Matthew 21:23-32
September 29, 2002
Sermon preached by the Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco.
When you walk into the doctor’s office, you want to see a wall full of diplomas and certificates. My internist has one that says, “Syracuse University.” Those framed documents let you know that your doctor has been tested and approved to do medical work. It’s the same when you go to the dentist or optometrist. In some conspicuous location, you will see their licenses and diplomas.
Now even in a beauty salon, your hair stylist will have similar papers hanging on the wall. We want to be sure that they don’t mess up our hair! You will find certificates and licenses on the wall at your auto mechanic shop, at the funeral home, and in the offices of your pastors. Those documents are their credentials. Those papers let you know that those individuals have been examined and approved to do the kind of work they are doing.
Jesus in the Temple
Jesus comes to the temple where the official authority is the chief priests and the elders. The temple was their domain to exercise control in what takes place. They have their diplomas and certificates on the temple walls. So along comes Jesus who starts teaching the people.
The religious leaders wanted to see Jesus credentials. As far as they knew, Jesus had not graduated from seminary. Jesus hadn’t passed any standardized exams. Jesus hadn’t presented his ordination paper to the required regional commission on the ministry. He had no printed diplomas or certificates. They wanted to know by what authority did he have to be teaching people about the way of God.
Back then, just as it is now, religious groups had a certain system as to how people could be in leadership positions. To be a rabbi, the ruling body had to approve of you, and then they would lay their hands on your head as a sign that you were authorized to exercise religious authority. Jesus had none of these documents to show them. And they knew that.
The truth is that those religious authorities were not really interested in seeing Jesus’ credentials. They were more interested in getting rid of him. Before Jesus arrived on the scene, the chief priests and elders knew that they were in charge of the temple. They ran things the way they wanted to. They were not about to let Jesus messing things up for them. They could already see in the way he was teaching the people that Jesus was about to bring some major changes—changes that will question their authority.
When Jesus was asked to present his documents, his reply was a question back to them. He asked them if they thought the authority that John baptized came from heaven or did they think that this authority came from some kind of human origin. Jesus was calling them to discern what they have seen and heard as John baptized and people repented.
The religious leaders found themselves in a dilemma—if they said John had the authority from God then they would need to answer why they didn’t believe him before they conspired to kill him. And if they said, what John did was from a human origin, they would show disrespect toward John whom the crowds believed was a prophet. So for a group of people who claimed to have official authority, they said, “We do not know.”
Source of Authority
Where does authority come from if not from diplomas and certificates? True authority comes from the heart—not from any paper hanging on the wall. About 20 years ago, I was directing a national American Baptist youth conference in Providence on the Brown University campus. Like UC Berkeley, Brown is located up the hill from downtown Providence in a residential area of historic colonial buildings. On the north side of the campus was Thayer Street. There you can find little shops offering different kinds of food, bookstores, and Ben & Jerry ice cream.
We had about 2000 Baptist youth from all over the country living in the college dorms. After the evening program, our youth conferees naturally went to Thayer Street to hang out and to buy ice cream. What we didn’t anticipate was that once the college students went home for the summer, the local youth took back control of Thayer Street. This was their turf.
One day when we heard from campus security that the local youth were tired of having so many church youth on their street, we deployed ourselves as leaders with our blue conference jackets. They called us the “blue coats.” That night we hung out on Thayer Street to monitor any situation that might arise. I noticed a group of girls who looked like they could have been from Kansas standing at the corner of the street. Just then a car drove up to them, some conversation took place and one of the girls was about ready to get into this boy’s car. I stepped up and asked if the girls were members of our conference. They said they were. Then I said to the local boys, “These girls are my responsibility and they can’t go with you.” One of the boys asked the girls, “Who is this guy?” They recognized me and said, “He’s the director.” One of the boys said, “What authority do you have over these girls?” Nervously, I blurted out, “I am a Baptist minister!”
Without further arguments, one of the boys said, “I don’t mess with Baptist ministers.” And they drove off.
