mind.
The beauty of it all is that Jesus requests, teaches, and expects each of us to change. It is in our spiritual DNA to learn and grow, repenting along the way, all to go more deeply into our relationship with God. All to help us be better stewards of God’s love. All to live what we say we will do in this world in God’s name: Loving People. Serving People.
57. For Guidance
BCP 832
Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
[i] https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/9/21/is-god-with-us-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-seventeenth-week-after-pentecost
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