No Respect

Luke 20:1–19 NRSV

One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?” He answered them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!” But he looked at them and said, “What then does this text mean: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

Have you ever noticed how some people just seem to command authority, without even trying? I’ve always wondered like what exactly it is about a person’s presentation or demeanor that seems to shout — this person deserves our respect. It’s probably some mixture of charisma, confidence, and character presentation. I mean let’s be honest — this is the reason why some people make it onto political ballots and others don’t right? There are probably people out there who are capable of running things or solving problems that just don’t get to make it to our selection choices at the voting booth. They just end up working for them.

For some reason, we are all quick to determine whether or not someone has leadership qualities, and then based on our assessment of those leadership qualities we determine whether or not we will follow them. Essentially what we decide is whether or not that person receives our respect — or at least all of it.

And leaders gain and earn respect over the course of their leadership. As do most people in general. Respect is given and taken based upon the way that we interact with people, the way that decisions made impact people, and based on the content of a person’s character as revealed by the way they live. Or at least that’s the way that things are supposed to go.

This is what we call a social contract. You, as a leader abide by these generally accepted leadership qualities and activities and we will at minimum respect you, and at best will follow you.

So we place our hope in this social contract. We place our hope in it as we try to climb the ranks of any organization that we work for. We place our hope in it as we navigate the world of civil service or non-profit volunteerism, the governing structure of the local church, the long road of parenting, or just generally being part of the wonderful thing called family.

Maybe you’re already laughing in your head because you know that this doesn’t always work out the way that we plan for it to work out. People don’t always like to give respect or to follow leaders — even when a leader has done nothing to deserve it. These can be some of the lowest and most gut wrenching times in our lives. When our humanity, our leadership, even our calling on life by God is put into jeopardy by people who refuse to respect us and then willfully plot to ruin our plans, our goals, or our success, then we are left with a brokenness that can seem unrepairable.

We are in the 3 week of our sermon series “Hope and Despair” where we are looking at some of the common things that we put our hope in as human beings, and how when those things fall apart and we find ourselves in a state of despair that we can find ultimate hope once again in Jesus.

Today’s scripture reading comes from the very end of Jesus’s ministry. We find it in the midst of a much larger discussion from the Gospel author Luke that looks at the authority of Jesus. You see, as Jesus and the disciples made their way to Jerusalem there was a lot of turmoil going on. The disciples were grappling with some of the crazy things Jesus was saying about dying when they got there — because for all they could gather Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. This was a person who had authority to take back control of Israel and free her from Roman oppression.

And this was the belief that the larger Israelite community was embracing, and so when Jesus and the disciples arrive in Jerusalem a huge dramatic power dynamic begins to unfold. Before Jesus enters into town he sends the disciples to go and get a donkey from somebody, and to claim that it’s under Jesus’s authority that they do so.

And then he rides into Jerusalem and the people are throwing this giant triumphal party to celebrate the authority of a King coming to claim the throne.

And then the first thing Jesus does when he gets into town is he goes into the temple, the center of all religious life for the region, and he starts driving people out who are exploiting others for material gain.

So this is the Jesus that we encounter in Luke 20. He has come into Jerusalem and exerted his royal and his religious authority. And you know who doesn’t like it when you do that. Yeah, the royals and the religious people who stand to lose out if Jesus is who he says that he is or who the people claim that he is.

And so they come to him and are like hey, by what authority are you doing these things. And Jesus says basically — its obvious. Figure it out. But then he tells them a story about a man who handed over authority of his estate to a bunch of other people. Their only job was to pay the owner of the estate a share of the produce. He was in a position of authority over them because he owned the land, but shared that with these people who did not have the privilege of owning land for themselves. He offers them a way to support themselves.

But the people decide that the authority given to them isn’t enough. They want it all. They don’t respect the owner of the vineyard. Maybe they did at first, but what they found is that this man stood in their way of having more. So they send all the bill collectors away. And they kill the man’s son.

Now this action violates a whole host of laws — both ancient and modern. So these religious elites — the scribes and chief priests —are appalled at what Jesus has said. But then they realize that Jesus is saying that they are the wicked tenants.

