Sermon
Matthew 21:23-32 October 1, 2017 World Communion
Who Tells
Us What to Do?
“Who
said you could do that?”
This
question is an old one that many of us have heard or asked over the years.
Who
said you could get that cookie?
Who
told you that you could take the car?
Who
said you could leave work early?
Who
gave you permission to take money from the account?
Who
tells you that you can act like that in public?
These
are fair questions.
These
are real questions to ask when there is a concern about authority. We live, and
have always lived, in a time when authority is the question of the day.
This
month we are turning our focus to the issues of the Reformation. Authority was
one of the many concerns and questions that Martin Luther faced. His concern
was specific to papal authority. He questioned the pope’s misuse of Scripture. He
had been diligently studying Scripture and he discovered a disconnect with the
teachings of the church. He read in Scripture about the forgiveness of God and
the power of God’s righteousness to save. It was God who forgives and God who saves, not the priests or the pope.
Jesus’
encounter with the religious leaders brings home the question of authority and
of faith. Jesus challenges the people in positions of authority not just as he
faced the religious leaders, but everyone who reads these words today.
How
do people get authority anyway?
Authority
comes to those in positions of responsibility. Teachers, doctors, ministers,
lawyers, policemen, firemen, elected officials, all have authority granted them
by the position of their office-in other words-their job requires them to be
responsible for others.
There
is an expectation of how they are to act with their authority.
They
are not to abuse it or hold it over others, or ridicule, or humiliate.
But,
when someone questions authority, especially someone who is not in an accepted
role of authority, that person is criticized, disregarded, punished, sent away,
rejected. When someone stands up and points out a wrong, they are immediately shut
down. That seems to be how it has worked for as long as we have history to
document it. It happened in Scripture as we have heard. It happened in Luther’s
day. It is happening today in this country and across the world.
When
misuse of power is happening-the question of authority must be
addressed.
The
challenge for us as we listen to this Scripture is to figure out who are we in
this context.
Are
we the religious leaders upholding the current law,
criticizing
those who are pushing and shoving their way to make a change and questioning
their rights to challenge them?
Or
are we with Jesus standing up to authority and questioning their misuse of
power?
You
see, we Americans are Americans because we stood up to taxation without
representation.
We
Protestants are Protestants because we stood up to misuse of the papal authority.
Can
you think of other historical times when this was necessary?
For Martin Luther it was important to learn and
understand the Bible at its very word. He felt tormented by the verses that
proclaimed, ‘God forgives’. No one had the authority to forgive but God. He was
compelled to stand up to those
in the church who claimed otherwise.
Have
we ever had a time in our own lives when we felt
compelled to stand up to others who we believed were misusing their
power, their authority?
Jesus
questions the leaders about the baptism of John.
He
makes it clear that John’s baptism was proclaimed by the authority of heaven.
God’s
righteousness blessed John as the foreshadow of Jesus.
By
the rejection of John’s ministry of repentance, the religious leaders are in
essence rejecting the ministry of Jesus.
Their
failure to see John as sent from heaven ultimately results in their failure to
receive Jesus as the Messiah. FAITH is crucial, Jesus clarifies the religious
leaders do not have the authority to claim
who is and who is out!
And
so,
Jesus tells the parable of the two sons. There is
no mystery here. The parable is clear. One son refuses to do the father’s will
but changes his made and goes out and does the job. The second says he will but
never shows up.
What
matters most is not saying but doing. Our walking in the way of believing is
more important than our saying we believe.
Lewis
Donelson, a theologian, says, This parable remains an attack on people in
authority. It addresses leaders who do
not recognize those who walk in the ways of righteousness and who do not walk
that way themselves.
The
words of Jesus in Scripture help us understand who tells us what to do. It is the God of heaven and earth
that moves us and claims us and puts us on the path to do good.
Our
words,
our
actions,
our
proclamations
all
fall under scrutiny
when
we judge who is in and who is out.
Sinners,
tax collectors,
drug addicts,
homeless,
prisoners,
illegals,
are the ones who turned
and followed Jesus
and there was room
for them at the table.
The
authority of Jesus comes from heaven above
and
he is the One to whom we offer ourselves.
He
is the one who feeds us.
He
is the one who gives the bread of life.
He
is the one who turns our hearts inside out.
Let us believe in him.
Let us accept his authority.
Let us walk in his righteousness.
Let
us find room at the table for all the sons and daughters
who
need a place to sit and eat.
Amen.
