(for the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, September 28, 2014)
When he 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, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then 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 do not 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 said 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 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.’ (Matthew 21:23-32, NRSV).
Jesus is in the precinct of the ‘chief priests’ and ‘elders’. The temple is their domain, their sphere expertise. Here, perhaps more than in Galilee, they call the shots. Their request for authorisation may not be so strange. They do their job.
But Jesus is suspicious: ‘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?’
It exposes them. It strips their thin-veiled motives. Their poorly concealed argument reveals how compromised they are. Dressed as lovers of God they debate out an official answer. It is a crooked path between unbelief and fear.
And in the end it produces no answer at all: ‘We do not know’. They are threatened by this rabble-rousing teacher and unwilling to comment openly on the second most influential ministry of their time.
After all before them stands the most influential. Jesus’ popularity is seemingly endless. His celebrated arrival in Jerusalem is an indication that his stories are more eagerly sought than ever.
So Jesus tells another thought-provoking account. Two sons. Two identical requests. One initially says ‘no’ but then in action ‘yes’. The other immediately replies in the affirmative. His inaction reveals this meant ‘no’. Jesus poses his final question: ‘Which of the two did the will of his father?’ Answering is somewhat easier: ‘The First’.
Revealing. Disarming. Uncomfortable.
Yet, Jesus is not finished. He knows the ease with which an indirect allusion is dismissed. Parables can be twisted. Stories overthought. Loopholes and more appealing interpretations all too readily discovered. The ‘elders’ need an even balder account:
‘Truly I tell you, 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.’
It is a commendation of the repentant.
It is also a potent, direct, and unmistakable warning to the un-repentant: ‘…you did not change your minds and believe…’