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Matthew 21: 23–32
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Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead us, and bring us
to your holy hill and to your dwelling. [Psalm 43:3]
Amen.
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This morning we find Jesus teaching in the Temple at Jerusalem. But not
everyone in his audience has come to learn. The Temple officials have
come to confront him and challenge his authority – because the day
before he challenged theirs. He upset the tables of the money changers
in the outer court and drove out the merchants selling sacrificial
animals at exorbitant prices. So this morning the priests and elders are
angry. “Who does he think he is?” they ask each other.
“By what authority is he doing these things?”
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In response, Jesus tells them the parable of the two sons – one
who told his father he would work in the vineyard that day, but never
went; and the other who initially refused – but later repented
and went after all. And then, in case they are still missing the point,
Jesus makes it crystal clear. The priests and elders who look the other
way while dishonest practices prevail in the Temple correspond to the
child who says all the right words, but never gets around to
doing God’s will. And the tax collectors and prostitutes who
came to John to be baptized correspond to those whose life style
represents an initial rejection of God’s will, but whose repentance
demonstrates a complete change of heart.
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So in this context, the parable plays a divisive role, pitting Jesus
against the priests and elders, and showing his compassion for the
repentant riff–raff. But, like all of Jesus’ parables, this
one confronts us as well, because many of us can relate to the child
who says ‘Yes’ – but then does nothing; as well
as to the child who says ‘No’ – but then turns around
and does as he’s been asked to do. In fact, most of us can relate
to both of them.
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There are a lot of us here this morning who have said ‘No’
to God. In fact, we might be in the grip of ‘No’ right now.
Our body language may not show it, but inside we are standing with our
arms crossed, refusing to do what God is calling us to do.
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Some of us, for example, contend that we’re too busy to pray, too busy
to get into relationship with God. We know that we should, but somehow,
every day, our own agendas take preference over his – and prayer
and God’s Word wind up at the bottom of our to–do list.
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Or we keep God at arm’s length by our addictions – our
addictions to work, to alcohol, to food or to television. Almost
anything can turn into an addiction. Almost anything can keep us away
’from God. We know our lives are out of balance, but we’re
not sure we want to realign them. The emotional cost might be too high.
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And finally, I suspect, there are a whole lot of us here this morning
who have refused to go work for justice and peace in God’s vineyard
because the job seems too large, too overwhelming. We find it hard to
believe that the Lord could take our meager contributions and turn them
into something the poor and needy could use. We’ve allowed our
discouragement to limit God in our lives.
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For all of us who are in the grip of ‘No’ today, I have
good news. The very fact that we’re here this morning means that at
some point in our lives we sensed that God was for us – and
would ultimately prevail. So we’ve come here today to place
ourselves in his hands, hoping against hope that beginning today his
strength and grace will overcome all our excuses.
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In this hope we’re in very good company. The Bible is full of
people who have had a hard time saying ‘Yes’ to God. In
fact, God seems especially fond of them. Think of Jacob, that wily
younger brother, whom God re–named Israel, which
means, “he struggles with God.” Or think of Moses, who at
first was afraid to follow God’s call to speak to Pharaoh
because he knew he wasn’t eloquent, he knew no one
would listen to him. Or you might think of Thomas, the skeptic, the
doubter. Jesus actually makes a second visit, a second
post–Resurrection appearance to Thomas and the other
disciples – just to move him from ‘No’ to
‘Yes.’ He cares for all of us who have trouble making
that move – and goes the second mile on our behalf.
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But this church is also full of people who have said ‘Yes’ to
God. With open hearts we’ve said ‘Yes’ to God’s
love for us, ‘Yes’ to God’s love for others, and
‘Yes’ to his call to serve others in this world. But every
once in a while we have trouble sustaining our ‘Yes’. And
here again, we’re in very good company.
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Maybe, like Martha, our ‘Yes’ is conditional to getting
some other work done first. “Yes, Lord, I will sit at your feet
as soon as I’ve gotten this meal on the table, as soon as
I’ve taken these children to their various events.” Or
maybe, like James and John we said ‘Yes’ initially, but
then began to qualify it and turn it towards our own advantage. So it
becomes, “Yes – if I can occupy a special place in your
Kingdom, Lord. Yes – if everything goes my way.” Or maybe,
like Peter, we give Jesus a wholehearted ‘Yes’ at first,
but then suffer some catastrophic event in our lives – as Peter
did that night when Jesus was arrested in the garden – and
everything fell apart. In those moments we become like the child in
the parable who has given his wholehearted ‘Yes’ to his
father – but suddenly feels incapable of keeping his promise.
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Once again, you see, we are in good company. These are apostles we
are talking about – and we see that even they had trouble
saying ‘Yes’ – and staying there. That’s why
it’s important that we follow their example by picking up the
discipline of prayer and establishing a close relationship with God.
That’s why it’s important to read His Word, day in and day
out – to learn by Jesus’ teaching and their example. And
that’s why it’s important that we have the support of a
community of faith – that can hold us together until we grow
stronger.
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Every one of us is a mixture of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ to
God. Every one of us has more questions than answers, more doubts and
fears than certainties. But as we struggle in our weakness, as we
acknowledge our need, we are closer to the vineyard than we know.
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Amen
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I am indebted in this sermon to some of the ideas of Tom Breidenthal,
in a sermon given at Princeton University Chapel in September of 2005.
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