Saying Yes to God - a sermon for Sunday 1st October
First of all, a reflection on
this sermon
It was a tangent
I struggled to recover from, it led me on a winding road, I was writing that
actions are louder than words, that names hurt more than sticks and stones, it
got personal, memories of a life forty years ago where my name became a taunt
and time, ever my greatest enemy, conspired with memories in that cul-de-sac
where I had no words left to say when I needed them. Instead, I took another
road, to someone else’s words (this sermon is an edited version of one I found on the internet), they reflected back to me all that I had read
but hadn’t been able to express. With shame, I took them, making them my own,
adding, changing, removing until I had words I could say, which I knew in my
heart to be true.
These words bid
us pray for our leaders, especially when they struggle to do what is right. Oh
the irony and shame, to say that and know these words were not mine, and yet I
spoke them, I preached and in that moment, they were mine, but that was only
fleeting, the spirit was there too and then they belonged to those who heard
them. This was a prayerful act, or perhaps self-justification, for I was
thanked for the words I had spoken, and the thanks I gave in response was
tinged with sadness.
It was only much
later when I realised they had been thankful for the words, for the cracking
ajar of a glimpse into the kingdom, I was just the conduit and perhaps I had
been meant to disappear into a cul-de-sac, when sent me to words I could say
from where I was on that day.
Perhaps what I
really need to do is to pay more attention to the words I used, for as I
preached in the sermon, the past is gone, if we repent, we will be healed from
the past and be forgiven…
Matthew 21:23-32
May I speak in the name of God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
For such a short word, sometimes, saying
‘Yes’ to God really isn’t easy or even simple, but actually quite complicated…
So, once, I kind
of said no to God, when I went to university, I stopped going to church. With
hindsight, I knew there was something missing, but it took time to realise,
then to come back to church, then, eventually to say Yes. And to keep on saying
yes, until I ended up standing here, but saying yes to God isn’t always easy,
it can be very challenging…
This story is
about saying yes to God deep in our hearts, but the context of the story is
really important. Jesus had just made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding
in on a donkey and being hailed by the crowds as the Son of David, the
fulfilment of their hopes and prophecies and dreams, coming in the name of the
Lord to usher in the new world order.
Then immediately after that, according to
Matthew, Jesus went into the Temple and overturned the tables of the traders and
claimed that space back for God.
As a result, he continues a ministry of
healing; showing that he has authority not just over the crowds and the
religious institutions but authority over nature itself.
Is it any wonder then, in the light of all
this exhibition of power, that we read the opening words of our passage today: “When
he 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?’
Jesus was clearly a threat to all the
leaders of the day. With his miraculous powers, he was keeping the crowds enthralled,
his courage to confront the institutions of power was astounding. So, of course
they would want to question his authority…
And the questioning comes out of their own
insecurity. They were the leaders. The Chief Priests and elders were a respected
spiritual lineage that went all the way back to Moses.
But Jesus has no intention in getting involved
in a debate about his authority. Instead, he asks a question which makes them struggle,
to reflect on the nature of authority itself, “Jesus 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. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or
was it of human origin?’”
Now, this was tough, because no matter what
they said, the answer would upset someone…If they agreed that John the
Baptist’s ministry came from God, then Jesus would say, “So why didn’t you
listen to him and follow him?”
But if they said that his ministry was not
from God, then the crowds would have turned on them because they loved John the
Baptist. There was no way they could win, and the best answer they had was: “We
don’t know”.
So much for their authority! They were
rendered speechless in the face of a very simple question from Jesus…
And in that moment, the religious leaders
were unmasked. They claimed authority over the people, but their main concern
was to protect their positions and their reputations. They didn’t give an
answer, because they didn’t want to lose what they had.
And, of course, in that encounter, we have
a lesson for all politicians, religious leaders and anyone who holds a position
of authority today.
