The Greeks had the agora, the marketplace, in which great philosophers discussed the meaning of life. The Romans debated life on the floor of the Senate. Buddha discussed the meaning of life under a lotus tree. Confucius collected his sayings in a book. But Americans? We express our erudite ideals on bumper stickers. Here are a few:
There is one bumper sticker which was not meant to be humorous that I find funny due to its self-contradictory nature - Question Authority! With great imperatival force, it commands us to question that which commands. I’ve always wanted to go up to the person who has that on his bumper and ask the simple question: “Why?” Who are you to tell me to question authority? But the bumper sticker well summarizes not just our age, but people of all times. From the time our first parent questioned God’s authority and ate the forbidden fruit to the toddler’s firm “NO!” to our desire to do it our way and read the instructions later, we all challenge authority. While raising good questions is important to critical thinking and forming a rational basis to what we believe and do is vital, many times we venture no further than the question, our thinking isn’t any deeper than bumper sticker philosophy. We can become great authorities on just about everything, everything, that is, except truth. While questioning is healthy and good if we allow it to lead us to conclusions regarding absolutes, but it may also be a means to maintain a distance, a refusal to develop objective standards. There is a falsely superior attitude found in cynical agnosticism. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus presents Himself as an authority, but He does so outside the normal confines of the day. Jesus was not like the Romans, who ruled unjustly but had the military backing that enforced their demands. Their authority came from the edge of a sword. Jesus was also not like the high priests and other officials in first century Judaism; their authority was conferred by the right of the office they held and the power over the people to either admit or exclude them from God’s people. But Jesus possessed an authority which was different than the rest. In Matthew 7:29 the people marveled at Jesus’s authority as He concluded His teaching on the mount. He demonstrated His authority to forgive sins in Matthew 9:6 by healing the lame man. Matthew’s gospel ends with Jesus reminding the disciples that since all authority has been given to Him, He in turn commissions them to go out with His authority and make disciples. Authority may be the best single word for describing Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. It is that authority which is specifically challenged in our passage this morning.
The religious leaders ask a good question, but they do so with an intent to trap. Jesus is teaching in the temple area, most likely on the outer edge, under the portico called Solomon’s porch where a series of 160 columns stood, providing space for various rabbis to teach their disciples. While He is speaking, He is interrupted. Like hecklers, they break in and try to undercut what he is saying. GOOD QUESTIONS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. "What is your authority and from where?" Their specific interest is on what basis has He done what He has done. They are concerned not just with what He was saying at the time, but their question refers to all He has done. No doubt the clearing out of the temple earlier, the healing of the blind and lame, all that He has done and said is being called into question. They are not debating that He has authority, but what its origin is. Originality was not highly prized among the rabbis at that time. Rabbinical schools followed a form of argumentation which was deferential to authority. One would begin by quoting from a previous rabbi to establish that your are part of the status quo. In doing this you showed your credentials. But Jesus did none of this. His authority from God was demonstrated by what He said and did. But the religious leaders wanted credentials, references. Although all that was provided already, because they refused to believe, they wanted more. What they wanted was a trap. Their question was good, but the timing demonstrates their intent. By asking this question they had Him trapped. If He affirmed it was from God, they would accuse Him of blasphemy and discredit Him among the people standing there. He was not a product of their schools and therefore had no claim, they thought, to such a position. If He said it was from Himself, He would place Himself outside their revealed faith and would likewise be discredited. He would have no right to be in the temple promoting some new faith. Jesus poses them the same question. In good rabbinic fashion, Jesus answers their question by asking them a question. His question moves them from the lesser to the greater. If they answer the question regarding John, then they will have their answer regarding Jesus. What was the origin of John's authority to be able to baptize in the wilderness? They freeze like deer in the headlights. There is nowhere they can go with this one. They pull aside to formulate an answer realizing that nothing they say will be right. Like politicians consulting their polls to see what they believe this week, the chief priests and elders try to figure what they believe based on what the people want them to believe. "If we say from
heaven, then the obvious question will be 'why did you not believe him?' and we’ll
lose the respect of the people. To acknowledge that something is from God and still not
accept it even though we are the religious leaders would be suicide. But the people will
have our heads if we say that John wasn’t from God. The people believe that John was
the first prophetic voice in over 400 years." So they equivocate.