Without any documentation, being a Baptist minister was enough authority to defuse a potentially frightening situation. That night my authority came from triggering some past respect that these boys must have had with Baptist ministers.
I can only suspect that in their hearts, they knew that there was a higher authority for me to be there at that moment. I was merely a little Chinese American man wearing a blue conference jacket.
Jesus said to the religious leaders, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” These social outcasts were going to heaven because they had a change of heart. While the chief priests and elders were unwilling to accept what Jesus was doing was from God and insisted that their way of knowing is fixed within a rigid system of law and tradition, tax collectors and prostitutes were alert to what was going on before their eyes. They were willing to accept John’s teaching and call to repentance as being from God. They embraced the words, miracles, and healings of Jesus as coming from the same heavenly source. They knew God in their hearts.
Our source of authority comes from the interior of who we are—not gold gilded fancy diplomas and certificates. Being a tax collector who is licensed or even a prostitute who is certified is not going to give you the authority to enter the kingdom of heaven either. Both professions were sinful. But Jesus said that even these marginalized and sinful people in the world would enter the kingdom of heaven before the religious leaders because they heard John the Baptist’s message and repented for their sins. Inside of them, their hearts were renewed by God’s forgiveness of their sins.
Two Sons
Jesus made this point by telling them a parable about two sons.
First of all, these sons had an authority problem! The father said to the first son, “Go and work in the vineyard today.” This son refused by saying, “I will not.” No son of mine better say this! But later, he changed his mind and went to work. The father went to the second son and said the same; and he answered, “I’ll go.” But at the end this second son didn’t go to work at all. So Jesus asked, “Which of these two sons did the will of his father?” The religious leaders answered correctly, “The first son, the one who first refused but relented afterward and went out to work in the vineyard.”
Jesus compares the first son with the tax collectors and the prostitutes. These are all people who first refused God’s plan. They questioned the authority of God in their lives and went against what God intended for them all along. The son’s disrespectful refusal, the tax collector’s dishonesty, the prostitute’s self degradation of her integrity all reveal their need to believe in John’s message of repentance, conversion, and baptism. Eventually, they did the will of God.
To have authority in the faith requires us to invite God into our lives and to make him the true authority of who we are. Not our self-centered ways but God’s way that takes over all parts of who we are. In God’s authority, we receive authority in faith.
Whether we admit it or not, many of us believe that with proper diplomas and certificates, we are saved and will enter the kingdom of heaven. Maybe our diplomas say, “Been Coming to FCBC since I was a Baby.” Maybe our diplomas say, “Attended Youth Camp all Seven Years.” Maybe our certificates read, “Read the Bible from Cover to Cover.” Or perhaps, “Never Missed Sunday Worship for One Whole Year.”
These degrees are the same ones that the chief priests and elders had all over the walls of the temple. They couldn’t open up their hearts to know God when John was preaching. They wouldn’t open up their hearts to know God when Jesus was teaching and healing. Their way of knowing God was fixed within a rigid system of law and tradition. The religious leaders were like the second son, “Sure, Father, I’ll go” but end up not going at all. They refused God’s authority thinking that they had all the authority they needed in themselves.
In our world today, there’s a lot of talking about who has the authority? President Bush wants unfettered authority to use military force when he sees fit. The Congress wants authority to narrow and limit Bush’s authority. The United Nations’ Security Council wants the authority to represent the positions of the international community. Saddam Hussein has denied the authority of the UN and weapon inspectors for the past 10 years. We as voters and taxpayers feel like we have no authority at all to tell the Bush Administration to not rush into war! But for us to have some say in what’s going on in the world, we will need to respond when God asks us to work. Authority is received when we take up the work of God.
Receiving God’s Authority
When the college president hands you your diploma, you receive the official documentation that you have completed all of the necessary requirements for that degree. But the diploma does not give you any authority. Authority comes when you get to work in your field. In terms of the parable, authority comes with the first son’s response to the request of work.
