Proper 21 (Sunday 2023)

Which of the Sons Are You?

What is God like? Last week's readings showed that God is not fair, but gracious. Today the church is reminded that the grace of God does not give us license to sin. God doesn't want mere lip service but a broken and contrite heart that turns from sin and does the will of our Father.

Our God wants real repentance that leads to true obedience. Today's first reading sounds God's heartfelt warning. “Why will you die, Israel? Turn. Event. Live.” Scripture is constantly calling on sinners to bring to God the sacrifice of a broken heart now, that their heart may know nothing but joy when Jesus comes again. Today's second reading reminds us that one day, everyone will bow before Jesus and confess him as Lord. Some will do so in grief and others in joy. God wants real repentance from all sinners that they might bend the knee to Christ in true obedience and confess with gladness that Jesus is Lord.

GOD WANTS REAL REPENTANCE AND TRUE OBEDIENCE

Are You the Child with Empty Words?

Matthew 21:30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. And answered, I will, sir, but did not go.” Matthew 21:32 “For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believed him.”

Going through the motions — Checking all the boxes

Subscribe to the idea that God forgives without us having to change. Bonhoefer calls this “Cheap Grace.

Your sin does not trouble you.

Actually, we have a difficult time acknowledging that we have sinned. Even if someone were to point it out, we struggle to fess up because at the end of the day, our sin does not burden us.

Are You the Child with Repentant Action?

Matthew 21:29 “He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.” Matthew 21:31–32 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”

Your sin does grieve you.

Psalm 51 is a regular confession. Psalm 51:1–4 “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight.”

The way of righteousness is that Jesus calls us sinful children to enter the kingdom through repentance. It involves sorrow over our sins, faith that God has forgiven our sins and declared us righteous because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; and a God-given resolve to be righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit in our everyday life.

How can we avoid the rebelliousness of the first son and the hypocrisy of the second?

The Third Son is the Answer

He’s not a character in the parable, but the story-teller.

Unlike the first son, Jesus said yes to doing God’s will — Hebrews 10:7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come . . . To do Your will, O God.’” John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

Unlike the second son, Jesus actually did God’s will. Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

It is actually the third Son that enable us to live a life of repentance and faith Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

And so we pray that God will rule our hearts through his word and the sacrament that our repentance might be real and our obedience truly pleasing.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.