A sermon for the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, given at the United Church of Acworth, Acworth, NH on the twenty-fifth of September, 2011.
The actual sermon was given extemporaneously. These are the thoughts which I had in preparation, not the sermon as it was actually given.
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 78:1-4,12-16
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
Two things happen that make the Jewish religious authorities upset.
1) In the beginning of chapter 21, Jesus rides into Jerusalem and palms are laid before him as he goes, people singing praises to him – “Praise to David’s Son! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise be to God!”
2)Then, he enters the temple and overturns tables of people who were making a profit off of the worship of God. Once the greedy are kicked out, blind and crippled make their way to him to receive healing. Children come into the temple and praise Jesus saying “Praise to David’s Son!”
Talk about making a scene!
And the religious authorities seeing all of this are just thrown into a fit.
Who is this person who conducts himself with such power and authority? Who does he think he is?
When Jesus makes it over to the temple the next day, he finds the religious authorities waiting for him.
The question that was in their mind, comes out their mouths:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
“These things” had turned into stories all around town. “Did you see? Were you there? You won’t believe it, but…”
The religious authorities, probably having person after person come up to them asking them what their take on “these things” is, are quite ready to put Jesus in his place.
The question is of authority. What our Bible translates “right” is a Greek word which can also be translated “power” or “authority”
What power do you have to do these things? What authority do you have to do these things?
Throwing tables over and telling them that the way the temple is run is wrong is a radical action, a prophetic action – the very act of cleansing the temple and then cleansing those who came to the temple spoke of a unique prophetic authority.
This person obviously thinks that he can change things from how they’ve been done and judge the way they’ve been done. But what makes him right? How can he say that this was wrong?
This person can obviously heal the blind and the crippled. But where does that power come from?
And who does he think he is, riding into Jerusalem just like Solomon did before being crowned the third king of Israel.
Is he seriously associating himself with Solomon?
There is a certain audacity in Jesus’ actions that makes the religious authorities seriously threatened. This guy is challenging OUR authority. He’s challenging the way that WE do things. He is ministering to the people who used to come to US for help. Who does he think he is?
He is treading on OUR territory.
It’s not the first time that Jesus upset the religious authorities. But this is definitely the most audacious he has been.
So they ask the question.
How does Jesus respond?
Indirectly. He responds with a question.
And then three parables.
We can actually look at the rest of chapter 21 and the whole of chapter 22 as answering the question:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
(So for homework, in preparation for the next few Sundays, read chapters 21 and 22 in the gospel of Matthew a few times)
This Sunday’s passage involves a question and the first of the three parables.
So, first the question:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
And Jesus’ response:
“I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things. Where did John’s right to baptize come from: was it from God or from man?”
John was a folk hero.
Like all folk heroes, John was hated by the powerful, by the ones who benefited from the status quo.
Most disturbingly, John told EVERYONE (not just tax collectors and prostitutes) but EVERYONE to repent for a new time is coming.
The socially acceptable and the socially unacceptable were seen as equals in their need to prepare themselves for the new way that God was bringing in Jesus.
The authority of the religious leaders was trumped by John’s prophetic message which called them to change their ways, to join the tax collectors and prostitutes in receiving baptism.
John spoke with authority and criticized the established leaders of the Jewish faith – calling them a brood of vipers.
What was John’s point?
That they were not listening to God’s call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.
They were caught up in their own worlds of power and influence and wealth – and unable to hear the prophetic word to repent and prepare for the new way that was coming.
So they looked at John like he was a raving crazy radical. And he was. He did eat locusts and honey after all.
So, Jesus asks, was John speaking with the authority of God or man?
The religious leaders’ refusal to answer showed that they were not interested in truth, but in their own agenda – to maintain their own power and influence over religious matters and to silence Jesus, or at least shame him publically so he lost his credibility.
How often we trade truth for our own agenda. We trade what is right for what is comfortable.
Jesus sees right through their question and addresses the real issue.
The religious leaders are more concerned about their power, influence, and public image and comfortable lifestyle than about properly following God, or listening to truth when it is spoken.
Jesus refuses, then, to give them an answer to their original question.
He goes further and tells them the parable of two children.
The older child refuses to go work in the vineyard and later repents and does what was asked – the younger child smilingly says a good “Yes, sir!” But puts the matter out of mind and goes on as normal.
