First Reading:
17From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said,Give us water to drink.Moses said to them,Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said,Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?4So Moses cried out to the Lord,What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.5The Lord said to Moses,Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb.Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink. Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying,Is the Lord among us or not?
Second Reading:
23When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said,
By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?24Jesus said to them,I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?And they argued with one another,If we say, From heaven, he will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? 26But if we say, Of human origin, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.27So they answered Jesus,We do not know.And he said to them,Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.28
What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today. 29He answered, I will not ; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, I go, sir ; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?They said, The first. Jesus said to them,Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
The twenty-first chapter of Matthew's gospel starts with the triumphal
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem… We have to understand that in
order to understand our passage today. It was the event we celebrate
as Palm Sunday. Most of you who have been around the church for a
while have heard the story many times the crowd shouting
out Hosanna,
to Jesus — which means save us… Jesus
is hailed as the son of David and the messiah, and in Matthew's
gospel, as soon as he entered Jerusalem he went directly to cleanse
the temple, to cast out the money changers and vendors; and then when
all of that was finished, the blind and lame came to be cured by him.
For the priests and the scribes you have to understand that this was
where they worked and where they worshiped and their social circles
all rolled together. This was the place that was the holiest site in
the world for the Jewish people and the remains of it still are. This
was the temple, the heart of the system that allowed the Jewish people
to maintain their identity in the face of Roman occupation. Of course
they were concerned when Jesus cleansed the temple… who
wouldn't be when the stakes were so high. And for the leadership
represented in our passage, this was the day when their way of life:
economic, social, religious, everything about their way of life was
tossed into turmoil on their home turf; and so it made sense that they
asked about his authority… who do you think you are to upend
everything and to create this kind of a ruckus? In fact the way I
imagine it actually happening, the questioning may have been filled
with a little more emotion and a little stronger language than we
might usually use when we read the scripture.
But the question about authority is a tricky one because there are different kinds and different levels of authority… there are some people who have positional authority but that's it… these are the people whose authority extends exactly as far as their job description… we only follow them because we have to or else we would face unpleasant repercussions. We all know people like that… and by contrast we also know people we want to follow, people whose authority goes beyond their job description because of who they are and the kind of trust they've earned. In organizations people can earn authority as they produce results… when they do something beneficial, that has good consequences, the organization is more likely to listen and follow their lead in the future… in personal relationships and in matters of faith and practice people can earn authority by helping someone, by being there through tough times or effecting some sort of transformational change… and then as people gain authority they're able to lead others to places of more and more risk where there is also the possibility of increasing reward. And of course there are in our lives a few people who have made enough of an impact that we would follow them anywhere and do anything for them… these are the people who have helped us, who have been there and who will be there, people we trust implicitly. And there's a very different level of authority those people have in our lives than someone who is simply a boss…
And the people who questioned Jesus, were people who had all sorts of positional authority. They were the leadership of the temple, the center of Jewish worship and society, the chief priests and elders of the people. According to their tradition and their lineage they were the ones who held authority not only over the religious practice of the Jewish people but also they held the authority to determine if someone else's authority was legitimate. And so when they question Jesus, he recognizes that this is important for his ministry. If he claims God as his authority they may accuse him of blasphemy, if he claims anything else as his authority they may very well tell him to cease and desist his ministry… so as is often the case, Jesus doesn't address their question directly. He doesn't give them an answer but instead asks a question that allows them to see the answer.
And the question he asked was, Where did John the Baptist get his authority… was the baptism of John from heaven or of human origin? Now the chief priests and elders didn't believe John's assertion that someone else was coming or that John was preparing the way of the messiah, they didn't believe that he was a prophet, they didn't believe that his baptism came from heaven… that's part of why his ministry was only ever carried out in the wilderness… but by the same token they didn't have the guts to say all of that because they were afraid of the crowd who did believe that John was a prophet. They were afraid of the people they were supposed to be leading.