The father wanted to give authority to both his sons when he “authorized” them to work in the vineyard. But receiving authority comes only when we carry out the authorized action. The second son does not carry out the work and therefore forfeits his authority. The first son, even though he at first refuses that which he is authorized to do, relents and carries out the task. He does the will of the father.
At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Mt. 7:21). Jesus issues woes against the chief priests and elders, not because they are self-righteous or legalistic which we know that they are too, but because they do not practice what they teach.” (Mt. 23:32). The religious leaders are hypocrites because with authority, they speak about the will of God, but they don’t do the will of God with the same kind of authority! They are like the second son. At the end, as the result of their inaction, they forfeited all of the authority that they could have had.
John the Baptist and Jesus have authority from God because they responded to God’s plan for their lives.
For us to have the authority of God, we too must respond to God’s request to work in the vineyard. God may be calling you to go into your high school or college or workplace as your vineyard so that you can share your love for Christ by showing caring and concern for others.
God may be calling you to go back to your own homes as your vineyard so that you can testify in front of your family your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
God may be calling you to go into your neighborhood as your vineyard so that you can work for reconciliation and trust across racial barriers, religious differences, and economic inequities.
God may be calling you to go outside our church building as your vineyard to welcome the homeless people, the prostitutes, and the tax collectors to come into our newly retrofitted church home because who knows, we may be entertaining angels!
Authority in Christ
We know that we don’t want our authority in faith to be like the chief priests and elders with only paper diplomas and certificates that allow them to maintain rigid and traditional ways in knowing God. To have authority in faith, we must follow Jesus. And that means we are to repent from what we are doing and to be willing to change. Our hearts need to be transformed in the inside.
When Jesus walked by the lakeshore and called Peter and Andrew to be his disciples, he didn’t say, “Oh, just believe in me with your minds, and go right on with your fishing.” No, Jesus told them to drop their nets and to follow him. Or when the rich young man came up to Jesus, Jesus didn’t say to him, “Oh, just believe in me, and live your life any old way you want.” No, Jesus said to him, “Go and sell all that you have, and then come and follow me.”
With our hearts changed, giving up our lives to God’s authority, Jesus taught us that our authority in faith comes when we do the work of God. There’s a story about a general who was shot in battle by his own army. It seems that he had gotten so far ahead of his own troops so that from a distance his own soldiers thought he was the enemy and fired at him.
In the same kind of way, that’s what happened to Jesus. Jesus was so far ahead of the authorized religious leaders of his day, he was so far removed from where they stood on things, that the religious leaders eventually considered Jesus to be their enemy, someone whom they wanted to get rid of.
When we have God’s authority to speak out against violence and hate, racism and indifference, and war and terrorism, we too will be far ahead of others. We too, like Christ, may be seen as challenging the authorities of our days. And perhaps we may be seen as enemies that authorities want to get rid of.
When it comes to the living of our lives, do we accept Jesus as our authority figure? Or do we continue to ask Jesus to submit his credentials to us, so that we can decide whether—and to what extent—we’ll accept his teachings? The risk is that if you accept Jesus as your authority and give him an inch, he’ll take a mile! If you give him authority over one part of your life, he won’t be content with that. Before you know it, he’ll be seeking to wield authority over all parts of your life.
The more Jesus has authority over your life, the more authority of faith in God you will have in your life. It is Jesus alone who has authority to save us. He saves us, not by exercising authority over random, isolated segments of our lives, but by exercising authority over all that we are, all that we have, and all that we do.
If someone were to ask you, “By what authority are you sharing the love of God in the world that all men and women, boys and girls are his children?”, you can say, “My authority comes when I accepted Jesus Christ in my heart to be my Savior and my Lord has taught me to love him and my neighbors.”
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we pray that we will be able to set aside our human authority of relying only on our efforts and accomplishments and begin trusting our lives in your authority. We invite you to take over our lives so that we may consecrate ourselves for your mission and plan for the world. Amen.