Matthew 21:23-32
September 25, 2011
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
What mother would say to her daughter, “Hey fatty—lose some weight?” A Chinese mother—according to Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School and earlier this year published the book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Here are some things that Amy Chua wouldn’t let her two daughters do as they grow up:
*attend a sleepover
*have a play date
*be in a school play
*watch TV or play computer games
*choose their own extra-curricular activities
*get any grade less than A except gym and drama
*play any instrument other than piano or violin
While we may find Amy Chua’s parenting memoirs upsetting, all parents dream of their children to be the best that they can be. Parents all want their children to be obedient when they give instructions, not after the TV show ends, not when this level of the computer game has been beaten, but listen and be obedient right now. Parents try to map out a course of obedience that will lead to success.
But success and obedience at what price? As our church is experiencing another baby boom and Byron Chan will be starting a new Sunday school class today for young parents, just how far are parents willing to go to get the response they expect from their children? According to Chua, no price is too high. If a handmade birthday card doesn’t meet expectations, rip it up. If your three-year old isn’t listening, put her outside in the cold. If she is refusing to practice piano, force your child to sit at the piano until she does.
Chua’s memoir on the rigors of raising her two very differently tempered daughters has caused an uproar in parenting circles. She makes it clear that she expects nothing less than straight A’s from her daughters in school and professional-quality music as a result of their endless piano and violin lessons. Nothing less will be tolerated, even if it means constant drilling accompanied by screaming matches until early hours in the morning.
While her husband, her parents and in-laws would rather see a gentler approach; Chua insists that she knows what is best for her children. While parenting experts suggest that her strict rules may be harmful to her children, Chua’s older daughter, Sophia was accepted by both Yale and Harvard and when interviewed, the daughters expressed gratitude for the depth of their mother’s caring and an expectation that their future parenting will differ only slightly from that of their rigid mother.
The point of this sermon is not to advocate for a particular parenting style. But rather, to introduce our text about Jesus telling a story about a parent who had two very different sons.
Two Sons
Jesus says, “Tell me what you think of this: Once upon a time, a man had two boys. He goes to the older one and says, ‘Son, I need for you to work in the vineyard today.’
The boy stubbornly replies, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later on he thinks better of it and goes.
Not knowing this, the father sends his second son to do the work his older brother has refused to do. ‘Yes, sir, nothing would please me more than to work in the vineyard. I’ll be right there.’ Two hours later the polite son is still playing video games.
Now which one pleases the father, the son who says he won’t work and then does or the one who promises to work and never shows?”
Son Number 1 refuses outright, yet after reflection, thinks better of his rebellion and goes out to the vineyard. Despite his initial resistance, he obeys his father. Son Number 2 is more devious, He puts on a good face and immediately agrees with his father’s request; however, his actions do not measure up to his words. Jesus asks the critical question, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The tiger mom might have issued a punishment to both sons—the first for threatening to disobey and the other for actually ignoring the father.
Jesus, however, clearly has a forgiving heart and is able to see the bigger picture. It’s not the first son’s words that are important to Jesus, but his actions. Jesus allows room for complaining and verbal resistance. The first son, despite his original reluctance and outward show of rebellion, soon chooses obedience. He follows the will of his father and does the work to which he is called. The second son, however, only talks a good game. He promises much and produces nothing of value.
Walk the Walk
At the beginning of our Scripture for today, we see that Jesus is in Jerusalem during the last week of his life. He has arrived on the back of a donkey, chased the merchants out of the temple, cursed a fig tree for failing to bear fruit and goes back into the temple to teach and there he found religious leaders and people who wish he hadn’t. They don’t like what Jesus is doing.
The chief priests and the elders ask who does he think he is. Who gave you this authority to speak? Jesus responds, “First, let me ask you a question. You answer mine and I’ll answer yours. It’s about John’s baptism. Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God or was it John’s idea?
Jesus puts the authorities in a pickle. If they say that John was just a charismatic personality, then the people who see John as a prophet will be furious. If they answer that John was a prophet, then they have to explain why they are ignoring John’s pronouncement that Jesus is the Messiah. There’s no good answer. They decided to concede the round to Jesus, “We don’t know.” But the truth is that they do know. They know that they are wrong.
What got Jesus crucified is that Jesus told these religious leaders and good church people that they were the Son Number 2. They are the ones who say the right things, believe in the right things, and stand up for the right things, but don’t do the things God asked them to do.
Then Jesus says to these good church people, “I tell you, criminals and hookers are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
Small wonder that on Friday of that week Jesus was executed. Jesus takes on the scribes and Pharisees, not because they say the wrong things, but because they don’t practice what they teach. They talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk. They mistake their convictions about God for obedience to God.
Doing Good Deeds
Churches are often long on words and short on deeds,
spending more time discussing the church than being the church,
assuming that knowing what it means to be a Christian is the same as living as a Christian,
understanding everything about faith except that it’s supposed to be practiced.
