Reading: Matthew 21:23-32
In this reading Jesus is in Jerusalem, soon to be arrested and put to death. His triumphal entry to the city and the overturning of the tables of the corrupt moneychangers in the Temple are done and over. Now he is coming every day to stand in the Temple and teach. He is talking to the people about the true kingdom of God. And he is fielding questions and challenges from the Temple authorities.
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.
“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”
Reflection
So, the chief priests and the elders of the Temple wanted to know by what authority Jesus was doing and saying what he was about God. The problem was they thought they were the authorities on God, and Jesus could see that tax collectors and prostitutes he knew were living more in accord with the will of God for the well-being of all, than they were.
I talk from time to time with a friend – also a minister, who’s been a member of a Twelve-Step group for a number of years. He talks about how humbling and encouraging it is for him to be there, particularly in his experience and knowledge of living under the authority of God in his life.
Every week the group spends part of their meeting discussing one of the twelve steps – working from 1 to 12 for 12 weeks in succession, and then after 12 weeks starting the cycle over, again and again. And when he first started, he especially looked forward to the weeks for Steps 2 and 3, because at least these two steps were about God, and that – he thought – was his specialty.
Step 2: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Step 3: We gave our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood God.
Each time these steps came up he thought, “At last! “God ... Higher Power”. Something I know something about. Finally, I can show off what I know, and be of help to them.”
Except, as he listened to what the others – these “unchurched” people, these broken strugglers, had to share, he was amazed at what they had experienced, had come to know, and were able to articulate about God, God’s love, and God’s healing power at work in their lives. He had thought this was his turf, his territory, his area of expertise – that he was the authority. But he saw very clearly that it was by God’s authority – and their giving themselves to it, that they were doing what they were doing, saying what they were saying, and recovering as they were recovering.
And that it was their very brokenness and their clear need for healing and wholeness from beyond themselves, that allowed them to give themselves over to the care of God as they understood God – and let themselves live under the authority of loving Higher Power who could and would help them when they gave their will and their lives over to it.
My friend says that the other Twelve-Steppers are teaching him what it means to accept the authority of God in his life, and to find a level of recovery and healing that he never knew just on his own, as the authority about God. As Jesus says to the chief priests and elders in the Gospel story, “tax collectors and prostitutes – the very people who you think and who know themselves that they are not fit to enter the Temple, are entering the kingdom of heaven – are learning ti live the way of the kingdom of God on Earth, ahead of you,” and it’s not a bad idea to let them lead you into it as well for a bit.
Now, just an aside so we don’t misunderstand. In talking about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is not talking about heaven that comes after death, beyond the veil between this world and rhe next. It’s like Jesus teaches us to say in the Great Prayer: “O God in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” It’s about learning now to live in the kingdom of heaven, under the rule of God’s love for all, putting into practice God’s desire for the well-being of all – in this this life, and in this world, on this side of the veil.
So, it’s not necessarily that the tax collectors and prostitutes will be going through the pearly gates into life-after-death ahead of the priests and the scribes. It’s more that the tax collectors and prostitutes Jesus has come to know – even though they’re seen by all, even themselves, as unfit to be in the Temple, are way are ahead of the Temple folk in learning to live in kingdom-of-God kinds of ways here on Earth.
Thinking of prostitutes in this way reminds me of our dog Jack – the dog Japhia and I had, loved, and took care of together. Jack was a dog that Japhia found and adopted online from a rescue shelter in Athens, Greece, through a Canadian organization called Tales from Greece. What we were told is that the shelter is located in one of the red-light districts of Athens, and that it’s prostitutes on the streets at night who, when they see a stray dog sick or wounded and in need of care, gather it up and carry it to the shelter. I have no reason not to believe that Jack was one of those rescued from death on the street by a prostitute.
And I wonder, is that a kingdom-of-God kind of act? A living-out of God’s love for all things, and a breathing into the life of the world a breath of God’s desire for the well-being of all? One case among many of people who are broken down by life, being broken open enough to be servants of the kingdom and the authority of God in the world?
But of course, this doesn’t mean we have to become tax collectors and prostitutes to learn to live under the authority of God’s love and good will.
I think of members of our church. So many who are engaged in holy and god-like ways in the life of the community – active members of the Lions Club, the Men’s Club, the Grimsby Benevolent Fund, volunteering in hospitals and clinic and schools. I think of the relationships of care you maintain, sometimes at great cost to you, with family, friends and neighbours. I think of the prayers you offer for people in need next door and around the world, and of the causes and the charitable organizations you support – and we support together as a church, as much as we do, out of our limited means. I think of people here in personal recovery, committed not only to your own healing but also to being of service to others in need of healing as well.
I think, too, of ways we use our building not just for our own needs as a family home, but for the needs of others as well, letting it be a welcoming home for others in the community as well. Families in the community rent it at a pretty easy rate for family gatherings and celebrations. It’s home to book studies and spiritual growth groups that don’t require church membership or a promise to become a church member in order to attend – just a desire to grow in God’s good care, however they understand God. We host Fingers and Toes for community charity at Christmas. We hope to keep hosting community events aimed at the issues of truth-telling and reconciliation in our society’s relations with the First Nations. We’re currently trying to arrange accommodation for a Qi-gong meditation group to meet weekly in the Lower Hall. And so on.
Because we are not the authority on God. At our best, we are one of many communities of people who try to live under the authority of God in what we do, and in what we do with what we are given.
Yesterday I happened to stop in at a bake sale being held by a small church up on the escarpment. I was one of two customers they had yesterday. They’re small, a little off the main roads, and they don’t command much of a presence. One might think they are in the process of dying. Except, what they have decided is to live by living under the authority of God. So, this year they are committed to beginning the process of study and discernment about becoming an Affirming Congregation, intentionally welcoming and affirming of persons of all sexual orientations and identities. Just because. Because they want to live under the authority of God as they understand God.
Today is World Communion Sunday – a day to remember and give thanks for the communion of all who live under the authority of God in the world. Who in their lives and their lifestyles, seek to bring God’s Word to life in the world. Who in their day-to-day and their once-in-a-lifetime decisions, seek to be open to the way of God’s Spirit in the movements of the time. Who in their relationships and the kinds of community they help to nurture, seek to make real the kingdom of heaven on Earth, where God intends it to be.
What is it we say in our Creed?
That we are not alone. That we live in God’s world. That we believe in God who has created and is still creating, who has come in Jesus – the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, and who works in us and in others by the Spirit.
As long as we don’t see ourselves as the authority on God, but seek to live under the authority of God, we are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
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