Matthew 21.23-32

Pentecost Eighteen (Revised Common Lectionary) | 10.01.23 | Matthew 21.23-32 | Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him (Jesus) as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”  Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.  The baptism of John, from where did it come?  From heaven or from man?”

And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’  But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”  So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”  And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

“What do you think?  A man had two sons.  And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’  And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.  And he went to the other son and said the same.  And he answered, ‘I go sir,’ but did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”  They answered, “the first.”  Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.  For 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 when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

[English Standard Version]

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

[Philippians 2.12-13]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

You may have noticed this past week how the world’s life is junky and mis-directed; its gods hamper the lives of its people because their presence is continuously streaming from those focusing on themselves.  You can select any media and immediately become aware of the wrongs in the world’s life.  We fully understand how the world struggles to meet such wrongs with its built-in solutions, solutions whose tendency is to be not that much better or helpful; rather, they tend to dispirit our lives and wear us out.

As we come into the Church’s Liturgy this weekend, we are well aware that the Lord’s people need a time-out from all this junk, mis-direction and wrong!  Thankfully, the Lord gives us that time-out in today’s Gospel!  The passage is made up of two paragraphs, the first one is dominated by a key biblical word – “authority;” the second one is dominated by another key biblical word – “righteousness.”

Our Lord, with his unique and eternal way, weaves the impact of these two paragraphs into our lives through very clear illustrations that communicate the vitality and the  necessity of the Life he brings to this world through his birthing, dying, rising and ascending.  His Life contrasts sharply with the life given us by the world at birth, a life shaped by the gods we create and maintain, a life that always appears attractive and compelling, a life reeking of destructiveness and death.  This contrast is very important to note as the Lord’s Life spills out from today’s Gospel.

Today’s conversation between Jesus, the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish tradition is taking place after Jesus entered Jerusalem the previous Sunday (the Sunday we remember every year at the beginning of Holy Week).  Since our Lord made his triumphal entrance on that day, the following events have occurred – He has cleared the temple of its income-producing businesses; He has healed blind and crippled people; He has been confronted with the anger of the chief priests and scribes; He has cursed a fig tree so it won’t produce fruit anymore; He has been talking with his disciples about faith in him and the Father.

These events provide the context for the two-part question hurled at him by the chief priests and the elders – “By what authority are you doing these things and, who gave you this authority?”  It is important to note that the Greek word here for “authority” is “ex-ou-sia,” a meaning that it is a reality unique to the persons of the Holy Trinity.  It is not “authority” as the world understands it, it is an “authority” displayed most vividly in the cross of the Son!

Jesus then responds with a question of his own – “Did John’s baptism come from heaven or from the world?  He is trying to get these Jewish leaders to see the difference between the two realities, but they don’t catch it.  So they proceed to not answer him while giving their excuses and acknowledging they don’t know from where John’s baptism comes.

It is intriguing that the Greek word for “know” suggests a knowing which is different from the world’s usual way of understanding.  The world bases its knowledge on five senses – seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, touching – while the Lord’s “knowing” pushes far beyond those senses.

Based on the responses of the Jewish authorities, Jesus informs them that he will not reveal the authority that is driving his actions.  Instead, he relates a parable of two sons, pressing the authorities to see the difference between the realities of his Life and the world’s.  The story of this parable is well known: one son first says “No” to his father, but changes his mind and says “Yes;” the second son first says “Yes,” but forgets it and lets it slide into a “No.”

Jesus turns this parable against the chief priests and elders by commenting that the people who are collecting taxes for the occupying government (the Roman Empire) and are making a handsome living for those collections as well as those people who sell their bodies for sexual reasons will make their way into his Life before they do!

This is startling because the chief priests and elders are extremely sure of their status

before the LORD God.  They consider themselves much better individuals than the

prostitutes and tax collectors!  On the surface their lives look that way.  They do not participate in questionable or immoral activities, they support the temple and all its activity, they understand well the teachings of the Torah, they worship the LORD God on a steady basis.

This is the problem, however, their “Yes’s” to the LORD God are automatic, they look at their lives and see no need to change their minds or anything else about those lives.  They see no difference between their lives and the Life Jesus is proclaiming.  Through this parable, however, he is holding them responsible for such seeing – eternally!

On the other hand, those collecting taxes for the Roman government and those selling their bodies for sexual reasons see a huge difference between their lives and the Life Jesus is proclaiming.  Confronted by him, they change their minds and they are brought into his new Life – eternally!

This parable takes our breath away, but it has no problem slamming into the lives of Jesus’ people then and his people now!  It does so with Jesus stating that John the Baptizer came to them in a way of righteousness.  The Jewish authorities did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did!   Jesus also comments that when the authorities saw John’s way, they did not change their minds and believe.  It is important to note that the Hebrew word for “righteousness” is much more than a person living a clean, proper life; it is the Life pouring out from an individual who is being rescued by the Lord’s saving and sustaining activity.

We are afflicted with the same “No’s” and “Yes’s” as the Lord’s Life surfaces from his Scriptures along with the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Supper.  Some of us see no difference between our lives and the Life Jesus proclaims.  We could call ourselves “lapsed Christians,” that is, people who are pulling away from their baptismal promises.

This occurs when we consider ourselves the Lord’s people even though we don’t take part in his Scriptures and Sacraments!  This occurs when we confirm our baptismal promises just as we’re becoming teenagers and the world’s life begins to lean on us so we can make our way out of the Lord’s Life!  Lapsing occurs when we honestly think that the way we live makes it possible for us to stand in the Lord’s presence without any repentance or confession!  We are quick to note that we’re not on same level as those individuals whose personal activity puts them in the local news!  Lapsing occurs when we eat the Son’s Body and drink the Son’s Blood while resisting and ignoring our Lord’s attempts to break our lives down so they can be restored to his own Life!

These occurrences, along with many others, create people who become “lapsed Christians,” that is, people who don’t see any differences between their lives and the Life that Jesus proclaims!  They don’t even shudder that they may be falling out of the Life into which they were baptized!  Such people are quick to say “Yes” when their Lord comes calling (the world birthed them to respond that way!), but the reality is that they ignore him!

Thankfully, though, there are people who do see the differences between our lives and the Life Jesus proclaims.  We call such individuals “faithful Christians,” that is, people who work hard to have their lives crossed steadily by the Lord’s Scriptures and Sacraments!  This occurs when we are startled that the Lord has marked us as his people because we know we are not worthy or deserving of his Life!  This occurs when we recognize that our natural, self-seeking ways create and maintain the rocky relationships we have with one another!  This occurs when we are aware that the Lord’s dying and rising breaks the grip placed on us by sin, Satan and death!  This occurs when we, along with all the other redeemed people, realize it is the Life given at Baptism which takes hold of us, steers us through this world’s life and carries us into eternity!

These occurrences create people who become “faithful Christians,” that is, individuals who see the enormous difference between their lives and the Life Jesus proclaims.

Such people are quick to say “No” when their Lord comes calling, but then the Lord stirs them to change their minds and say “Yes!”  Remember, too, that the “Yes’s” which give way to the “No’s” always draw us further into the eternal life headed by the unholy trio of sin, Satan and death!  Remember also that the “No’s” which give way to the “Yes’s” always draw us further into the eternal Life headed by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

The LORD God continuously pushes his Life into a world where people think it is normal to wrap their lives around themselves.  The LORD God steadily pushes his Life from his holy places into the lives of people seeking relief from a junky, distracted and wrongful world.  That is why there are “faithful Christians” who realize they have been grasped by his Life and are not willing to walk away from it!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

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Pr. Carl A. Voges, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com