When the moment comes, are we prepared to
stand up for what is true and right in the eyes of God and to live out our lives
by the standards of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Or will we seek to deny the
truth in order to protect our authority in the eyes of society or those who
vote for us?
Spiritual and political leadership demands
courage to do what is right - often at the expense of personal gain and
popularity. Please pray for your leaders…
But the leaders that Jesus addressed were
unable to recognise the authority of Jesus to challenge them in this way, simply
because he had a form of authority that they had never seen before. For them,
authority came with a title, with wealth and prestige, with the ability to make
decisions that would be unquestioningly obeyed.
The authority of Jesus was of a completely
different order altogether, it was from the kingdom of God. Jesus authority was
lived in his welcoming of sinners and prostitutes. His authority was lived in
his welcoming of little children. His authority was lived in his welcoming of
outcasts and those on the margins.
Ultimately, the authority of Jesus was a
life of service, not of ruling; a life marked by betrayal and personal
sacrifice, rejection, torture and a criminal’s death on the cross. That is
where the authority of Jesus lay: not in some sort of power game that brought
with it prestige and wealth.
The religious
leaders had never seen anything like that before and had no idea how to respond.
The challenge to us in this passage is the
extent to which we are prepared to love and to serve those in need rather than
to seek prestige and respect from others. This is the ultimate value that
underpins the work of God’s vineyard, as Jesus goes on to outline in the second
part of this passage with the parable he now goes on to give his hearers.
Jesus wants his hearers to make a choice
between the sons; The choice is simple: a son who disobeys his father by saying
‘No’ to him, but then changes his mind and a son who says ‘Yes’ to his father,
but then doesn’t go on to do what he said. Which is the better son?
Neither son’s response was great, because
neither one did or said the right thing at the beginning, but to us, the choice
is obvious: the better son is the first one, who first says ‘No’ but does go on
to do the right thing.
The choice of the first son is open to
redemption and forgiveness, who at first disobeys his father but it is not
available to the son who mocks his father – by his refusal to do what is asked
of him.
So, this isn’t so much a parable about the
choices we make, as a parable about the need to honour the authority of the Father.
And the key word in this passage is: “But
later he changed his mind”
And that is the key idea here. When this
son said ‘No’ to his father, all he really cared about was his own comfort, his
own way of living. But later, he changed
what he cared about and chose instead to care for the honour of his father and
then went out into the vineyard to work for him.
At its heart this passage has a simple
question: What do we care about? Are we
like the religious leaders, who care only for social standing and privilege? Or
is it to honour our Father in Heaven, as he asks us to go out and work for him
in the vineyard of his Kingdom?
If our concern is to honour God, we will be
called out of our comfort zone to work for him. If that is what he asks of us…
And the message of this parable is that, if
we respond to the call of the Father and change our concern from us to him, then
we will be acceptable to him, regardless of what we have done in the past. All
of us will have said ‘No’ to our Father God in the past.
But as soon as we say ‘Yes’ to him, the
past is washed away and no longer counts against us in his sight. It doesn’t
matter what our past contains: all that matters is the ‘Yes’.
The religious leaders to whom Jesus was
speaking were still locked into their ‘No’ to God and until they changed, there
was no hope of entering the kingdom of God. But the sinners and those on the
margins of society were changing their concern and turning their ‘No’s’ into
‘Yes’s’ and so they became perfectly acceptable to God.
What about us? Are we too fearful of saying
Yes to God? Do we think the secrets of our past or the shame of our present
life is too much for him? That’s certainly not the message in this passage and
that’s not the message of the Christian Gospel, redemption and forgiveness are
promised to us, the past is gone – the present can be healed. All God wants is
a ‘Yes’, so we can let him into our lives so we can experience his love and his
healing power and enter into his new Kingdom on Earth.
Amen
Preached at St George, Tuffley, where I also led the first half of the service.
Readings: Matthew 21:23-32 Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2: 1-13
Original version here:
Comments
Post a Comment