It is easy to get beliefs mixed up with actions.
Churches are tempted to talk about the poor and never share what they have;
to agree on the importance of Christ, but never tell Christ to anyone outside the church building;
to applaud our knowledge of the Bible, but fail to teach others about it.
Maybe we have such good imaginations that we actually believe we have done things we have only thought about doing. Have you ever thought about visiting a sick friend, rehearsed what you wanted to say, googled directions on how to get there, and then decided on a card instead, thought about what a nice gesture that would be, congratulated yourself on your thoughtfulness, and let it go at that? Sometimes we have a hard time remembering whether we sent the card. We believe in doing kind things, but sometimes we don’t do them. We just think about them.
It is easy to create not only the outward appearance of a Christian, but the inward assumptions, to substitute belief for obedience. The theological word for this distance between what we believe and what we actually do is sin. It tears us up to think about something and never act on it. It tears up our family, our friendships, our church when we talk about love and act with indifference, or say right and do wrong, or say “I’ll go” and go nowhere at all.
If we are not careful, we spend our lives in the batting cage and never play the game; study the cookbook, but never enjoy the meal; learn the lines, but never raise the curtain.
If we keep spouting the right opinions without doing anything about it, then we will end up empty. If we keep talking about doing good and never do it, it steals our soul. I know this from experience. You do, too. There is incompleteness in professing Christ without living for Christ.
When we hear this story, we may think that Jesus just outsmarted the Pharisees by using their own methods against them, but nothing would have made Jesus happier than to have the Pharisees finally understand the joy of living their faith. Jesus wants them to learn a better way, to say, “I need to stop thinking that holding the right opinions is enough. I need to start caring with my hands as well as with my heart.”
The Pharisees thought they were doing the right things, but they had gotten so attached to their own ideas about what those things were that it was hard for them to listen to Christ. Jesus suggested that they trade in their beliefs for a fresh experience of God, but they couldn’t bring themselves to do that. They thought they said yes to God, but acted out nothing but no to Jesus.
Both of the sons in the parable lied to their father. Neither son gets it right. Even after we’ve said, “no,” even after we have rejected God’s guidance with our disobedience and laziness, God still welcomes us. Jesus warns the scribes and Pharisees, because Jesus recognizes that they are missing the fun of it.
The difference between talking about the Christian faith and living like Jesus is the difference between reading the sheet music and singing the song or the difference between saying that you are a Christian and stepping into the baptismal waters. The reason God wants us in the vineyard is that there is more joy in loving your neighbor than there is in knowing you’re supposed to.
About a month ago, Jena Mangiuat approached the Deacons because a coworker at the restaurant that they worked had major surgery and did not have insurance. Adding insult to injury, their employer had not shown any sign of compassion and sympathy. Jena’s coworker and his wife have two young children too. Out of her deep sense of care for her friend, Jena ask for emergency assistance and the Deacons agreed to give a check from their Deacons Fund.
We decided that Jena and I would hand deliver the check so that I may meet her coworker and to share a prayer with him. When we did, he was visibly touched by such compassion and love. I told him that Jena was his angel keeping watch over him. He agreed. There was not only joy that we brought to Jena’s coworker but joy in Jena and joy in me and joy in the Deacons, and joy in all of us because we just didn’t think that we should do good deeds but we actually did it!
When we walk past a friend at church we can stop and say, “I hear you’re having a hard time. I’m going to take your children off your hands for an hour this afternoon.”
When we see the devastation of life and society when famine ravages a land like Somalia where innocent people are dying everyday, we can say, “I might not be able to physically feed the hungry, but I’ll give to the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering because I know that food and aid will be delivered.”
When we study the Bible in Sunday school class and read the Bible at home and acquire a strong knowledge of learning, we can say, “Now that I have a solid biblical foundation, I should teach others about the Bible when I am asked to teach.”
We can be a people who actually visit the sick in the hospital, visit our neighbors across the street, bring people to church by offering them a ride in our car, take a casserole to a family who needs assistance, share with someone why you believe in Jesus as your Lord.
Our church is filled with Christians who have figured out that the joy of faith is in action and not in the words.
We have no idea what kind of people Amy Chua’s daughters will become when they get older. I don’t think their tiger mother really knows either. They may undoubtedly graduate from places like Yale and Harvard. But the real test in life is not what they think or the degrees they amass. The true joy in life is to serve God by doing good deeds. Who else will be the hands and feet of Christ but you and me?
Let us pray.
Gracious and forgiving God, you have shown us how to love you and our neighbors in your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Lead us not to delude ourselves that just by believing in the right things is living out our discipleship but grant us the wisdom and the courage to become the actual hands and feet of Jesus in our hurting and suffering world. Just as we have found the joy of Christ in our lives, help us to spread that joy with others in our city and around your world. In Christ, we pray. Amen.