Jesus is warning them that God gave them the authority that they have — them and all of their ancestors before them. And that God has sent people — people called prophets — over the course of history to reign in the corruption and abuse of authority that has constantly plagued the royal and religious life of Israel. And those prophets were turned away.

So enter onto the scene — Jesus. The owner’s son and heir apparent to all of the authority that God has over Israel and the world. They want to know by what authority Jesus does what he does, and He’s like well I’m God so, by that authority. And they are enraged. They want to kill him right then and there. But they hold off.

What has happened is that Jesus, who honestly deserves all of the respect in the world, has lost any shred of respect from the religious structure to which he belongs. He’s meant to be given a certain level of it based solely on his status as a traveling rabbi. He’s never done anything to truly warrant losing respect. He’s certainly got new ways of doing things, new ways of teaching, new ways of stretching the limits of tradition, and goes well out of his way to make sure that people feel loved and cared for. But Jesus’s ministry isn’t scandalous to the common person. In fact, it’s really respectable. That’s why he amasses such a large following everywhere he goes! Jesus has held up his end of the social contract, and he is starting to feel the effects of that contract fall apart. In fact it will unravel so quickly that in a few short days the majority of the people in Jerusalem who just hailed him as king, will cry out for him to be crucified.

So maybe you’ve experienced this. Maybe you’re experiencing it now. Somewhere along the line — even as you are just fulfilling the social contract of leadership and respect — someone approaches you and is like “hey, by what authority do you lead?” Right? By what authority do you set the schedule and the workplace expectations and policies? By what authority do you decide what time in an appropriate time for a 14 year old to go to bed? By what authority do you make decisions about the direction of a ministry or whatever else. And it catches you off guard like… well by the authority of the person who hired me to do these things. Or by the authority of the doctor who handed you to me or the judge who put me in charge of caring for you. Or by the authority of the people who elected me.

I think often the hardest spaces to lead from are the ones where you have been brought in kind of halfway through the process. Like when you’re an outside hire for a job that is typically filled by someone who is working their way up. Or you adopt a child. Whatever. I mean I get it. I’ve got a job where they tell me where to go. And the people there have just got to accept that I’m there under the authority of the Bishop of Florida, who is there under the authority of a few other layers of religious polity thats a little complicated for a Sunday morning. The reality is that it can be hard.

So when you find that, like Jesus, your authority and dignity is undermined by a level of personal or social disrespect that leads to emotional or very real physical loss — when your hope in the social contract that says “live well and with integrity and you will be rewarded” is shattered and you’re left in a state of despair… how do you recover? How do you put yourself out there. How do you take back the authority that has been given to you by God to live out a life of purpose and ministry to the world around you?

Well it begins with recognizing where our authority comes from. Jesus, in Matthew 28:18 says:

Matthew 28:18 NRSV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And then he gives that authority to his disciples:

Matthew 28:19–20 NRSV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

See Jesus offers his disciples a life of purpose after they had lived a season of deep despair. He says my authority is given to me by God the Father — the one who in the very beginning created Heaven and Earth — and that authority I give to you. Make disciples.

I think that what we have and what we struggle with in our human lives is that we often forget where our authority and where our purpose come from. And so when the social contract lets us down, we slip into despair. And I get it. People can be really difficult, especially when there is a disconnect between the level of respect that we deserve and the level of respect we receive.

But each and every one of us has been given authority — by nature of being children of God — to go out and live the purpose that God created us for. And that purpose may manifest in different and wonderful ways, but the purpose remains the same always. Go out and make disciples and teach them by way of example what it looks like to follow Jesus.

This past week a lot of lives changed. And it’s not good. It turns out that hurricanes are no respecter of human life or human dignity. And we collectively mourn the devastation and loss that individuals and our broader community face. But in the midst of hard times is when we live out the purpose that we’ve been given authority for. We show up and we help people recover, we show them what it looks like when Jesus’s followers follow Jesus. When we do this, the respect that we gain is respect that is credited to Jesus and the amazing life transforming love that he has for all of God’s people, and especially those who are hurting. And that’s something that we can sleep well on. So do what you can, bring light and love to your neighbors this week. Bring food and shelter. Bring what you can, God will sort out the rest.