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Proper 21: 17th Sunday after Pentecost
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Matthew 21:23-32
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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, “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.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts the religious leaders who have challenged his authority. Instead of answering their question, he asks them what they think of John the Baptist. They refuse to answer. Jesus does likewise, and then shares a parable that clearly is aimed against the religious leaders.
It’s an interesting moment for us to observe. Only remember that for us as Christians, the Gospel is never something we observe as outsiders. When we hear the Gospel, we need to ask ourselves “What are we being taught?” Jesus speaks in this parable of two sons. It’s an interesting family scenario that is set before us of a highly dysfunctional family. These two brothers would not want to be associated with each other. One of them is representative of the religious leaders of the day. The other represents “the deplorables” of society, prostitutes and tax collectors, Gentiles and sinners. Each of them are called by their father to go and work in the father’s vineyard. One says that he will go, while the other refuses. One goes and works, while the other refuses. And what is interesting is that it is the one told the father that he would not go who submits to the will of the father.
Remember today that we are the son called by God to go into the vineyard. We who are the Church have received the Great Commission. Jesus has told us to go into the world in his name. The world is the vineyard of Jesus. It is the vineyard in which we proclaim the Gospel. The question of the Gospel, of this specific Gospel, therefore, is simply this: “Will we go into the vineyard to do the work of Christ to which we have been called?”
We have already answered that question. We answered it at our baptism when we were brought to the font to be baptized into Christ and made a member of the Church. For many of us, this was a decision that was made when we were children who had no voice of our own. Those who brought us to the font made that commitment for us, and committed themselves to raising us in such a way that in time we would again and again both say that we would go into the vineyard, and then actually go in obedience to Christ for the salvation of the world. When we were confirmed in the faith into which we were baptized, we claimed that response for ourselves. When we hear the Gospel and take part in the Sacraments of the New Covenant, we proclaim again and again that we will go into the vineyard of Christ, making Christ known for the healing of all persons.
But will we go? Will we do the work to which we are called? This is a question that is relevant today. Even now, we can find persons who on one hand say that they will go and then who walk in the other direction away from the vineyard to which we have been sent by Christ. I think of a specific person imprinted on my memory this past week that drives this from theory to reality. I walked into a patient room earlier this week and I introduced myself as a chaplain. The man I was visiting responded with vile hatred for the Church, for organized religion, and especially for the priesthood. I represented everything about these thing for this man, and to be perfectly honest, he was hoping for a fight with me that would confirm his hatred of them and of me. He was disappointed that he did not get that response from me. Finally he relented from that approach, and spoke personally of his faith in God and his love for Christ.
This man is not alone. There are plenty of persons who profess their hatred for the Church and its people, especially its ministers, while professing their love of Jesus. And this is not a new experience in the world. In the Gospel, we find the “deplorables” of society drawn to Jesus. They clung to his every word, and fell in love with Jesus deeper and deeper as they heard his voice and experienced his tenderness and love. It doesn’t take much imagination to consider the possibility that the prostitutes, tax collectors, Gentiles, and all other sinners drawn to Jesus, could say: “I love Jesus, but I hate the Temple and Synagogue, and the priests, rabbis and scribes.” And if they only find “us” in those holy places and acting “holier than thou” in them, we can hardly blame them for their hatred. That was true 2,000 years ago, and it remains true in our own day and generation.
Does that make us uneasy? It should! But what do we do with than uneasiness. Jesus shows us that the “good religious folks” of the day responded to Jesus’ challenge in such a way that uneasiness led to offense and the rejection of Jesus. We who as the baptized children of God, who are the “good religious folks” of today, could do likewise. But note that when we do so, we are doing nothing other than saying, “I go, Lord,” while walking away from the vineyard to which Christ sends us. When we do that, we are not doing the kingdom work of the vineyard of God.
Today we are challenged to go forth from places like this into the midst of the world, to be the hands, the feet and the voice of Christ for the world. Will we be so bold as to go forth, knowing that God’s work done with our hands happens not here but in the world? If we are not that bold, we are no better than the Pharisees to whom Jesus speaks this Gospel. Jesus longs for us to be in the vineyard, to enjoy the fruits that God provides for us and for those we shall find and encounter in the name of Christ. And we can be so bold to go forth in the name of Christ, but only when we remember that Jesus is already there, calling us to join him for the salvation not just of ourselves and those like us, but of the world in which we encounter not strangers but brothers and sisters loved by Christ, even when they are as different from us as the brothers in today’s Gospel.
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Father Timothy Alleman
Rector of The Church of the Holy Cross
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