The gospel lesson for the September 25, 2011, the 15th Sunday
after Pentecost, is Matthew 21:23-32.
Pastor Jim Kniseley presented this sermon at Resurrection.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Each week we have
chapel for our preschoolers here in this sanctuary. Often I say to the children, “Raise your hand
if you love Jesus,” and usually every hand goes up. Then I say, “Raise your hand if you know
Jesus loves you” and usually every hand goes up. Then we sing songs like “Jesus Loves Me” and
“Jesus Loves the Children, All the Children of the Word” and “He’s Got the
Whole World in His Hands.” So the
children are learning the wonderful revelation that God loves all of us
without reservation. This is a
wonderful revelation for us too today that God loves each and every one of us
without reservation. Do you believe it?
You might be thinking,
“Why is that such a great revelation?
Doesn’t everyone believe that?”
The answer is “No. Many people today
(just like in Old and New Testament times) are taught to put boundaries on
God’s Love and Grace.” Some church
leaders today openly declare what kind of people they welcome and do not
welcome. Here at Resurrection we try our
best to practice a gospel of grace. We
believe that is what Jesus wants us to do.
Today’s gospel lesson shows that practicing
grace can get you into trouble, as Jesus experienced so vividly…
We are in the 21st
chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. Since there
are only 28 chapters, we know that we are nearing the end of the Gospel and we
are, in fact, reading about Jesus’ last
week in Jerusalem. Earlier in the 21st
chapter Jesus entered Jerusalem on a
donkey and was hailed as the “king of the Jews”. Then he went into the temple area and drove
out the money changers. Now Jesus is in
the temple area teaching the people, and this is the first chance that the
chief priests and elders have to confront Jesus about his actions.
We can rightly guess
their reactions of anger. In systems
theory, we learn that when one makes a change in one part of the system, there
will be obvious and counter reactions in other parts of the system. This is true in families and in businesses
and in churches. I remember back in 2001
when Pastor Carol and I decided to move the pulpit from its usual
position. The next week we had a
delegation of 8 people who wanted to meet with us to discuss why the pulpit was
moved…
The real question of the
chief priests and elders that day to Jesus was about authority. “By what authority are you doing these
things, and who gave you this authority?”
It’s a good question,
really. In other words, they were
saying, “Who are you, Jesus? Do you
think that your teaching is equal to Moses and the prophets? Do you think that you know more than we do?”
Jesus’ reply comes in
the form of a story about 2 sons. The
story has a point that the chief priests and elders aren’t going to like. The owner of a vineyard asks his two sons to
work in his vineyard. The first says “I
will not” but later changes his mind and works.
The second said, “I will” but does not.
Jesus asked the question of the chief priests and elders, “Which of the
two did the will of his father?” They
answered “the first”. Then Jesus does
the shocking thing. He turns on the
chief priests and elders. He says,
“Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the
kingdom of God ahead of you. For John
came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the
tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you
did not change your minds and believe him.”
What did you hear in
this short parable? Did you hear that
the chief priests and the elders will not be going into the kingdom of
God? No.
What Jesus said was, “you will not be going in first.” This is really upsetting, for they are doing
everything they can to assure themselves a first place in God’s eyes and in the
eyes of their religious community.
Jesus knows what he is
doing. He knows that he has an
appointment with the cross and he knows that in speaking God’s truth that the
religious leaders will be offended. He
boldly declares God’s good news that he loves all equally, regardless of how
good or bad they see themselves or their station in life…
Dr. James Dobson tells
about his daughter, Danae. Danae was an
attractive baby and toddler. Dobson
noted that people paid special attention to her, gave her candy, oohed and
ahhed over her, mainly because she was so cute.
But when Danae was fifteen months old, she fell and injured her
mouth. Suddenly, her mouth took on a
lopsided shape that considerably altered her appearance. Overnight, the world seemed to treat Danae differently. Strangers no longer oohed and ahhed over
her. They stopped making a fuss over
her. Admiring glances changes to awkward
stares. Danae had not changed in the
least. She was still a vivacious, smart,
loving toddler. But the community no
longer embraced and encouraged her because of her outward appearance.
In the religious
leaders minds, God only had regard for that which was perfect, unblemished,
without defect. They thought this of the
animals brought for sacrifice at the temple and they thought this of people
throughout their nation. They had no
concept of God’s grace and love for all God’s children, even those who were
tarnished in their minds.
What we learn from
Jesus is that God’s grace is shocking.
Jesus shows this by passing over the religious professionals and
favoring the worst of the sinners. What
is going on? Maybe we learn that God
isn’t a Cosmic Scorekeeper tallying up our moral hits and misses. Maybe we learn that we don’t have to earn
God’s love. Maybe we learn that God
loves us even when we fail or don’t measure up to all the rules and
expectations of society and the church…
Back to systems
theory. It wasn’t easy for the Jewish
religious leaders to give up their power and authority. Already they were plotting their move to get
rid of Jesus. By the end of the week,
they will have arranged for Jesus to be arrested, tried and put to death. Little did they know that God too reacts, and
all of heaven. For Jesus’ death and then
his resurrection will become a
victorious eternal statement of God’s love and grace for the world.
The boldest image I
have in my mind about grace is one described by Martin Luther. He pictures the cross with Jesus on it and a
large area at the base of the cross that is completely level. It is level because that is where we stand
looking up to Jesus. No one is higher or
lower than another. At the foot of the
cross, we all are equal in God’s eyes…
May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. Amen.