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How we have arrived at this point in our spiritual
journey is certainly worthy of our reflection. Some of
us might not ever remember a time when we were not
involved in the life of the church. There might be
others who experienced some detours along the way, and
are glad to be part of the church. This is more common
than you might think. I’ve heard variations on the
following themes over the years, attended Sunday school
and worship, graduated from high school, began a career,
moved away, got married, began a family, and in the
process forgot about the church. Then some significant
event occurs that draws the individual back to the
church which renews or rekindles their faith. Sometimes
those bumps in the night propel us to greater faith.
How did you arrive at this point in your faith?
We
have journeyed with Jesus as he called his first
disciples, spent significant amounts of time teaching
people, healing the sick, and casting out demons. At
times there were large crowds that gathered, at other
times Jesus was alone with the disciples. What we
continue to find disturbing is that some walked away
from Jesus, the cost of discipleship was too great—so
they walked away.
The religious leaders of the day had trouble with
Jesus. They were strictly adhering to their rules and
regulations not allowing anything out of their narrowly
defined way of doing things. Jesus gained quite a
following which made the religious leaders nervous,
perhaps even jealous. They began plotting against
Jesus, asking him trick questions in front of people,
hoping that he would say the wrong thing which would
prove to the crowd that Jesus was not from God. Jesus
always managed to stay one step ahead of the religious
leaders never falling for their trick questions.
There was tension in the air as our lesson opens. Jesus
had triumphantly entered Jerusalem; the result was that
“all the city stirred.” Then he overturned the money
changers tables in the temple which caused conflict with
the religious leaders. Jesus’ words and actions
revealed that what was taking place in the temple was
wrong. It is hard sometimes to accept new ideas and
change, especially when you are told that what you have
been doing is wrong, which was what the religious
leaders struggled with.
With baited breath the religious leaders confront
Jesus. They want an answer to why he was so disruptive
and had disregarded their tradition. “By what authority
are you doing these things,” they asked, “and who gave
you this authority.” It was clear by their tone and
their line of questioning that they did not for one
moment believe Jesus came from God. We might fool
others with our insincerity but not Jesus who knows what
is on our hearts.
Jesus takes the initiative and asks the religious
leaders a question before answering their question.
“Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of
human origin?” The religious leaders did what they do
best and debated the question among themselves. It was
a tough question for them. If they answered that John
came from God then Jesus would ask them why they did not
listen to his prophetic words. They also realized that
John the Baptist was popular among the people and if
they claimed that his work was of human origin then they
would appear unpopular in the eyes of the people who
clearly believed he was from God. They could not in
good conscience answer that John came from God and were
afraid of what the people would think if they answered,
that his works were from human origin. The question
Jesus asked them was a no win for them.
Their problem runs deeper than that. They failed to
acknowledge that Jesus was from God just like they
rejected John the Baptist. The religious leaders of the
day closed their minds to what God was doing in their
midst by blindly sticking to their tradition. All they
were interested in was preserving the integrity of their
institution.
A point of intersection for us is
when we say we want new members; do we want people to
discover the life-changing experience of acknowledging
Jesus as Lord and Savior, vowing to follow him all of
their days? Or are we more interested in preserving the
institutional church? We are not going to find many
people who just want to preserve our church. People are
looking to experience the holy in their lives, looking
for eternal purpose and will not join a church simply to
maintain tradition.
After debating Jesus’ question for several minutes they
replied that “We do not know.” Jesus tells them that
since they could not answer his question he would not
answer their question concerning authority.
Jesus once again seizes the
opportunity and asks them another question that leads to
a parable about two sons. The father instructs the
first son, “go and work in the vineyard today.” The son
had other plans for the day, perhaps going to town with
his friends or something. Quite defiantly he replies,
“I will not.” This was not what the father wanted to
hear or expected from his son.
After his father had gone the first son reconsiders and
decides that he should in fact go and spend the day
working in the vineyard. He felt it was the right thing
to do to help out his father. Even through he said no
he changed his mind turning his no to yes.
Meanwhile the father went to the second son and
instructed him as he had his first son to go and work in
the vineyard. He politely replies, “I go sir.” The
father was satisfied with this answer. At least he had
one son who would do what was asked of him. While he
said yes that he would go in the end he did not go.
Maybe some friends stopped by inviting him to go with
them to the beach or maybe they just wanted to hang
out. He said yes but he did not go. His yes turned
into no.
Jesus then asked the religious leaders, the one who were
critical of him and could not answer his question
concerning John the Baptist, “Which of the two did the
will of his father?” They had no problem answering this
question, it was obvious, “the first” they said in
unison.
What about your own faith journey, some of us might be
like the first son who initially said no to God but
later changed your mind and said yes. There might be
people we know who are more like the second son,
initially said yes but whose life answered with a loud
no. We might know people who say all the right things
but whose life resounds with a loud no to Jesus.
The religious leaders are like the second son, they
initially said yes to God but in rejecting John the
Baptist and later Jesus they were saying no to God.
Meanwhile those who at first said no to God believed in
Jesus and turned their no into a resounding yes. Jesus
told them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of
you…and even after you saw it, you did not change your
minds and believe him.” Not only were those words
upsetting they were shocking to the religious leaders.
As
modern day disciples of Jesus Christ much is expected of
us. To live out our faith takes more than just saying
“yes” to Jesus. We are expected to bear fruit. The way
we live our lives should yield fruit.
What matters is the end result. At first we might have
said no to Jesus and then years later had a change of
heart and said yes. There is nothing wrong with that.
God loves each and every one of us and never stops
loving us even at those times when we turn our backs on
God or say no thank you. It was not too late for the
religious leaders who were critical of Jesus; they could
turn their no into a yes. Jesus is waiting for your
answer—is it a yes or a no? More importantly will you
live your answer? Will your life bear fruit?
Amen.
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