Dear friends,
I pray this message finds you well. You remain in my prayers. I continue to cling to the hope that God is making a way in this wilderness.
Today’s worship service, in its entirety, may be viewed here:
If you’d prefer to listen to just the gospel reading and sermon, you may do so here:
The sermon is based on Matthew 21:23-32:
23When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
28“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For 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 after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
In a ceremony at the US Capitol on Friday, Rabbi Lauren Holtblatt shared these words: In the chambers of Justice Ginsburg hangs a framed piece of art that reads, “tzedek, tzedek tirdof (Justice, justice, you must pursue).” A command in the 16th chapter of Deuteronomy. The rabbinic tradition assigns meaning to every single word in the torah, so there must be a reason why tzedek (justice) is written twice. The repetition here teaches Ibn Ezra, a rabbinic rabbi, that time and time again, all of the days of your life, you must pursue justice. This was how Justice Ginsburg lived her life. Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather through dogged persistence all the days of her life. “Real change,” she said, “enduring change, happens one step at a time.”1
One step at a time, Jesus stood in that rabbinic tradition and pursued justice. All the days of his life, justice.
Our gospel reading today follows on the heels of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The crowds are shouting Hosanna, recognizing Jesus as a prophet. The people of the city are asking, Who is this? And the religious elite–the wealthy, powerful, influential chief priests and scribes– are angry.
Jesus’ first stop after entering Jerusalem is the temple. What should be a place of hope and healing, a place where God’s good news for the poor is preached and enacted, has instead become a place of corruption–housing and perpetuating a system that yields bad fruit instead of good fruit, a system that fails to do God’s will, a system that manipulates scripture in order to give a few elite people power and privilege at the expense of the poor.
Jesus enters the temple, declares it to be a den of robbers, and drives out all who are selling and buying there, bringing judgment on the temple authorities.
This is not Jesus contending with the Jews. In our world today, where antisemitism is still so terribly prominent, it’s important to remember that Jesus, himself, was a Jew. His anger here is reserved for the priestly elite who are profiting from the plight of the poor.
Jesus challenges their hypocrisy. They claim to represent God, yet they fail to hold God’s interests, passions, and commitments as their own. They have chosen power over humility, wealth over justice, and a life of ease over a life of kindness and faithfulness to God’s word.
So Jesus challenges their authority, given to them by Rome. Are they not to love God and love their neighbors above all else? Are they not to pursue justice? Instead, they’ve put their own interests above the interests of the people they’re supposedly serving. Jesus challenges their authority, cleansing the temple, and they are so enraged that they conspire to arrest Jesus and kill him…a plot that they enact by week’s end.
The day after the temple cleansing, Jesus returns there to teach in that sacred space. The so-called authorities quickly ask him, By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?
I wonder, do they really not know? Can they not see that Jesus’ authority comes from the very God they worship? Can they not see that Jesus is the Word of God enfleshed, enacted, bringing forgiveness of sins and hope and healing and justice for the oppressed? Can they not see it? Or is it that they refuse to see it? Refuse to acknowledge it?
Because if they do, their way of life is done. They can’t continue to be part of a corrupt system of greed and injustice. If they recognize the authority of Jesus, given to Jesus by God, then they would have to be obedient to him rather than to Rome. Their entire way of life would be at risk. Their lives would be at risk. Is it any wonder then that they plot to kill Jesus before his teaching puts an end to their world as they know it?
Jesus refuses to answer their question, though it is clear earlier in Matthew that Jesus certainly knows the answer. In chapter 9, when a paralyzed man is brought to him, Jesus says, Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven. When the scribes challenge him, thinking that God
alone can forgive sins, Jesus heals the man, telling the scribes, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. If God alone can forgive sins, then Jesus’ authority here has surely come from God.
Back in the temple, though, Jesus refuses to answer the question posed to him about his authority. Instead, he asks a question of his challengers, a question about the authority of John the Baptist, a question they cannot answer for fear of angering their constituents.
So Jesus asks them another question, What do you think? (always a dangerous question coming from Jesus) and then goes on to tell a parable that is unique to the gospel of Matthew.
This parable, Professor Stan Saunders writes, turns on action versus word…Actions speak louder than words. Jesus uses this exchange to expose what the leaders really thought about John. The chief priests’ and elders’ failure to believe and respond to John reveals the truth
about where they stood, and thus which brother they actually represent. Jesus’ authority, in contrast, is affirmed by the integrity of his words and actions, as well as by its outcomes: gathering and restoration, healing and cleansing, release from demonic powers, restored sight, table fellowship with sinners, and preservation of the least ones–all examples of the “fruit” of repentance.2
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus warns of false prophets. He says, you’ll know them by their fruits. He tells his disciples, not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. That one who does the Father’s will is Jesus.
Only Jesus does God’s will without fail. Only Jesus.
He enters into the kingdom of heaven and opens the door for us.
He is the brother who both says yes and goes. The tax collectors and the prostitutes and all the rest of us sinners who’ve been welcomed at his table, we are able to go to work in the vineyard–in the kingdom of God–only because Jesus went first, only because Jesus did the will of his Father, only because Jesus used his God-given authority to challenge the authority of all those who used their authority for private gain, systemic injustice and chronic oppression of the most vulnerable.
Jesus used his authority for the common good. For all to gain, not just a few. For all to live, abundantly.
And we who are his disciples today, we are entrusted with the authority he has given to us.
At the end of Matthew, Jesus’ last words to his disciples are these: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (ALL authority). Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
What will we do with this authority that has been entrusted to us as disciples of Jesus?
God help us, we will do as Jesus did: challenging any authority that abuses its authority, challenging any authority that aids and abets systems of corruption and injustice, challenging any authority that creates barriers to salvation–heath, and healing and wholeness and justice here and now–for all.
When their authority was threatened, the chief priests and the scribes saw to it that Jesus was killed. But God saw to it that Jesus was raised. Resurrection, as Dr. Anna Madsen puts it, confirms that Jesus’ agenda is God’s agenda…and ours.3
Resurrection confirms that God’s agenda, and ours, is to do what we witnessed Jesus doing throughout his life: challenging unjust systems, speaking out on behalf of justice, working for health and healing and wholeness for all God’s beloved.
As Rabbi Holtblatt said on Friday, Despair was not an option for Justice Ginsburg. Even when her views did not prevail, she still fought. Her dissents were not cries of defeat. They were blueprints for the future. Justice Ginsburg herself said, “Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way. But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually, over time, their views become the dominant view, so that the dissenters hope that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.” Justice Ginsburg’s dissents were not cries of defeat. They were blueprints for the future.4
We have a blueprint for the future., embodied in Jesus and in all those who’ve taken up the biblical mandate of justice.
The future is one of God’s justice emboldened and enacted in every time and in every place.
Justice, justice, you must pursue.
God, help us to do your will. Amen.
1, 4 http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2009/25/cnr.03.html
2 http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4575
3 I heard Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen share these words at our Tri-Synodical Fall Theological Conference in 2017. They’ve remained with me!