Both children in this parable disobey their parent. The only difference is that the first disobeys in word but obeys in action, the second obeys in word but disobeys in action.
The conclusion that the tax collectors and prostitutes are the first child and the religious leaders are the second must have made the religious leaders irate.
But the tax collectors and prostitutes listened to the truth spoken by John and the religious leaders were glad to be rid of him. The tax collectors and prostitutes heard John’s teaching and knew that they needed to wake up and live a life guided by truth – they listened to John and found Jesus.
The religious leaders couldn’t stand John. John was too radical. John demanded that they take seriously truth even if it meant loss of status, wealth, or comfort. They would go to the temple and offer their praises of God and all their most pious words, promising to follow God’s truth, but they refused to recognize the truth on the lips of John or Jesus. The refused to the live life of mercy and hospitality toward the weak and outcast that such a truth would demand of them.
This brings us back to the original question:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
What right does Jesus have to parade into Jerusalem, cleanse the temple, and heal the weak and handicapped – eliciting songs of praise from a extemporaneous children’s choir?
Never giving a direct answer to the question, Jesus unmasks their question.
If he told them straight-forwardly that he has the authority of Messiah, of the coming (final) King of Israel – they would (as they eventually do) have him imprisoned and executed.
Instead, he shows that their asking of the question is their way of suppressing the reality that calls them to turn away from their comfortable lifestyles and follow God – not just in word, but in deed and in truth.
So, what’s the point?
God does not seek our empty words.
God does not want our half-hearted commitment.
We, like King David when he was told the parable about a rich man who stole a lamb from a poor man when he had hundreds of his own…
We feel righteous indignation at the injustice, and immediately disassociate ourselves from the evil of such actions. We identify with the first and not, definitely not the second.
In the same way we read about the empty words and promises in the parable, and we read about the religious leaders and how all they cared about was their own status in society and maintaining a way of life that was comfortable and we react with a sort of disgust at such compromising behavior.
But with King David, we are not prepared to hear the prophetic words of Nathan the prophet:
You are the man!
David was the doing the exact same thing as the unjust rich man in the parable and we need to look at our own lives in light of today’s parable.
Which child are we?
My own response to this question is an uncompromising BOTH. I like many of you don’t appreciate dichotomies – I hardly ever fit one or the other slot.
The truth is that I sometimes repent and zealously seek to live a life dedicated to truth, justice, and mercy. But sometimes I ignore the call to truth – I chose comfort rather than what’s right.
So sometimes we’re one, sometimes we’re the other. But we need to continue to hear these hard truths and ask ourselves the hard questions if we are going to follow Jesus in the path of truth.
Are we trying to maintain a comfortable lifestyle by distancing ourselves from the difficult aspects of living God’s way, of speaking truthfully, of forgiving seventy-times-seven?
Do we offer empty words which make promises to do what is right and good and follow Jesus and turn around and live like nothing we said meant anything?
This is a hard parable. These are hard questions.
But Jesus didn’t come to make us comfortable. He came to save us from ourselves and show the world God’s new way – freedom to the captives and sight to the blind. And if we’re going to be a part of his new way, we need to listen and not suppress the words, the challenges that confront us in the prophetic Word. And not just give lipservice in response, but carry the cross of our Savior who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
May we not be hearers only, but doers of the word. Amen.
-----
further notes that entered into the prep time:
God’s kingdom versus our conventions
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
The power struggle is between two rival views of how things should be.
God’s kingdom shown to us in the life of Jesus is constantly threatening to undo our notions of what the right way to be is.
We become satisfied in the way things are and are hostile to the way things might be when the prophetic voice speaks to us.
We create a comfortable system of how to be. We dig our feet into set patterns of behavior and thought and create an established order which becomes truth for us. It’s second nature.
But Jesus calls us to consider where we are going wrong and we respond:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
We assume that we have authority because that’s how we’ve been acting: as if we have ultimate authority and what we create is truth.
So, when Jesus turns over our tables, calls us greedy or apathetic, when Jesus starts to show that we haven’t been attending to the needs of the weak, the handicapped, and the socially outcast – when Jesus starts exposing our injustice – and when Jesus parades into town like He is in charge…
We have to say:
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such a right?”
No comments:
Post a Comment