While they pretend to be the leaders of the people, they refuse to speak truthfully, so
they take the Fifth and confess ignorance. Their response shows an all too common pride
that either pretends to know everything, or affects to know nothing. Questions are a great
means of maintaining distance without having to grapple with the truth. Perhaps
you’ve had an encounter with a colleague, friend or relative who has many questions
about the Bible. You systematically answer them, but you soon realize that as each of
their barriers to accepting the truth of the gospel falls, they are no more inclined to
believe, as they raise still more questions. An interested inquiry is great, but there
comes a point in which we must realize that the questions are answered and trust is
demanded. GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Jesus tells a story about two sons. The one proves better than he promised, the other promises better than he proved. But this is not about two sons, a good one and a bad one. That is the way most movies portray it - one good and one bad. Few movies are made that are much of a commercial success with everyone evil . It’s too dark, foreboding. It goes against our grain. But this is about two bad sons. One is disrepectful, the other is disobedient. Son #1: His father tells him to go out and work. He flatly refuses. In that culture such a response was unheard of. He just doesn’t carp about obedience, he is unwilling to obey. “Forget you, Bub!” But he changes his mind and does what he is told. Son #2 : This is the
ideal child: “Yes sir! Right away sir!” Suffering from the Eddy Haskel syndrome,
he uses a title of respect and has a cheerful disposition. The trouble is he doesn’t
follow through. One the other side were the pastors and Sunday school teachers, the nice people who wore the right clothes; they sought to scrupulously keep the law of God and in fact added additional laws in order to be sure to be very obedient. To God’s call to be His holy people - they said YES. But it was the people
that had collapsed under the weight of the law that ran to Jesus. They were the first son;
they realized that a change was necessary. Although their life was a constant
“no” to obedience, they turned from their rejection of the law to obedience.
That changing of the mind is the same word we use as “repentance." Our intentions are a great means of maintaining appearance without a relationship. It is so easy to affirm truth without ever being committed to it. We fall into the trap of this second son far too easily, especially the more we surround our lives with the trappings of faith. We can so quickly convince ourselves that if we say we believe, our lives do not have to evidence any change. Just the profession makes us so much better than the rest. But faith does not merely consist in a person giving subscription to true doctrine, but also includes something greater and deeper: The one who professes faith, must evidence that faith in life. We must never allow ourselves to be use Godtalk as a cover for our own sinfulness. My fringes are long, my phylacteries are clearly on my forehead and engraved for all to see is the amount I give to God’s work. I pray more than anyone else, I tell others and I can quote with accuracy the Westminster Confession of Faith. I am absolutely abhored at the immorality that goes on around me. I boycott the right groups and attend the right seminars and read the right books. It costs us nothing to say yes to God, to manufacture a righteousness that will appear as though we are well suited for this Christian life, but when it comes to responding to those who do not look as good as we do, or act as we do, in the final analysis our going and speaking and sharing the good news is all about saving not righteousness people but sinners like you and me. WHAT IS IT WE ARE TO DO? REPENTANCE IS WHAT GOD WANTS. Which is the better one? Both sons in this story were wrong. The difference is that one responded to the wrong by repentance. There must be a change. The change of mind of the son is the change that took place with the lowest and the worst of the people back then and today. What they did is what we are to do as well - repent and believe. John came with a message that demanded a response. John’s baptism forced Jews to see themselves as no better than the Gentiles around them as they allowed themselves to be baptized. They threw off their thin veneer of righteousness and showed to those around that they had nothing to offer God but their rebellion, but He has everything to give. I read about an elaborate golf course built on top of a landfill that was no longer in use. Everything was fine until one day a golfer noticed some trash poking up through the fairway. Over the next few weeks, numerous golfers reported seeing large pieces of metal and plastic garbage that had begun to surface. Before long, the pleasure of golfing had been overcome by the odor and unsightliness of the reappearing rubbish. Although grounds-keeping tried to bury the trash, it kept pushing its way to the surface. Our sin keeps pushing its way up from our own dark souls. What God demands of you and me is a clear recognition of that garbage. Not to try to give the appearance of conformity without any obedience. but to recognize, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." In 1818, Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis was born into a world of dying women. The finest hospitals lost one out of six young mothers to the scourge of "childbed fever." A doctor's daily routine began in the dissecting room where he performed autopsies. From there he made his way to the hospital to examine expectant mothers without ever pausing to wash his hands. Dr. Semmelweis was the first man in history to associate such examinations with the resultant infection and death. His own practice was to wash with a chlorine solution, and after 11 years and the delivery of 8,537 babies, he lost only 184 mothers -- about one in 50. He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues. Once he argued, "Puerperal fever is caused by decomposed material conveyed to a wound.... I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proved all that I have said. But while we talk, talk, talk, gentlemen, women are dying. I am not asking anything world shaking. I am asking you only to wash.... For God's sake, wash your hands." But virtually no one believed him. Doctors and midwives had been delivering babies for thousands of years without washing, and no outspoken Hungarian was going to change them now! Semmelweis died insane at the age of 47, his wash basins discarded, his colleagues laughing in his face, and the death rattle of a thousand women ringing in his ears. "Wash me!" was the anguished prayer of King David. "Wash!" was the message of John the Baptist. "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me," said the towel-draped Jesus to Peter. Without our being washed clean, we all die from the contamination of sin. For God's sake, wash. |
