Sermon Text: Matthew 21:23-32
Date: October 1, 2023
Event: Proper 21, Year A [The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost]
Matthew 21:23-32 (EHV)
When Jesus went into the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?”
24Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”
They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, since they all regard John as a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
He said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things.”
28“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ 29He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30He came to the second and said the same thing. The second son answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you: The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. Even when you saw this, you did not change your mind and believe him.”
What Motivates Our Words and Actions?
Motivation matters a lot, doesn’t it? If I lie to a family member to mask the fact that I’m doing something wrong, that’s bad. But if I lie to a family member to plan a surprise party for them that I know they’ll love? Well, I think we can see the difference in that. This morning, let’s consider what motivates our actions and attitudes toward God and one another, and let’s find in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection the strength to approach all of life’s challenges not only with words and actions that appear to be God-pleasing but also with a truly God-pleasing motivation.
Our Gospel for this morning takes place on the Tuesday of Holy Week. The opposition toward Jesus has reached a fever pitch. By Friday of this week, Jesus will be crucified, but at this point, no one has that clearly in mind (save for Jesus himself). Jesus’ enemies are trying to trap him, trick him, or get him to say or do something that will have negative ramifications for him. They don’t care if it’s something that would lead the people to reject him or to give them justifiable cause to have him killed. Either way, they see Jesus as a threat to the nation and their comfortable positions of power. They must stop him at all costs.
And so, they think with these questions they’ve got him: “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?” They figure that either way, they win. If he claims a divine origin for his call, they can claim blasphemy and have reason to kill him within Jewish law. Or, if he were to claim personal or human authority for the work he’s doing, perhaps to save his own skin, the people who thought he was from God would turn away and leave him. They think they’ve got Jesus in a lose-lose situation, which in turn is a win-win for them.
But Jesus, knowing their hearts, doesn’t fall into this trap. Instead, he turns the question around on them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” Jesus takes us way back, to even before his ministry began, to John the Baptist’s work, some three years earlier. Where did John’s authority come from, Jesus asks, God or people? Now, it is the religious leaders who are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because this is ultimately about their control of the people, they recognize that if they claim John was sent by God, they would be criticized for rejecting the message, but if they claimed that John had no divine command, they might have a riot on their hands as John was still popular with the people, even long after Herod had him executed.
And so, they give the only non-answer available to them: “We do not know.” So, Jesus, then, does not answer their question, at least not directly. Instead, he transitions into a parable about a father and two children.
At first blush, this parable seems to be about two polar opposites. The first son says that he won’t do the work his father asked him to do, but then he changes his mind and does it; the second son says he will go and work in the vineyard as his father asked, but then doesn’t do it. It’s clear that the first son is the one that ultimately does what the father wants—even Jesus’ enemies can point that out. But neither son approaches this without sin, right?
The parallels that Jesus makes between the sons and the people are clear. The tax collectors, prostitutes, and other so-called “sinners” are symbolized by the son who disobeyed his father to begin with and then turned around, repented, and did what he wanted. These sinful people, as they see the error of their ways and cling to God for his promised forgiveness, find their way to eternal life, not by their work, but by God’s grace and mercy. They were leaving behind their life of sin and finding great joy in God’s forgiving love for them which meant heaven despite the sins they had committed.
The religious leaders, on the other hand, were those who tried to look good but didn’t have a true heart in the matter. They told “Dad” what he wanted to hear, and then went off and did whatever they wanted, ignoring God’s will.
Jesus warns the religious leaders that while both approaches to God’s will have heavy amounts of sin, the first, the repentant sinner, is to be valued over the person who just tries to look good because, in the end, they turn from the sin and embrace God’s will for their lives.
It’s tempting, to see ourselves as that son, isn’t it? Yes, we’ve sinned, but we have turned from that sin. We know God’s forgiveness and now we do God’s will. Or do we?
I would caution us against identifying with either of these sons in totality, but rather, I would propose that at different times we are one son or the other, we are the tax collector or the pharisee. So, what impacts our approach; what would change our will in regard to God’s will?
