Sermon 9/25/11
Matthew 21:23-32
God Values: Authority
The
process of becoming an ordained pastor is pretty long and involved. From start
to finish, it took me nine years before the bishop laid hands on me and said,
ʺtake thou authority.ʺ But before a candidate is allowed to get too far along
in the process of becoming a pastor, she must undergo a battery of
psychological tests, including a review of the results of these tests with the
conference psychologist. The tests involve hundreds of questions as specific as
whether you preferred President Washington or President Lincoln, and as vague
as whether you hear “voices” – always a tricky question for those answering a
call from God! I’ll admit I was suspicious of the testing process – wondering
what some of these questions could possibly tell anyone about me, and frankly,
not wanting someone to feel like they
knew me so well because of some multiple choice test I filled out rather
than because they actually took the time to get to know me. When I met with the
conference psychologist to review my results, my skepticism shone through – the
test revealed among other things that I was a defensive test-taker, guarded in
my answers! Another thing it revealed was that I also have a tendency to
question authority figures. Apparently, I have authority issues. My reaction to
the news, was, as revealed, to be a bit defensive and skeptical. Oh please. I
don’t have issues with authority figures. What does this psychologist know?
But, my mother might tell you a different story. Not about issues between the
two of us, but about my relationship with my sixth grade teacher, for example.
Apparently, though I barely have a recollection of it myself, apparently I had
gotten into the habit in sixth grade of publicly correcting my teacher when he
was wrong. Surprisingly, he didn’t like this, and I got a note home about it.
Now, I liked my sixth grade teacher a lot. I still remember him as one of my
favorites. But I figured he was into sharing authority since he purposely left
the answer book out for us to check our own homework responses. He gave an inch,
I took a mile. I figured he wouldn’t mind a little help when I saw him giving a
wrong response. Turns out, I was the one who was wrong in that
situation! OK. Maybe I have a small issue with authority
figures.
But, I think we all have some authority
issues, or at least, questions about authority. Should someone have authority
solely because of the position he holds? Does someone earn our respect and
deference just because she is in charge of something? Over the years, I have
had a deep admiration for some of my professors and teachers and mentors – but
not because of their titles. Instead, I’ve admired and respected them because
of an authority earned by intelligence, scholarship,
compassion, dedication. Still, though, I certainly have learned since sixth
grade that some authority figures simply have to be followed, obeyed, simply
because of the position they hold, and that’s that. It won’t do me any good to
argue with a police officer because I don’t respect her authority, right? The
reality is that in our society, some people have authority simply because of
the position they hold, and because we, as a community – a social community or
a faith community – we have decided together to give them such authority for
the good of the whole. So, I have authority in this church on
some matters, not because of who I am personally, but because of the role I
fill – I am the pastor. Hopefully, over time, I have authority here because I
earn it – you have known me for a couple of years now, and theoretically, by
now you trust from experience and relationship that you can entrust me with the
authority of being your pastor. But when I first arrived, and you didn’t know
me at all, you still were asked as a congregation to trust in my authority, weren’t
you – just based on the fact that I was sent here through a denominational
system in whose authority you put some trust? So many authority issues!
Authority
is a key element in today's gospel lesson. Our scene takes place very near the
end of the gospel of Matthew. In fact, it occurs during the last days of Jesus'
life – he is already in Jerusalem, after being welcomed into Jerusalem with
triumph and palms waving. The time is short. In this text, Jesus has entered
into the temple, and is teaching. And the chief priests and elders come up to him
and say, ʺhey, who gave you authority
to do these things?ʺ In other words, what gives you the right to come in here
and teach as if you knew what you were talking about? Maybe you have been
asked, or even asked someone that before in the heat of a conflict. What gives
you the right to do that? Who put you
in charge? Or: you aren’t the boss of me!
Jesus isn’t willing to just play their game and answer their
questions. Or, maybe you could say he just plays the game better than they do,
because he turns it around on them, and says he will absolutely answer their
question – if they can answer his first, which is also about authority: The
baptism of John, cousin of Jesus – did that come from heaven, or was it of human
origin? The leaders debate; if they say from heaven, from God, Jesus will say,
ʺthen why didn’t you believe him?ʺ But if we say of human origin, the people
will be mad at us, because they think of John as a prophet. And they definitely
didn’t want to risk the anger of the crowds. So they are trapped, and have to
answer: We don’t know. Jesus has managed to make these people who are supposed to be religious authorities
look pretty silly – they have to admit before all these people in the temple that
they don’t know the answer – they can’t say whether John was legit or not. And
so, Jesus concludes, I won’t tell you about the source of my authority either.