The perception of John was something the chief priests weren't able to control no matter how much positional authority they had, so in effect John challenged their authority… and by asking the question in the manner and at the time he did, Jesus linked himself to John and Jesus also challenged their authority… he would not answer their question because they didn't have authority over him. And then, in the parable of the two sons sent to work by their father, Jesus went on to show them a completely different kind of authority than what they already understood…. The kind of authority Jesus and John used.
In the parable the first son said I will not go… but then did actually go to work. The second son said I Go Sir, but then did not actually go to work. And when Jesus asked which son actually did the will of the father, the chief priests and elders answered correctly… the first, the one who went to work was the one who actually did the will of the father.
And the way I read this, the kind of authority both Jesus and John claimed was that their words and their actions pointed people and drew people toward the will of the father. The son who said , I will not go and work is equated with the tax collectors and prostitutes - and now Jesus says they are going into the kingdom of God first because ultimately they responded… first to John then to Jesus… But the chief priests and elders are equated with the son who said I go sir but who had no fruit to show. Their words may have been right but their actions were not. They received the same invitation John gave to everyone else… and now they received the same invitation Jesus offered to others, but they didn't respond. Even when they saw tax collectors and prostitutes being transformed and even as a result of this encounter with Jesus, they didn't respond.
And fundamentally I think they didn't respond because they were actively trying to not change; trying to make sure change didn't happen around them or to them… after all they were the ones who had positional authority and the story suggests that they used it well to their own benefit. But more often in my interactions with people the question for us seems to be: how can I change? How can I change what I think or feel or what's going on in my situation? If you want to put it in terms of the parable, how can we become tax collectors and prostitutes rather than the chief priests and elders. There are times when we see transformation happen around us… in people, stories, movies, you name it, but how do we make it happen in us? Or perhaps the better question is: how do we let it happen in us? And I tell you our passage today doesn't give definitive answers to that question but there are at least two suggestions that come from it…
First, pay attention to the things that you can't control… and then pay attention to the things you can control. The leaders of the temple worked hard to maintain control… to make sure that things were orthodox and proper… that was their understanding of what their authority existed for. And since they couldn't control John in the wilderness and they couldn't control Jesus in Jerusalem, they sought to marginalize or eliminate both of them. We all realize that there are things that are beyond our control we don't have to look far… there are earthquakes and hurricanes and floods, there are wars and world economics and accidents, and things like that but at least as often the things that seem to impact our lives on a more profound level are closer to home but things which ultimately we also can't control… the actions and reactions of other people and systems we're a part of… they may affect us deeply and yet we know that we can't control them… And so when we're faced with something we can't control… which is often… whether it's in the big global sense or in relationships that are close to us, we would do well to observe what's going on… to notice the fruit of the actions and reactions… to see what we can learn about the people and systems that carry them out… but the only thing we can control is our response. And our response speaks volumes about us because our response shows what holds authority for our lives.
We always have a decision placed before us: On the one hand we can respond from a place of faith, seeking to make people and places and situations healthy and whole… regardless of all of the things that are outside of our control… no matter whether we have said before I'm not going into the vineyard, or I Go, sir, we can still choose to respond faithfully… or on the other hand we can choose to not respond, to allow what has been and what is to continue unchecked… and I believe that change happens as we observe what's going on around us and respond as if Jesus was the authority in our lives… regardless of whether we get to see the fruit or the benefit of that action…
A few years back, when I was working with youth in the state of
Washington, there was a movement that happened among teenagers…
the
what would Jesus do
movement… people wore WWJD t-shirts
and bracelets and I appreciated that they were considering Jesus'
actions… but I always had a little bit of an issue with the
question… what would Jesus do? because we all know that we're
not Jesus… we can't do what Jesus might do, and so I challenged
people to change the question… instead of asking WWJD, the
better question for us might be what would Jesus have me do…
it's a subtle difference but it allows us to see the authority of
Christ in our lives… authority that comes as we follow his call
and as we choose the kingdom not only as a gift by and by but also as
partners here and now because the authority Jesus claimed that the
chief priests and elders didn't understand is that he transformed
lives… He did it then and he still does it now… and
that's how change happens. … thanks be to God. Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on September 25, 2011.
© 2011 Daniel Holland
