The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
Matthew 21:23-32
LSB Proper [21] A,
25 September 2011
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
"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.' And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward
he changed his mind and went. And he
went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did
not go. Which of the two did the will of
his father?"
You know the answer. It’s a rhetorical question. The first
repented of his earlier sin. He changed in a good way. The second was a
hypocrite and hardened his heart. His words were not followed by deeds. He
changed in a bad way.
Jesus told this parable to specific hearers. You’ve met them
before in the New Testament. And, you know people just like them alive today.
And when he [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?"
Jesus has been a threat to the chief priests and elders of
the people all through the Gospel according to St. Matthew. As the last verse
of Matthew seven says, Jesus was teaching them as one who had authority, and
not as their scribes.
Authority and power are different. Power, in politics or in
the church is assumed, taken, sought after. Authority is bestowed, given, and
entrusted to a person. Jesus spoke about this “given to” authority in the last
chapter of Matthew. “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to
Me.”
Authority is only as good as the author behind it.
Theologians in the Jewish tradition appeal to famous scholars and rabbis. In 1
Corinthians, St. Paul does them one better. He appealed to Jesus and His
Words—God Himself and the very Words of God instituting the Lord’s Supper. When
God is the author, what He gives packs a lot of punch. That’s authority. Jesus
spoke what the Father gave Him to say. No less. No more. But some would not
hear it. Some would not accept Jesus for who He really was. They rejected His
authority and in so doing, rejected Him and the kingdom of God he came to
bring. So, they played politics.
"By what authority are you doing these things, and who
gave you this authority?" 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?"
Jesus Christ was born a Jew. He Himself was not a Christian,
because He was the Christ, the Messiah promised of old, anointed to save His
people from their sins. The Gospel text presents a very Jewish conversation:
answering a question with a question.
“…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?' But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of
the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet."
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day could have studied the
Holy Scriptures to find an answer. They didn’t. They could have actually
listened to the preaching of John the Baptizer. Instead, they were offended by
him for calling a spade a spade, or rather calling a brood of vipers a brood of
vipers. They could have listened to Jesus’ preaching. In place of faith, they
doubted. They could have been churchmen, but come off as politicians saying,
“No comment.”
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.
If they didn’t believe after reading Moses and the prophets,
would they have believed Jesus? Jesus uses the opportunity to teach about His
authority by teaching with divine authority. He faces them up to their Lord,
their Father in heaven, the author behind Jesus’ authority.
"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.' And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward
he changed his mind and went.
You probably can identify with this situation because of
your teenagers or your own teenage years. Can you imagine a first-century
Jewish teenager doing this? He resisted. Then, he changed. He repented. He did
the will of his father.
And he [the father] went to the other son and said the same.
'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did
not go.
Did this son do the will of his father? Not hardly. A
hypocrite says, “Do what I say and not what I do.” When a person lives by
faith, deeds follow words. They are consistent. The second son shows a
disconnect. Doctrine and life were not connected for him.
We Christians have a problem when there’s a trade deficit in
our lives. Is your life merely a news report or truly a show and tell? Has the
Gospel of the Lord had its way with us if we talk the talk but don’t walk the
walk?
In Matthew 7, Jesus put it this way. "Not everyone who
says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21. "Everyone then who hears these words of mine
and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24.
In a virtual commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, James
further explains: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. James 1:22. What good
is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can
that faith save him? James 2:14. So
also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:17.
A so-called “faith” that just sits around doing nothing is a
fake “faith.” It is “faith” pretended, a play act. A “faith” that does not
breathe by doing works of service to the neighbor is dead. ESV: Many have
claimed that James and the apostle Paul differed on the question of faith
versus works, but in reality the spiritual fruit that James talks about—the
picture of what faith looks like practically—demonstrates the true faith of
which Paul wrote. Their writings are complementary rather than contradictory.
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. 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.
Hearing a parable like this is law. Jesus would have you
repent of when there has been a gap between His Word and your life in the past.
The kingdom of God is open to you in Jesus, just as it was open to the other
sinners before you who believed Him in repentant trust. All of the earliest
Christians were Jewish, the New Testament says. Eventually, some of the Jewish
priests believed, we are told in Acts. Many rejected Jesus then. Many still do
today. Don’t be one of them! Jesus opened the kingdom of God to all nations by
means of baptizing and teaching all that He had given us.
CPR: Jesus once spoke of a man taking a plow and not looking
back…you know what Jesus was talking about. If you take a plow and start
walking forward, you’ll dig a nice, straight trench perfect for planting. But
if you begin to change your mind about what you are doing and look around and
behind you, the trench will go in all different ways. It would be like driving
a car forward while trying to steer while only looking in your rearview mirror.
You may keep moving forward, but eventually you’ll move all around the road and
eventually hit something. Either decide to look forward or decide to look back.
A person can’t keep changing his mind about which direction he’s going.
Jesus knew all about the danger of changing His mind in
following directions. When it came time for Him to die on the cross, the
Scriptures say He set His eyes toward Jerusalem. Jesus didn’t look around Him
or behind Him. Jesus kept His gaze straight ahead at what He was doing. He
didn’t change His mind at all. He kept His mind geared right toward what He was
going to do. Jesus’ resoluteness took Him to His death, which cleared our way
to heaven. Knowing that heaven lies straight ahead for us enables us also to
resolve to go forward—straight forward—where God points us, rather than to turn
this way and that as we so naturally do.
The best kind of change in Church and for Christians is
repentance. Which of the two did the will of his father? The first. Repent.
Learn from the mistake of the chief priests and the elders of the people. Change
your minds and believe in Jesus, the Son of God, who for your sake always did the
will of His Father. Amen.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
