The Holy Gospel according to Matthew the 21st chapter
And I'm gonna invite you to be seated because it's important for you to know some background before we get into this reading today
So before this reading happens Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey
So that makes us think of Palm Sunday, so we know it's Holy Week
That means Jesus is coming very close to his crucifixion and death on the cross
And what happens before this reading what leads up to these passages?
Is Jesus is kind of pushing things in that direction
So he comes into the temple and he overturns the tables of the money changers there
So he upsets the system of sacrifice the religious system for that day
And it especially notes that he overturns the seats of those who sell doves
Who are the people that would buy doves anyone have any idea who could afford to buy doves?
Only those experiencing the most poverty that's the only thing they could afford so when it's especially
Mentions he overturns the seats of those who sell doves
I think it notes that Jesus is showing special care and concern for those experiencing poverty
So he upsets this system and the money that came into that system sometimes was was misused or exploited to support the religious leaders themselves
So Jesus upsets that system and then he has those who are blind and lame come to him
And he heals them and these people that weren't welcome before are suddenly welcome
And it's outside the way that the religious system would have it work and so this upsets the religious leaders of the day
So we get to our reading today, and they're like who gives you the authority to do these kinds of things and I think it invites us to ask
What authority is it that we base our lives and our actions on?
Here's a reading from Matthew chapter 21
When Jesus 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 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 and they argued with one another
We say from heaven he'll say to us then why did you not believe him?
But if we say of human origin we are afraid of the crowd for all regard John as a prophet
So they answered Jesus. We don't know
And he said to them neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things
What do you think a man had two sons?
He went to the first and said son go and work in the vineyard today
He answered I will not
But later he changed his mind and went
The father went to the second and did the same and he answered I go sir, but he did not go
Which of the two did the will of his father? They said the first
Jesus said to them truly I tell you
The tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of the Lord
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
The gospel of the Lord
So we have this question of authority by what authority is Jesus doing these things and who gave it to him
Jesus pointed out that authority can only ever be given
Some people get authority because some people higher up have given it to them like a boss
Others get authority because people allow or give them authority over them
It invites us to ask what kinds of things do we allow to have authority in our lives?
What things do we allow to have authority that maybe don't deserve it?
The religious leaders find authority in their traditions
They also find authority in a system that keeps on benefiting them
Like why would they want it to change? They're benefiting from the authority they have
Biblical scholar Emerson Powery
He talked about Jesus' parable and he noted that the son who is most expected to understand and do God's will
It's relating to the religious leadership
The ones who are most versed in the scriptures who most should understand God's will
They don't get it
They fail to see God's work in Jesus
While the son least expected to understand and do God's will
He says that is the one most culturally despised by the rest of us
That one acknowledges God's work in John the Baptist and in Jesus Christ
Another scholar notes that this week we see more clearly how Jesus' ministry of transformation
offends those with a vested interest in keeping the status quo
That Jesus' ministry of transformation most offends those who are most interested in keeping things the way they are
I think that invites us to think about today are there places where we don't want systems to change
or we don't want things to change because we are benefiting from how they are now
It's something to think about
I remember several years ago reading an article about someone who was a part of a church
and he shared this in the article
He was a part of a church and he got really upset at how his church was welcoming a certain group of people into their community
He was really upset by this because he didn't think his church should be welcoming them
And so he went to his pastor and he complained about it
And his pastor invited him to go home and to read the gospels and to pay special attention
To what does Jesus do? Where does Jesus go? With whom does Jesus spend his time?
And the man actually went home and he did that
He read the gospels
He paid attention to everything that Jesus said and did and he came back
And he was completely changed
He said he realized that his church was walking in the way of Jesus Christ
They were welcoming people as Jesus would
And then he joined in that ministry
That is living not with the authority of our own assumptions in our lives
But that's living with the authority of Jesus Christ
There are times when I've heard people say
Talk about like what the Bible would say or what they know Jesus would stand for
And they clearly haven't found that in the Bible or read that in the gospels
And perhaps unsurprisingly what they say Jesus stands for seems remarkably like what they want to stand for
And the thing is we all do this at times
Instead we want our lives and our actions to be shaped humbly by following Jesus
It invites us to ask what is it that really is shaping our life and our faith?
Is it the authority we give to ourselves?
Do our politics, and I'm talking to everyone on all ends of the spectrum
Do our politics or our own assumptions end up shaping our faith and our belief?
Or does our faith in Jesus shape how we live out our politics?
Does our faith rewrite some of the assumptions that we have?
If our faith never rewrites some of the assumptions we have
Then we may need to go back and listen humbly for Jesus
And I'm talking to myself as well
Because Jesus' word is constantly working on us and working in us
So that we can see things in a new way
We can say what we believe, but if we don't live it
That might not be what we're actually believing
I think about our mission statement
Thank God, share Jesus, help others
Does our church fully live that?
I think there's definitely ways we do
How about us as individuals?
Are we living that?
Because the church isn't just coming here to this building whenever we come here
But we are the church every time we leave here
And in our day-to-day lives are we thanking God, sharing Jesus, helping others?
If we aren't living that out, it might just be nice words that we say
So again, what things do we give authority over our lives?
If we change directions a little bit, a different way that we give things authority
There was a writer for the New York Times who once wrote about going through a traumatic event in his life
He was seven years old and I think something happened to a family member
And he was angry
When he was 20, 13 years later, he decided he was going to enact revenge
And on his way to enacting revenge for what happened to him
He all of a sudden thought to himself, what are you doing?
You can't keep living your life this way
Yes, this has been bad, but you deserve to live in spite of it
You have a life and you can't give this thing so much power over that life
That it takes that life away
What he realized after 13 years had passed
Was that he kept giving this event this authority over his life and his future
The future was open and it could be shaped in a new way
God calls and invites us into that new future
One that doesn't have to be shaped by our assumptions about other people or about how we think things should work
It doesn't have to be shaped by our regrets or our resentments of the past
But a future shaped by our baptismal identity as children of God and Jesus Christ
Martin Luther, for whom our Lutheran church gets its name
He used to struggle with various things
And when he was going through a particularly difficult time
When he was overcome with worry and doubt
He would yell out to himself, I am baptized
His assurance in that time, the thing that had authority over his life and his future
Was not his past mistakes or past failings
It wasn't words that others said about him, even those in power
But the authority in that instant over his life was Jesus Christ
Who God had claimed him to be as his child of God in his baptism
Something that Jude and Sadie are going to experience later today
What is it that really shapes us?
What assumptions are we each clinging to?
Maybe it's assumptions about others or how life should be
Where might the Holy Spirit be working to help us understand things in a new way?
Or to be more fully shaped by Jesus?
Or think of the thing that you most regret or resent from the past
If that one thing no longer weighed on you
If it didn't keep hanging over you
What would you or what could you do?
Freed from that one thing, what would life be like?
And sometimes we also need God's help through a counselor or through a life coach
To help us get through that, to be freed from that thing
But in the end, no level of brokenness or hurt has to shape our future
But only our God who calls us to new life again and again and again
In the end, what is it that's worthy of having authority in our lives and of our future?
We know it's Jesus, Jesus alone
Who overturned the tables of the money changers to show that there's a different way
Jesus who died at the hands of his enemies praying for them
Instead of igniting holy revenge on them
Jesus whom God raised from the dead that even death could not defeat him
Jesus who promises that our worth, our life, our future is certainly in God's care
May that authority be what defines us and shapes our lives and our actions
Today and every single day ahead. Amen.