From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Pentecost
Matthew 21:23-32
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.”
After the dramatic scene in the Temple in which Jesus threw out the money changers and merchants, one would think that Jesus had made his point, but here, after spending the night with friends in Bethany, just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem, Jesus is back in the Temple the next day teaching. He is persistent. By now the Jewish authorities are stirred up. Jesus has stopped preaching and “gone to meddling.” In the midst of the seats of power he is calling out the elitism and self-interest of the elders, Pharisees, and priests, his own people who are kowtowing to the Romans. They ask him by what authority he says the things he says. The challenging of Jesus’ authority is a persistent occurrence in Matthew. Jesus deftly refers to the recently martyred John the Baptist, who was well known in Jerusalem, and had garnered a following among the people, most of whom were poor. In fact, historically, that is to say, according to historians, specifically Philo and Josephus, John the Baptist was far more well-known than Jesus. Jesus asks his interlocutors by what authority John spoke, knowing that the people considered John a prophet. Jesus’ teaching is in line with John’s that a new order is at hand, that God’s egalitarian and just kingdom is breaking into the world, and that this new order is no small threat to the status quo. If the authorities dismiss John then they run the risk of upsetting the people. If they agree that John’s teachings are prophetic, then they expose their hypocrisy. Jesus has them in a Catch 22.
So as all great tyrants do… they play dumb. Then Jesus tells a parable presumably in their hearing. He describes those who give lip service to faith, the greater good, but do not live it out; compared to those who struggle with the cause of God, but eventually give themselves to it. Clearly, Jesus is condemning the elders for being the former, and then he tells them even the most sinful (tax collectors and prostitutes, his example) are their superiors. Hypocrisy is the issue here; and for Jews, there is no greater sin. But there is a socioeconomic angle here as well. The ones who have seen the light are the marginalized, the least of society. They are the ones with honor, not the wealthy elite, who by their social status alone were considered “honorable.” In short, in God’s kingdom, the poor and the outcasts speak with honorable authority.
Black Lives Matter… that is to say, Black people are not without honor… and authority. Poor lives matter… they too have honor, and they cry out with the authority of the prophet that it is a birthright to have dignity and a sustainable life. God speaks to us from the margins of society. God always has. God speaks as advocate for the ones left out of the world’s abundance. Human life is sustainable on this planet, if not for greed and the false god of self-interest.
Our voice as Christian people is the voice of advocacy. There is no authority greater than advocacy for one’s neighbor who suffers; no authority greater than the clarion call of Love. It is God’s persistent aim to see that the lives that don’t matter to the powerful, will matter at last. That call in our own time is as clear as it ever has been; we just have to say “yes” to the mission, the vision… and go into the vineyard.
A Prayer in Times of Conflict (BCP p. 824)
O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggle for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
