The Gospel and the sunk cost fallacy

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

Find today’s readings here.

The sunk cost fallacy is a theory that posits that we keep going down a path that may not be ideal because of the amount of resources we’ve already “sunk” into our efforts. Often it results in irrational decisions as we continue down a road that is a mistake. The theory is often applied to business or economics, and in that context the antidote is to cut your losses and move on, perhaps declaring the original path a failure. 

Too often, however, many of us also find ourselves stuck in a sort of warped spiritual version of this theory. We think: I’ve already made so many mistakes, I may as well keep going. We tell ourselves: What’s the point of starting over when I’ve already spent so much time doing the wrong thing? Who could forgive me? How could I find a new path?

But today’s Gospel reminds us that there’s always time to turn back, to start over, to do the right thing, even when we’ve expressly said we’re going to do otherwise. 

When the man tells his sons to go work in the vineyard, the first son responds, “‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went.” He changed his mind and went. The first son makes the decision to mend his ways, maybe begrudgingly, maybe grumpily. But he went. There is no timeline on God’s mercy. It is always there waiting for us, welcoming us, however and whenever we show up.

Even when we’ve taken deliberate steps to do the wrong thing, God always allows us to turn around, to return to him. We can cut our losses and know that we will never be lost to the God who always welcomes us home.