Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and
the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and
said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this
authority?” 24 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. 25 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?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the
crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 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.
28 “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.’ 29 And he answered,
‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the
other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two
did the will of his father?” They said, “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. 32 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 even when you saw it, you did not
afterward change your minds and believe him.
Broken Promises – I wonder how many songs and plays
and statues and other works of art have been based on broken promises. Most Country & Western music focuses on
broken promises. The Blues as well often
mourn broken promises.
The Bible too is full of broken promises. How often did the Children of Israel promise,
“All God says, we will do?” How often
were they then found worshipping the Golden Calf, Baal, Molech, or some other
pagan god, a short while later? Ever
since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in Eden, breaking promises is what we humans
do best.
Today’s Gospel speaks to broken promises. The Temple Authorities made promises to
follow the laws of Moses. Yet, when the very fulfilment of those laws stood
before them, they refused to listen.
Jesus wanted to take them deep into Holy Scripture, but they would have
none of it. They had their own agenda
and they were blind to the truth that stood before them in the person of Jesus
Christ.
When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests
and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By
what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Now, as the
temple authorities, they were responsible for the teaching that happened in the
temple area. They had the right to ask
Jesus this question.
Jesus honoured many ancient traditions by
responding with a question of His own.
Basically, He offered them a sample of His teaching method. 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?” In a way, Jesus
was saying, “My authority and John’s authority come from the same place.”
It is at this place in the reading that we learn
the true agenda of the temple authorities.
They don’t really care about the truth.
Their dialog is all about their standing before the people. 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.” Here is a true broken promise. Instead of following the laws of Moses and
honouring the truth, these temple authorities honour their own agenda. Their God is not the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, but their God is their own agenda.
Since they were unable to answer Jesus’ question,
there was no reason for Jesus to answer them.
Instead, Jesus told a parable to illustrate their hard hearts.
The story of the first son in the parable from
today’s Gospel is very much like the story of the Christian life. At first we all say “no” to God. We are all full of that rebellion against
God’s will. We are like that stubborn
two year old that is totally bored unless he is getting into trouble.
Then God brings His Gospel to bear. He may bring it to us through our parents,
our friends, or even on a rare occasion, a total stranger. Eventually, we come to the font of life at
our Holy Baptism and through the power of the Holy Spirit, the good news of
salvation through Jesus Christ makes its way into the heart and we begin to question
our rebellious thoughts. The sweet
Gospel eventually brings the word “yes” from our hearts to our lips. We are like that first child in the parable
who said, “No way!” but then kept his father’s will.
May I say for those Christians who were baptised as
infants; this process is a natural progression that is often taken for granted.
Personally, I was a married adult with two children when I came to the
baptismal font of grace and I can honestly testify that the presence of Holy
Spirit bought me a calm, strength and confident belief that changed my life
forever.
The temple authorities were like the second
son. His sin is a little more
sophisticated. He has learned to lie
convincingly and break promises. I am
sure that all of us know people who will make any promise just to get us out of
their hair. We hear phrases such as; “No
worries.” “Sure, that’ll be great.” These people are pleasant enough and they
seem very sincere. You will hear them
say, “Yes, we’ll be there Sunday morning,” but then Sunday morning comes and
they aren’t there. “We’ll come with our
children to pre baptism classes,” or “Yes we would love to come to Bible Study”
but when the time comes, for whatever reason they just don’t make it.
When Jesus told that parable in today’s Gospel, His
primary audience was those temple authorities who challenged His authority, but
He speaks to us as well. The war that
began in us on the day that the Holy Spirit planted faith in our hearts continues
and a day doesn’t go by that we do not play the part of both sons. At times we scream “NO” in God’s face until
He draws us to Himself through the words of the Gospel and He gives us the
ability to say, “Yes.” Other times we
say, “Yes!” with our lips, but our hearts are far from God. These two children will live in each of us
until the day we die. They are products
of the sinful nature that our parents give us at conception. They battle against the holy nature God gave
us when the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts. These two natures will battle within us until
the day we die.
Fortunately, there is a third son. He is not in the parable. Instead, He is the one who first told
it. This Son said, “Yes!” To His Father
and then obeyed Him perfectly. His
Father said, “You need to be human.” The
Son said, “Yes father!” and was born of the Virgin Mary.
The Father said, “You need to humiliate yourself
under the law.” The Son said, “Yes father!”
and lived a life that was perfectly free from sin.
The Father said, “You need to exchange your
perfection for the sin of the world.”
The Son said, “Yes father!” and John the Baptiser baptised Him.
The Father said, “Now, carry that sin to the
cross.” The Son said, “My Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as
you will.”
The Father said, “Now, take that sin to the
grave.” The Son said, “Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
The Father said, “Now, proclaim your victory to the
world.” Then Jesus rose from the dead
and he said to His disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while
I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and
the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to
them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day
rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Each time we come to the alter to partake of the
body and blood of God’s perfect Son who takes away the sin of the world, we share
a meal with all the company of heaven, including those loved ones who have gone
before us into heaven, as we eat the bread and drink the wine that deliver the
true body and blood of our Lord and older brother Jesus Christ to our
lips. This foretaste of the heavenly
meal strengthens our faith in our older brother who obeyed the Father
perfectly. It strengthens our faith in
Jesus Christ.
Our sin is gone.
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in perfect obedience to His Father has taken it
away. It is left behind in the
grave. It will forever remain dead and
buried. We, on the other hand, will rise
from the dead just as our older brother rose and live with our Heavenly Father,
our Older Brother Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit forever. We know this because God never breaks a
promise. Amen
The love and peace of our Great triune God that is
beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen
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