Readings for 16 DEC 2025: Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13; Psalm 33; Matthew 21:28-32

I. Introduction: The Rebellious City

We are deep in the heart of Advent, a season colored Violet—the color of royalty, but also of penance and preparation. The scriptures today issue a stark, powerful challenge, starting with the prophet Zephaniah:

“Trouble is coming to the rebellious, the defiled, the tyrannical city! She would never listen to the call, would never learn the lesson…” (Zephaniah 3:1-2)

When we hear the word “city,” our modern mind goes to bricks and mortar. But in the prophetic tradition, the city—Jerusalem—is often a profound metaphor for the human soul. Zephaniah is describing not just a physical place, but the rebellious, unintegrated heart—the ego that refuses counsel, trusts only itself, and never draws near to God.

This “tyrannical city” is the part of our consciousness that seeks to be King Belshazzar, building its own reality based on pride and self-will.

II. The Psychological Crisis: Refusal and Tyranny

The First Reading lays bare the psychological state of the rebellious heart:

• “She would never listen to the call.”
• “She has never trusted in the Lord.”
• “She never drew near to her God.”

This is the Refusal of the Call in the language of the Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell taught that all great myths begin when the hero is called to leave their comfortable, known world, and initially says No. The rebellious heart is stuck in this refusal.

Psychologically, this refusal is driven by the Limbic System. This ancient, instinctual part of the brain seeks comfort, security, and the avoidance of all risk. To trust God, to draw near to God, means surrendering control, which the Limbic System perceives as an existential threat. This fear of surrender makes the heart tyrannical—it must control everything because it fears everything.

III. The Gospel’s Two Sons: Action vs. Attitude

Jesus clarifies this battle between the tyrannical heart and true conversion with the parable of the two sons:

• The First Son: Said “No,” but afterwards thought better of it and went.
• The Second Son: Said “Certainly, sir,” but did not go.

The chief priests and elders, comfortable in their certainty and piety, represent the Second Son. They had the right attitude (the right words, the right liturgy), but their tyrannical, rebellious heart (Zephaniah’s city) remained unchanged.

The tax collectors and prostitutes represent the First Son. They started in the “tyrannical city” of self-will and sin, but in their moment of brokenness, they experienced the crucial psychological step: thinking better of it—a deliberate act of the will leading to action.

Jesus’s verdict is stunning: “Tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you.” They embarked on the Hero’s Journey (repentance and action) while the pious were still stuck in the tyranny of their own self-righteous refusal.

IV. The Great Transformation: Clean Lips and Humility

The good news, the Advent promise, is that God does not abandon the tyrannical city. Zephaniah promises a profound transformation:

“Yes, I will then give the peoples lips that are clean, so that all may invoke the name of the Lord and serve him under the same yoke.” (Zephaniah 3:9)

The “clean lips” are the sign of the transformed heart. Psychologically, this is the victory of the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)—the seat of reason, moral choice, and long-term vision—over the tyrannical Limbic System.

• The Limbic heart speaks lies and boasts (Zephaniah 3:13: the perjured tongue).
• The PFC, aligned with God’s will, brings clean lips—it brings truth, humility, and the ability to invoke the Lord’s name.

This transformation is completed by two essential virtues:

1. The Removal of Pride: “I will remove your proud boasters from your midst; and you will cease to strut on my holy mountain.” (Zephaniah 3:11)
2. The Installation of Humility: “In your midst I will leave a humble and lowly people, and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.” (Zephaniah 3:12)

The spiritual journey is the systematic dismantling of the tyrannical ego and the installation of humility, where the PFC chooses the love of God over the fear of the self.

V. Call to Action: The Poor Man’s Call

This Advent, the call is clear: Stop being the Second Son. Stop being the tyrannical city.

The Responsorial Psalm gives us the path to conversion: “This poor man called; the Lord heard him.”

The “poor man” is the humble and lowly person Zephaniah promised. He is the person who has surrendered the tyranny of the ego. The Lord hears him because he is close to the “broken-hearted” and those whose “spirit is crushed.”

Real spiritual transformation today requires two acts of the will:

1. Stop Strutting: What are you still doing for show? What is the “proud boasting” that keeps you from trusting God? The work of penance is the work of removing pride.
2. Start Doing: Do not remain in the Refusal phase. Be the first son. That means taking action that requires surrender. That means choosing the hard “Go and work in the vineyard” over the easy “Certainly, sir.”

The Lord is coming. Let us choose to dismantle the rebellious city in our hearts, surrender the tyranny of fear, and allow the promised “humble and lowly people” to seek refuge in His name.

Amen.

Developed with assistance from Gemini AI