Let’s consider the things that tempt us to act like the first son. What are those things that cause us to hate God’s will and then later we might turn from it? It might be that so-called “pet” sin that seems to be ever-present with us. Maybe it’s found in our lustful thoughts and actions, maybe it’s greed, maybe it’s our outbursts of anger or holding a grudge against someone. These are things that perhaps we give into and even seek out. God says we should avoid those sins and we say, “I will not,” and then allow those sins to be a part of us. But then, after reflecting on the thoughts of our hearts or our actions, we recognize, “No, I was in the wrong. God was right. Lord, please forgive me.” As we turn away from that sin that we initially loved or at least wanted around, we go into the vineyard to work. In repentance, we acknowledge not only that we were in the wrong and God was in the right, but that we need his forgiveness. And for Jesus’ sake, we know that those sins are, in fact, forgiven. His authority to forgive is his own—as our God and Savior, he can assure us that those sins are gone, and we are free and forgiven.
But when are we like the second son? I’m concerned about even bringing this up because it might start in a place like right here. We might come to church and try to look on the outside like we are dedicated to God or even truly think in our hearts that we are. We talk the talk but then when it comes time to walk the walk, we struggle. We don’t let our faith affect our words and actions at school. We treat the members of our families in a horrible way, perhaps even ignoring them and cutting them off completely, we harbor sin in our hearts, and rather than repenting and turning away from it, we treat it like a cute little kitten or puppy and just love it and coddle it and want to take care of it.
My brothers and sisters, if we are honest, we will recognize that we often fall into the trap of the second son. We try to look good on the outside but on the inside we don’t really care about the ramifications of what we think, say, or do. We try to look like we hate sin, but in reality, the love of sin motivates us. And even less do we consider what God’s will is in these matters. And while the first son’s initial sin is absolutely not to be praised, the second son’s masking and harboring of sin is eternally dangerous.
Unrepentant sin is destructive to saving faith. We will never be without sin in this life. We will never be able to be perfect people as long as our sinful nature is a part of us, which it will be until the day God calls us home to heaven. But there’s a difference between sin that I’m frustrated with and hate and sin that I hold on to, love, and try to hide from others. That loved sin, unrepentant sin, essentially says to Jesus, “Yeah, thanks for the whole dying for my sins thing, but I don’t need it. I don’t need you. I like my sin and we’re doing just fine over here.” Unrepentant sin, eventually, leads to hell as we reject God’s forgiveness.
So, we would much rather be neither son, right? We’d rather be the son that says, “Yes, I’ll do what you say, father,” and then goes and does it. But if we recognize sin taking harbor in our lives, either outwardly spurning God’s will like the first son or by hiding it in secret recesses of our hearts like the second son, we need to come to Jesus and lay that sin before him. He’s the one who died to pay for it all, to forgive it all, to ensure that we will be in eternal life with him. And no sin, no matter how appealing it might be to our natural selves, is worth rejecting our Savior for.
What ought our attitude be instead? Well, Paul gave us a glimpse in our Second Reading: let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Why did Jesus do what he did? Why did he humble himself and become obedient to death on the cross? Because he loved us. He knew that’s what he needed so he sacrificed himself to rescue us from death and hell. He loved us with a love that would not let anything pull him away from his mission.
We are not in Jesus’ position. We do not need to do anything to save God or to help him. But we can still strive to love God in a way that emulates his love and dedication for us. We turn away from sin and do what God wants not primarily because we’re afraid of the consequences, but because we rejoice in the truth of his love. We are dedicated to God and his will out of love and thanksgiving for all that he has done for us. Our new selves, the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, want to prioritize God’s will in our thoughts, words, and actions because of gratitude to the one who saved us from sin and will bring us to be with him forever.
Let that motivation be behind what you say and do—love and thanksgiving for God. Don’t consider either son the ideal. Instead, let us hear God’s will, rejoice in God’s will, put to death the parts of us that hate it, and embrace his will for our lives because he has forgiven us.
Lord, forgive us for those times that we outwardly or inwardly spurn your will for our lives. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake and embolden us to live our lives in thanksgiving and love for you. Amen.
