What Gives You the Right to Tell Us What to do?
Now when He came into the temple, the chief
priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and
said,
"By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this
authority?" Matthew 21:23
I was preparing a young couple for marriage a number of years ago in a
community some distance from here. I completed the last session which was
on the spiritual dimension of marriage. Neither the bride or groom held any
obvious faith. They were not members of our congregation, but I was performing
the wedding as a favor to relatives who were members. In any case, I
explained the gospel in the simplest form that I could for them to understand
what it meant to have God in your life, which I would pray for as part of
the wedding service. I paused and asked if they both understood what
I had just explained. They paused for a bit and the young bride to be said,
"yes, its good to know God is there, ...but you wouldn't want Him running
everything." I think for one of the few times in my life, I was speechless.
But before we chuckle too loudly, we have to admit that in her naiveté,
she was just expressing what many others actually hold as the default position,
whether they are believers or not--that it's great knowing that God is there
for you, but you really don't want Him running your life--do you?
Jesus was at the temple teaching the people a few days after he had cleansed
the temple of its money changers and animal vendors.
And without going into a lot of detail, that would have cost the high priest
or his surrogates a lot of revenue.
They were not pleased with Jesus.
But the feeling was mutual and in the end, Jesus will have the last say.
Both the priestly caste and the pharisees resent what Jesus has done and
so he is approached with the question: By what authority do you do these things?
or "who gives you the right to act this way toward us?"
Jesus had come and upset many an apple cart. But they were almost always
the apple carts of the religious establishment, of the people who gained their
status and livelihoods from posing as the people who knew God and could teach
the people.
I say "posing" as they clearly were not.
Jesus refuses to justify himself to them.
Instead he asks them a question. He says, "I will tell you if you can tell
me by what authority John preached."
He is not refusing to answer or dodging the question. It is not just a clever
ruse.
He and they knew that the priests and saducees had rejected John, even though
the people came and were baptized.
John was obviously a freak show, a wild man and no way would they submit
to his teaching.
John was an upstart, and a radical. They on the other hand had the right
pedigree and all the right credentials.
They were the guardians of the faith, not this crazy man, John.
Besides to follow John meant repenting and they did not think they needed
to.
And so what Jesus is saying to them is "Why should I justify myself to you
when you have already rejected God's message.?"
And that was the issue:
The scribes, saducees and pharisees believed they had the right to question
Jesus, to stand in judgment over him.
They thought they could act as if they stood outside of any judgment and
be the judge.
Jesus is telling them, they are in no position to ask questions of His authority
or think they could pass opinions on Him.
It was they who stood judged by their own actions.
So he tells a little story of a farmer who has two sons. Sounds familiar.
He asks one son to go work in the field that day. The son impertinently
says, "no way", but later changes his mind and goes and does as he is asked.
The second son is asked and says, "yes indeed", but actually fails to do
anything at all.
Jesus asks, "so who is the obedient son?" The answer is obvious--the one
who does what is asked.
It is not a matter of posing and pretending.
This is a serious issue for these folks.
Jesus is telling them that their refusal to receive God's word both through
John then by Jesus Himself is total rejection of God.
And he rubs it in further. He says that sinners and harlots gladly entered
into the gift of God while the religious leaders turned the other way.
These common sinners will come into the kingdom of God while the religious
ones will not.
And before we just pass over the point with the nod of a head, let's look
closely at their actions.
This makes me nervous and it ought to make you nervous too.
The Saducees and the Pharisees had absolutely no thought whatever that they
were standing in opposition to the will of God.
None whatever.
In fact, they really believed they were God's appointed.
But the fact of the matter is that what they really wanted was to look good
in public.
They wanted the reputation of being somebodies, and were totally blind to
the greatest adventure that life could ever offer.
How many of us could possibly conceive that we could ever be opposing the
will of God?
After all we are the guardians of God's good news.
We are preservers of doctrine and and the church itself.
They had no idea whatsoever Who it was standing in their presence.
I think this should make us all very nervous, especially if we have been
at this a while.
Because you see how easy it is to get caught up in what we think are all
the right things and lose track of any sense that we might be needing to stop
look and listen.
The issue is not are we doing something.
The issue is are we doing what God requires us to do?
The disobedient son had all the right language. "Yes, sir, right away" but
he had no intention of letting the father run his life.
The churlish son eventually came to his senses. As far as we know he never
did say anything about it, but just started doing what was asked.
It's easy to think that making mental assent to God and going through the
formal motions of worship really is the same thing as following, when it is
not.
What God is looking for from us is a willing attitude that really wants
to do God's will and is willing to believe that we may need to change.
This is true both on an individual level and on a corporate level.
Individually we all need to live before God in humility.
The kind of humility that reminds us that it is not we who judge what is
acceptable, but God who stands as judge over us.
Our goal is to examine ourselves and ask how much of what motivates us is
our own convenience and wants.
And it is true on a corporate level.
Every church has its strengths and its weaknesses.
Corporately our issue is whether besides teaching and proclaiming what we
believe is true, do we also act ethically and prophetically in our world?
It is too easy to say to ourselves that our faith is a purely personal matter
and thereby excuse ourselves of the call to seek justice and to do mercy and
to walk humbly before our God.
A church that does no more than speak about truth is not fully the church
of Christ.
It is only when we speak the gospel, live it in our lives and act it out
in our world and community that we are being obedient to Christ.
Mosquito nets is one very small step.
Much more could be done and needs to be done.
God says, here is the world--look at it.
Go and be my hands, my voice, my feet my arms to the world where you live.
The farm the two sons were asked to work in was right outside their front
door.
They did not have to go looking to ask what their father wanted them to
do.
Our responsibility is outside our front door.
You don't have to go to Africa to see what God wants you to do.
And as long as you have breath you can follow John's and Jesus example and
say, "Lord what will you have me do today? Forgive my refusal to follow you
yesterday, but today is a brand new day."
Preached September 28, 2008
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian
Church
Victoria, British Columbia
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