Over the past few months, we have worked our way through the Gospel of Matthew. This week, we are jumping ahead to a text that relays a conversation Jesus had in the Temple Courts during his last “Holy Week.” Jesus and his friends came to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Passover. Jesus arrived to the city riding on the back of a donkey – he entered the city as a king coming in the name of Peace. He was hailed by cheering crowds who waved palm branches to welcome him. After he arrived, Jesus entered the Temple courts and expelled the money changers and animal sellers who had set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles. He was upset that God’s house, a place created for worship, had become a place of commerce.
Today’s reading comes a day or two after Jesus cleansed the Temple. Jesus returned to the Temple to teach and preach. While he was there, the chief priests and elders came and questioned Jesus. Listen to how the story unfolded as we read from Matthew, chapter 21, verses 23 through 32:
23 Jesus
entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and
the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing
these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus
replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell
you by what authority I am doing these things.
25 John’s
baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed
it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why
didn’t you believe him?’
26 But if
we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that
John was a prophet.”
27 So
they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he
said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “What
do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said,
‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I
will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then
the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will,
sir,’ but he did not go.
31 “Which
of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,”
they answered.
Jesus said to
them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
32 For
John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not
believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even
after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Here ends this reading of the word of God
for the People of God. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
Heavenly Father, through weak human words,
give us grace to hear your true and living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Message
Thy
Will Be Done
Actions speak louder than words.
In the past few years, Disney has remade many of their favorite
cartoons as live-action movies. Now we
can watch Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland with famous actors embodying the
roles. A few years ago, “Beauty and the
Beast” was remade with Emma Watson playing Belle and Dan Stevens of “Downton
Abbey” fame playing the Beast. I love
the story of Belle – she is a book worm who is willing to sacrifice her freedom
to protect her father.
In the story, the Beast epitomizes the
expression “Actions Speak Louder than Words.”
The Beast is filled with self-loathing and despair because of his former
misdeeds. He is abrupt and verbally
cruel to Belle -- yet he allowed her to leave his castle when her dad was at
risk and he jeopardized his life to protect her from a pack of vicious
wolves. Belle fell in love with the
person the Beast is on the inside despite his having a hideous exterior. Their love led to a curse being broken and
allowed the Beast to regain his former prestige and looks.
In the story we read from Scriptures
today, Jesus and the chief priests and elders of the Temple in Jerusalem are
embroiled in an intense conversation.
This conversation happened during Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’
life prior to his death on the cross.
The priests and elders were working to build a case against Jesus—they
tried to entangle Jesus in saying something that would expose him as a
fraud. They questioned Jesus as to how
he claimed the authority to force money changers and salespeople to leave the
Temple courts. They asked him to
declare by whose authority he claimed to “cleanse the Temple” of moneychangers
and animal sellers. Who gave him the
authority to preach and to interpret the Holy Scriptures? Who was he and how could be preach on God’s
behalf?
Jesus excelled in the technique at
answering questions by asking a question of his own. He asked the Priests and Elders where they
thought John the Baptist’s authority to baptize came from. The Priests and Elders were afraid to answer
Jesus’ question--John the Baptist was very popular with the people of Jerusalem
despite his tragic execution at the hands of King Herod. The priests and elders refused to answer
Jesus’ question and Jesus, therefore, refused to answer their question.
Then, as further icing on the cake,
Jesus shared a parable about faithfulness.
The parable followed a common “trope” – two brothers were asked by the
father do some work. In the first century, “two brother” parables were as
common as jokes about “two men walking into a bar.” In the parable, after the father asked the
brothers to do work for him, one brother declined the father’s request, but
then did the work. The other brother
said he would do the work, but then did not actually do it. Jesus asked his audience, “Who was faithful
to the dad?” – Everyone answered: The
brother who said he would not do the work but actually did it was more faithful
to the dad than his brother.
In this story from Jesus’ life, the priests and elders were
experts at pretending to be righteous.
They clothed themselves in the proper garments. They prayed the prescribed prayers. They sacrificed the right kind of animals. On the outside, they pretended to follow all
of the rules to practice their faith.
Yet, their words and actions were hallow – they were just saying them
and following a routine without really believing in them. They were just going through the motions.
The people who were truly transformed
by John the Baptist, the people who were truly changed by Jesus, were the
outcasts of their society – tax collectors, prostitutes, people with leprosy,
unmarried mothers, Gentiles. The people
who changed their hearts and followed God were “Beasts” on the outside, but
were princes in their hearts.
Throughout our lives, we encounter
many faithful people. Sometimes they are
the people we expect – regular churchgoers who have the right attire and are
able to show up on time with their shoes polished. But, we also encounter faithful people in
unexpected places. Just because we look
“right” on the outside doesn’t mean we are faithful in our hearts or in our
practices. Sometimes, the people we
don’t expect are actually the people who express the most faith – people who
don’t look like us, who don’t wear the “right” clothes, who don’t live in
respectable neighborhoods, who don’t have the most “proper” jobs or
acquaintances. Faith is how we feel on
the inside, not what we show on the outside.
There are Christian strippers and Christian trash collectors. There are Christian biker chicks and
Christian drug dealers. There are
Christian bartenders and Christian janitors.
In Jesus’ day and age, the people who embraced the faith were the people
the rest of the society disdained. In
our day and age, we find faithful people in the least expected places too.
Today’s story is a reminder that what
we believe in our hearts is more important than how well we demonstrate our
faith on the outside. We are good
imitators. If we want to “look” like faithful Christians, we can “act” like we
believe without truly believing in our hearts.
But, Jesus wants us to believe with our whole hearts and souls and minds
and strength. Jesus wants us to practice
our faith by orienting our internal selves towards God. Jesus wants us to believe with our minds and
our hearts and our feelings, not just on the outside.
So, friends, we are called to expand
our faith. We are called to commit to
Jesus and God with our whole selves….not just for show, but with our whole
being. Let’s us do so, and be confident
in the living and loving God who embraces us when we turn our lives over to
God. Amen!
