A sermon shared at
First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN October 1, 2017
Matthew 21:23-32
Lip
service, if you do
not know, means to talk a good game
but deliver nothing of substance to back up the talk. This passage in Matthew asks,
“Are we all talk, just giving lip service to the obligations of Christian
living, or in service to a Christian life.”
The passage is
composed of two parts, a confrontation between the priests of the Temple and
Jesus over his authority, and a parable. The confrontation begins with a
question from the priests and a counter question by Jesus.
This whole passage works
at two levels. On its surface, it is a message to priests and preachers. The debate
or argument is between two voices of authority from God, the priests who labor
under the authority of the Law that comes from God to be responsible for the
temple and the spiritual wellbeing of the Hebrews. Jesus stands directly as the
authority of God.
The priests ask
Jesus, “By whose authority do you do the things we see?” Jesus then asks the priests if the baptism
done by John (that signifies faith in the Messiah) is from God or Man. Neither
answer the other’s question. The priests refuse to answer because they do not
like the answer. Jesus refuses to answer them because they refuse to answer him.
Jesus then resorts to
a question in the form of a parable in the second part of the confrontation. Its answer also answers the previous two questions. This question of the
parable about a father and his two sons is directed to the priests.
Uncomfortable for the
priests, it has an obvious answer. It is uncomfortable because if the priests give the
obvious answer they acknowledge their failure of responsibility to their authority as priests, and answer their own first question, under
what authority does Jesus act.
Why would the priests
challenge the authority of Jesus in the first place? After all, they have heard
John preach and baptize announcing the coming of Jesus, and they have
seen or heard clearly the reports of the miraculous signs of Jesus, feeding the people in
the wilderness, healing, forgiving sins. They also know he is a deft
rhetorician who can turn aside questions and traps intended to weaken and
discredit his authority.
You would also think
that after three years of ministry and multiple parables and interactions with
Jesus they would be far more careful about what they ask Jesus and how they ask
it. How many times has Jesus effectively short circuited the arguments of his
opponents in the Temple hierarchy by asking them a question, particularly a
question that forces an answer they would rather not give because it reveals an
unpleasant truth about themselves. Yet,
here they are again, questioning the authority of Jesus, perhaps only because
he threatens their own authority.
Since the priests will
not answer the counter question about John and baptism, Jesus turns
to this parable about two sons (remember the other parable of two sons – the
prodigal son?). The parable about the prodigal son, or the man who had two
sons, is about the Jews and Gentiles who are children of the Father, God. Jesus
leaves no doubt in this new parable that he is talking about the same people,
the religious leaders of the Jews who are the promised people, and their brothers
(and sisters) that are the outcasts and Gentiles. Both share the same Father, God.
Why do we know this?
Because the father in the parable asks the sons to go work in the vineyard. We learned last week is a symbol of the Hebrew
people. By asking which son is the obedient one, Jesus forces the priests to answer
the first question they posed about the authority of Jesus. In doing so, they
acknowledge their own malfeasance of authority and absence faith.
In this new parable Jesus
answers also his own question to the priests about the origin of the baptism
John proclaimed. Jesus says John the
Baptizer came proclaiming righteousness; therefore, the prophesy and baptism of
John comes from the authority of God. Jesus then reminds the priests that many
of the Jews who responded positively to the Good News were either flagrant sinners
such as prostitutes, tax collectors, drunks, or were ritually unclean persons such
as lepers, thieves, crippled persons, people who tended swine, Gentiles and
Roman soldiers. These followers were either in flagrant and conscious violation
of the law, or were in predicaments beyond their control that made them
outsiders, yet they believed and had faith in his promise of new life.
On the other hand, most
of the people in a position of authority in the Temple - the priests, and scribes,
and the Pharisees rejected Jesus. These were persons who could read scripture
and understand that the words of the prophets and the signs that Jesus made that
identify Jesus as the Messiah, yet they rejected him and faith.
The question about the
authority of John casts a cloud of condemnation upon the priests who use their
authority for unrighteous self-interest.
This parable indicts these priests for being more interested in using their
authority for status and gain rather than to promote the spiritual wellbeing of
the Jews and themselves. To put it another way, they were far more interested
in quoting scripture than living it. We might say they were more interested in “talking
the walk” than “walking the talk.”
Every pastor ought to
take this message to the priests very seriously. Regrettably, it appears the
lesson is lost on some modern pastors. I’m thinking of those who spend so much
time pleading for money from their flock for airplanes, cars and nice suits than
for the spiritual wellbeing of their flock. Joel Osteen and the multitude of
televangelists preaching the prosperity gospel, and pastors of mega-churches
that fill the channels of television make me wonder about their motivation…
You agree, I think, that
Jesus uses pretty harsh language when he talks to the priests and scribes. “Truly
I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom
of God ahead of you… even after
you saw it (righteousness), you did not change your minds and believe him.”
It is really easy to
adopt this kind of harsh judgment without thinking about it carefully. We hear
a lot of that kind of judgment on TV. If you page through the gospels in the
New Testament you will find even stronger words of judgment spoken by Jesus,
but if you read closely you see that in almost every case Jesus is speaking to
people of authority such as the priests and related occupations who are
supposed to be responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of the people.
As you often hear
after the confession of sin in our
liturgy, I ask, “Who is in a position to condemn? Only Jesus and he came to
forgive sin. Since Jesus is in the position to condemn, it sounds pretty
reasonable that if God ought to be mad at anyone, it ought to be the ones he
gave authority to lead the people but who failed to do it.
In our rush to
judgment of others based on the words of Jesus, we cannot overlook any of the words in these verses. Even to those
on whom he poured anger and harsh judgment, he holds out the hand of
forgiveness. Verse 31 does
not say, “Truly I tell you, the tax
collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God but not you.”
No, it reads, “Truly I tell you, the tax
collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of
you.” Even those who failed the
test of authority can be forgiven.
So, the message to
the preachers, like me, is take this warning to heart, walk the talk.
You know the power of
a parable is how the listener responds to it in the context of their own
existence. In this parable, the listeners, that is the congregations, do not
get away any easier than the preachers. This is the second message for
all of us.
The same question that Jesus posed to the priests to criticize their unbelief faces us. The
question is about faith, “Do you believe John was sent by God to proclaim through
baptism the coming of Jesus who frees us from death, both spiritual death in
the Law and physical death of the body by resurrection?”
The answer, however,
is not “Yes!” or other words we use to describe our faith, but what actions does
faith inspire that we say we believe. If you say you have heard the call to
faith, are you prepared to really walk in service, or just talk a good game?
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