Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21A)

October 1, 2023

Text: Matt. 21:23-32

            The question is one of authority.  Does Jesus have authority over my life, what I think, say, and do?  Over my justification, and salvation?  Over the Church, what we teach, and what we do here?  Over our life together?  Does Jesus have authority over all things?  And if not Jesus, who does have the authority?  Me?  What of my desire for authority, particularly over my life, my identity, my place in Church and society?

            The chief priests and elders of the people wanted to know, “By what authority are you doing these things”… particularly, overturning the tables of the money changers and driving out those who sell the sacrificial animals in the Temple.  But also teaching, and healing, even on the Sabbath.  Telling us what we should believe.  Telling us what we should do.  Telling us we are not, in fact, righteous, and that You are!  And that if we want to be righteous, we have to be righteous in You!  Who gave You that right… “who gave you this authority?” (Matt. 21:23; ESV).  Because we most certainly did not.  And we are the authority around here.  We are the ones who tell You what You must believe and do.  And if You want to be righteous, You have to go through us!

            “I also will ask you one question” (v. 24)…  It is a question that will unveil for you, and for all, whether or not your idea of authority is rightly ordered.  If it is rightly ordered, then you will know by what authority I am doing these things, and you will submit to My authority.  But if it is not… If it is not rightly ordered… you will not believe Me, even if I tell you.

            The Baptism of John: Is it from heaven, that is, from God, or from man?  Now, the chief priests and elders know the catch.  They are learned theologians, and they didn’t get where they got without a keen intellect.  If they say from heaven, everyone will smell the roast.  They will give themselves away.  Jesus will have exposed to them, and to the world, that their idea of authority is not rightly ordered, for they did not submit to the Baptism of John.  They did not submit to God’s herald of repentance.  With John, too, they did not recognize his authority.  So they rejected him.  And in so doing, they rejected the authority of God!  They cast off God’s authority in favor of their own! 

            But if they say from man… well, the people consider John a genuine prophet.  And so they fear the people.  They fear man, rather than God.  They fear man too much to be honest.  And anyway, what do they really believe?  From heaven, or from man?  It doesn’t really matter.  They reject it either way.  All that matters is our position, our prestige, our power.  All that matters is that we are the recognized authority around here.  So, they say, “We do not know” (v. 27).  And Jesus answers them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Because the question has already revealed the answer.  In rejecting John’s authority, you rejected the authority of God.  In rejecting the Person of Jesus, you are rejecting God Himself, the Son of God in human flesh.  And He is the very God you supposedly represent. 

            Hypocrisy, clearly.  But there is another group in the Jerusalem crowd, and they reveal a great irony.  They are the notorious sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, who did submit to John’s Baptism.  They repented.  They confessed.  They were cleansed.  They changed… they changed their minds, and their hearts… they changed their behavior!  They did not cling to their own authority, their own autonomy over their bodies, their pocketbooks, their ethics, their lives.  In submitting to the preaching and Baptism of John, they submitted themselves to God.  They placed themselves under God’s authority, which is really just a recognition of the authority that already belongs to Him.  And it was freeing!  For the first time in their lives, they were free!  To submit to God’s authority is true freedom.  And they know it.  And then, they followed John’s bony finger, pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (their sin!), and they’ve been hanging on Jesus’ every Word ever since.  Words of mercy.  Words of peace.  Words of forgiveness.  Words of life.  Words that gather them around the Table to eat and drink with the Son of Man. 

            These are the first son in Jesus’ parable.  It is true, at first, they rejected God’s Word, His will, His authority, in favor of their own (“I will not” [v. 29], they said to Him).  But then (and we must say, only by God’s grace), they changed.  They changed their minds.  They humbled themselves.  They submitted.  Which is to say, they repented.  The self-righteous chief priests and elders of the people are the second son.  They say the right things, professing allegiance to God and His Law (“I go, sir” [v. 30]).  But in their hearts, they do not submit.  And that is the very definition of hypocrisy.  The irony is, the repentant tax collectors and prostitutes are righteous before God.  They are justified.  The honorable clergy of Israel are left in their sins.  Before God, they stand condemned. 

            Well, beloved, there are only two options, here.  The authority: God’s, or man’s?  God’s, or yours?  The question is necessarily confrontational.  Because you can’t have it both ways.  Jesus’ demand for authority over your life, your person, your body, your soul, and all that belongs to you… that demand is comprehensive.  Your demand for any little piece of authority over and above His is, in the final analysis, a complete rejection of Him.  This is the default inclination of our fallen nature.  Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority, grasping their own authority under the form of forbidden fruit.  So do we, their children… every time we grasp what is forbidden.  Every time we disregard the preaching.  Every time we set up our own rules over and above God’s. 

            So, now, here are the options: First, the way of the tax collectors and prostitutes… Repentance.  Submission.  If the authority belongs to God, place yourself under it, which is really just a recognition of the authority that already belongs to Him.  He is your God, whether you will have Him or not.  True humility is to acknowledge that, believe it, and confess it, and then act accordingly.  And, to rest in it, and rejoice in it. 

            The other option is to grasp and cling to the illusion of your own authority, thinking you stand outside of His.  Believe what you want.  Do what you want.  Impose upon others to believe and do what you want, all under the guise of virtue and righteousness.  That is the way of the chief priests and elders of the people. 

            What will it be?  Repentance, or self-autonomy? 

            You are baptized into Christ.  The Spirit of truth dwells in you and has freed you.  You’ve heard the preaching.  And so, you know the answer.  Repent.  Submit.  Let Him overturn the tables of all with which you’ve polluted your body and soul, God’s House of Prayer.  “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6).  Begin with self-examination.  What vestiges of authority do you continue to grasp for yourself?  What incomprehensible or unpopular articles of doctrine do you find difficult to believe, or embarrassing to confess?  What pet sins are you holding on to?  What hinders you from loving your neighbor, even the difficult one, fully and freely, to the point of your own self-sacrifice?  What are the things in your life that you insist remain under your control?  Your money?  Your time?  Your family?  Your body?  Your spirituality?  Beloved, these all belong to God, who created them.  These all belong to Jesus Christ, His Son, who redeemed them.  You belong to God, and to Jesus Christ, His Son, under His authority. 

            For He not only has it by divine right (and He does have it by divine right… He is God!).  He has it because He paid dearly to purchase it for Himself… to purchase you for Himself.  Not with silver or gold, but with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death.  He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God, submitting to His Father’s authority all the way to the cross, and at the proper time, the Father exalted Him.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  He is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.  To place yourself under His authority… which is to say, to repent, to confess, to believe, to change… is to take your rightly ordered place as a redeemed and sanctified child of God.  Under the authority of God, you are authorized to do that.  And you are free. 

            For the Christian, there is really only one option.  Let go of your desire for control and self-authority.  Give it up to God.  Then get in line with repentant tax collectors and prostitutes, your fellow sinners, and rejoicing, come into the Kingdom of God.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.