Pentecost 18a

Matthew 21:23–32 “When 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? Who gave you this authority?”

We are picking this up in the middles of a series of events, mainly Jesus clearing the temple. The Clearing of the temple did a couple of things.

First off it created disorder. The Pharisees held power, and part of the deal was the Roman empire would allow this as long as they kept order. Jesus threatens their power that way.

Second he has disrupted a major revenue stream. The suspicion of historians is those selling in the temple area have that privileged place because they are paying rent or bribes to be there to these powerful people.

So they are challenging Jesus to say who are do you think you are, why do you think you can get away with this. The language they use is “By whose authority.” WHich Carries some baggage. They believed that the trainning of a Rabbi or scribal person was done in these streams of authority and you could only do the sorts of things Jesus was doing if you were under the authority of a recognized entity.

Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

Several times you may remember that the religious leaders of the day try and trap Jesus with rhetorical questions to try and trip him up and make a mistake in his teaching, and everytime he is able to show them their folly in his answer.

Legal to pay taxed to ceasar

Now Jesus is laying a trap of Rhetoric: He is basically saying I will answer second, you go first, was the ministry of John the Baptist of God, or was he just a person believeing he was a prophet of God?

They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, - because everyone considers John to be a prophet.”

John the baptist was already a dicy proposition for these people.

On one hand there has been a prophetic silence, the liturature uses a short hand that it the 400 years between the end of the OT and John the baptist had meant God was not giving new revelation, and so John having a prophetic ministry could be exciting. God reopens the conversation.

On the other hand John was saying, that it was not enough to be ethnically part of the covenant people. There needed to be a change in direction, a repentance and he called them to baptism to signal that. This was eroding the authority of the religious leaders. ALSO he pointed to Jesus and said “Behold the Lamb of God…”

The religious leaders know if they touch this hot potatoe they loose either way, they lose with the empire or with the people.

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

And so Jesus wins the argument about authority, but he is not done yet. He is going to bring his point home with a parable.

“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go.

Again a father and a vineyard. Hopefully we are used to the idea that the father is God, and the vineyard is his kingdom where we work.

We have two sons and they respond in complete opposite of eachother.

The first one is verbally disobedient, and yet actually obedient. Maybe you had this child at home. The one that fought, get you ot throw your hands up, and then do the thing. But Jesus is actually making a deeper point here. What the crowd is meant to notice is the son changed his mind. INotice how often we have a changed mind type wording associated with repentance. That the second son does the right thing after proclaiming the wrong thing. This is a parable about change in direction. The first son is disobedient but then repents and dose the fathers. will.

The second son, is obedient in word but not deed. As Lutherans we need to deal with this. We live my the creed, faith alone, that faith accesses the Grace of God which saves us. The verbal acclimation of faith in our protestant context is so easy to see as saving faith. But we also believe that saving faith is a transforing faith one that brings about obedience, not by our effort but by the transforming ministry of the Holy Spirit. I have recently said from the pulpit that we need to be aware of a faith that does not transform and ask the hard question, is it truely saving faith?

Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.”

Jesus brings home his main point: Those who are the sinners of the day, the first sons of the parable, tax collectors, prostitutes, no matter what they have done, are first in line for heaven because through the ministry of John they have repented, changed direction from disobedience to God. While those who know the scriptures, worship according to the OT scriptures, proclaim God with their lips, refuse to get on board with what God is doing

Application:

We have a job to do for God, we are the workers in the Vineyard of Christ. You have certain gifts, that are ment to be deployed. And even if your past is full of things you are not proud of, the Gospel is a message that those who turn from their old who repent are the true laborers of the church the ones who bring about the kingdom that Christ initiates.

This one is not like the others…sometimes in an evangelistic conversation where someone challenges you about your Christian faith its is okay to ask them to go first. How can a good God exist if there is suffering in the world? You go first, If we are the product of an explosion in space and there is no God, how can we call anything suffereing in the fist place. You go first I will go second.

Beware talking a big game and then not living the faith you proclaim, most of us have been in the fold since we where baptised at birth. We tell people we are Christians, even better Lutherans. If we tell people this and refuse the walk in the ways of God, Jesus has a serious warning in this parable about that. I have a serious warning from him, if you claim faith and are not changed by it to render good works from God, is that saving faith, is you future eternal joy with God, or eternal seperation, hell.

Conclusion

If you are hearing my voice and the Holy Spirit is stirring in you a Godly Sorrow, a motivation to turn from sin and towards the things of God, move with that prompting. Change your direction change your mind, meta noia, repent. And know that if your repentance and your work is not up to the standard of New Testament obedience, Jesus has perfectly worked on our behalf, giving us his greatest work, his death on the cross. You are seen as a successful worker in the kingdom because you are hidden in Christ. so friends, the kingdom of God is at hand, and through our baptism we have been issued passports, work visas. Take up your tools, most importantly your cross, follow the savior. Live out your saving faith.