Who Tells Us What to Do?

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.