Then Jesus tells them a little mini-parable. Two sons are
asked by their father to go and work in his vineyard. One son says no, but then
later changes his mind and goes to work anyway. The other says yes, but then
never goes to work. Which did the will of the father, Jesus asks? Of course, his
audience must admit, the one who actually made it to the vineyard, regardless
of what he said he would do, was the one who did his parent's will. Jesus
concludes saying that prostitutes and tax collectors will get to the kingdom of
God before the priests and elders, because they believed, but the religious leaders
won’t change their behavior or beliefs even when it becomes clear that they are
in the wrong. In fact, when Jesus says that they won’t change their minds, the
word he uses is what the bible usually translates as repent. The religious leaders just won’t repent, even when they
realize they are wrong.
The chief priests, the elders, and the other religious leaders
Jesus comes into conflict with in the scriptures, like the Pharisees and
scribes – Jesus isn’t saying that their authority shouldn’t be respected, in
principle. In fact, in places in the gospels, he urges people to listen to what
they teach, just not to follow what they do. No, I think Jesus respects the
role they are meant to play – studying God's words, carrying out the rituals of
the faith handed down for generations. But, eventually, their lives have to
bear out the authority with which they’ve been entrusted.
I remember my mother once telling me about a friend of hers
whose daughter had gotten in trouble on the bus at school, along with another young
person. The woman’s daughter was a church-going child from a fairly well-to-do
family, and the other child in trouble was just the opposite. When relaying the
story, my mom’s friend said, ʺWell, at least I know that my daughter knew better, so that gives me comfort.ʺ My mom said to her,
ʺBut doesn’t that make it worse? If the other kid didn’t know better, he can hardly be blamed for his behavior. But
your child knew what was right, and
still chose to misbehave.ʺ Naturally, my mom's wisdom did not endear her to her
friend. But she had a good point, no? I think this is how Jesus feels about the
religious leaders – they are supposed to know better! They have been given authority.
And yet, they are like the son who says yes to hard work, but doesn’t actually carry
out on the good behavior.
Whenever we read about the religious leaders in the gospels,
we have to put ourselves in their roles
to hear Jesus' message for us, because they, like it or not, are who we are
most like, rather than the prostitutes and tax collectors! We are the church-goers,
who have learned the stories, heard the gospel, have taken membership vows to
say we believe certain things, and so on. So we have to answer Jesus' tough questions.
When
have we made commitments to God, only to fail on the follow through? How many
times have you made promises to God that for one reason or another, you have
not kept? And how often do you find yourself responding to God when you had
already told God “no?” Probably, if we are honest, we have more examples of saying yes to God and not acting than saying no and acting out a yes. Why is that? The chief priests knew
the right answers in their hearts, but were unwilling to act because of image,
because of stubbornness, because they wanted to keep their power. But in the
end, Jesus made their supposed authority look pretty silly.
What
about us? Why do we not follow through on what we say we will do, both in our
human relationships and in our relationship with God? Is it really a case of
good intentions gone awry, as I think we want to believe, or is something more
at work here, some deeper issue emerging that we need to confront? Theologian
Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “When you say “Yes” or promise something, you can very
easily deceive yourself and others also, as if you had already done what you
promised. It is easy to think that by making a promise you have at least done
part of what you promised to do, as if the promise itself were something of
value. Not at all! In fact, when you do not do what you promise, it is a long
way back to the truth. Beware! The “Yes” of promise keeping is sleep-inducing.
An honest “No” possesses much more promise. It can stimulate; repentance may
not be far away. He who says “No,” becomes almost afraid of himself. But
[those] who [say] “Yes, I will,” [are] all too pleased with [themselves]. The
world is quite inclined – even eager – to make promises, for a promise appears
very fine at the moment – it inspires! Yet for this very
reason the eternal is suspicious of promises.”(1)
For Jesus, things, as usual, come back to a question of words and actions. One
pastor reminds us that “Jesus doesn't divide people up into believers and
atheists. Jesus divides people into those who act and those who don't act.” (2)
The religious folk in the temple had a lot to say about what
was right. They were careful to study the scriptures, and they spent a lot of
time in the temple, and they tried to figure out, in great detail, how to apply
to scriptures for daily living. Yet, they were so sure they had things right,
that they became unwilling to examine their lives to see if they were living
what they were teaching, practicing what they were preaching. And they were
unwilling to repent, and get back to work. Their words said yes, and their
lives said no, as somehow they managed to overlook real ways to love God,
active ways to love neighbor.
Jesus
says that it isn’t the religious folk who are first in the kingdom of heaven.
It is those who are most open to turning their lives around who are first in
line, those who take action when Jesus says, “follow me.” Jesus doesn’t say ʺbelieve
in meʺ - he says, ʺfollow me.ʺ As people of faith, do we have authority? What
will our actions, our living say about us?
A parent
had two children. The parent went to the first and said, “Child, go out and
work for me today.” The child answered, “I will not,” but later, had a change
of mind and went out and worked. The parent said to the second child and said
the same, and the child answered, “Of course, I’ll go and work,” but then did
not go after all. Which of these two did the will of the parent? They said, the
first.
Amen.
(1) Søren Kierkegaard,
“Under the Spell of Good Intentions,”
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