A Question of Authority

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

The word of the Lord came to me: What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?” As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine; it is only the person who sins that shall die.  Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from the their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.

Philippians 2:1-13

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any  sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Matthew 12:23-32

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and they said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to him, “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, ‘then why 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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A man had two sons… usually a beginning like this means a clear either/or between how we should be and how we should not be, what to do and what to avoid. Like the older brother and the younger in the story of the Prodigal Son - although by the time that story’s over we may not know who we are in it. We don’t tend to be entirely one character or another. At least not all of the time. Sometimes we lean in one direction, sometimes in another, sometimes we find ourselves in a strange mix of the two.

So today, a man had two sons. Which one are you? Is it that simple? Remembering that this story was told over and over again long before it was written down, and that it was told over and over again after Jesus had been crucified and risen, I wonder who might be having fingers points at them in the first community of Jesus here? It’s a question which might be more easily answered by looking at the original language, as the English translations vary so widely and the Greek language holds some additional baggage we might not notice in the English. Take the word ‘repentance’ for example. It shows up here in today’s parable - sort of. The son changed his mind, right? He said he wouldn’t go, and then he changed direction and went to work in the vineyard anyhow. Except it’s not quite that. It’s another word than what usually translates as ‘repent,’ and that other word has more of a sense of regret about it. It would more properly be said that the first son had a change of heart.

Changes of heart are a completely different matter, aren’t they? Changes of heart are a lot more difficult to come by, and often more complicated to explain. They rely on emotion and empathy, and they aren’t always rational. My parents and I watched “Frozen” again this weekend, and it’s made pretty obvious there that, while ‘the mind can be persuaded,’ a change of heart requires an act of true love. Of course, for Disney it’s a true love’s kiss that is assumed - I don’t want to spoil the movie for you if you haven’t yet seen it.

Yes, the first son has a change of heart. And that weird Greek word which is different from ‘repentance’ is only used in one other place in the Gospel of Matthew. Only one other character is said to have a change of heart. Can you guess who? Who might have had something to regret? Something they wanted to take back? Something they asked forgiveness for? Even though it’s nowhere near Holy Week, we’re going to talk about him. It’s Judas. Judas had a change of heart after he betrayed Jesus. Judas took those 30 silver coins that he traded for his friend, and tried to return them to the chief priests. Judas confessed to betraying innocent blood and he asked for forgiveness. Judas was the son who did as he should have done after he made that terrible mistake.

What do you think? A man had two sons…

Which leaves us the second son to find. Somewhere in the Gospel there is another character. A character who said he was going to do good by Jesus and then dropped the ball. A guy who promised he would die before betraying Jesus, or, as the author of Matthew has him say it: “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” The second son, in hindsight, is Peter.

Making the story go like this: A man had two sons. He said to the first, “son, follow me and trust me.” And that son said “I will not,” but later he had a change of heart and repented, going to the chief priests for forgiveness as required by the law of their shared faith. The man said to his second son, “son, follow me and trust me.” And that son said, “Absolutely! All the way! I’m right there with you!” But he fell asleep when he was on lookout and then denied, not once, not twice, but three times, that he even knew the man. Which of the two did the will of his father?

Granted, this is all in hindsight. It makes sense in the way any good story makes sense, with the parallels and the character types. But there’s more to a story than the characters. The characters are involved in something: a conflict, an adventure, a journey of self-discovery. What’s been happening in their lives, what’s the plot line and where’s it headed?

When this story is told, it’s in the context of Jesus’ last days before the crucifixion. So far Jesus has entered the Temple to the songs of “Hosanna!” He turned over the money-changers’ tables, healed the blind and the lame, and on top of it all, he told the parish leaders it was well and good - and foretold in scripture - that children will be noisy in their worship. Where did Jesus get this authority?

That’s what’s happening. Jesus tells this story that could be about Peter and Judas in the light of that question. Where does Jesus get his authority? He heals. Teaches. Feeds the hungry. Casts out demons. Calls the religious leaders to consider again what’s really behind these laws they keep. Declares the kingdom of God like he knows a thing or two about it! Where does he get the authority, the right, to even go so far as to forgive sins? 

Because, really, that’s where these questions started. When Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic, that was when the religious leaders started accusing him. There had been times before when people were amazed at his authority. Times when he calmed the storm; when he taught like he had authority; when the centurion understood the authority he had to make something so with just a word - and Jesus healed that soldier’s servant from far away. 

Jesus does and says a lot of things with authority. Then he does this thing, says this word of forgiveness, and suddenly now he’s usurping God’s authority. Now he’s being accused of blasphemy, of ‘counting equality with God as something to be exploited.’

Which is exactly the opposite of what he’s doing, isn’t it? At least according to the ancient hymn that’s recorded about him in this letter to the Philippians, it’s the very thing he doesn’t do. He doesn’t count equality with God as something to be exploited. He’s really the only man alive who ever could make the most of such a claim, such a power and authority, seeing as how he actually is God among us. But he doesn’t lord it over us. Doesn’t make us bow and scrape and beg. Jesus, as Philippians puts it, “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. And being found in human likeness, he humbled himself to the point of death - even death on a cross.” 

This is why we worship him. The religious leaders - and yes, I know I am one now - we have used our authority in all sorts of wrong ways. We’ve exploited people’s good will, we’ve stolen, we’ve lied, we’ve used our position to get out of speeding tickets and jury duty. What’s worse, we’ve used our pulpits to tell people they are too fallen for God to save them. We’ve frightened people into paying for a ticket to heaven which we cannot grant. We’ve used our little authority to keep the doors open and our pensions secure.  And we’ve taught many others that this is the purpose of our institution.

But Jesus - Jesus actually has the authority to divide the sheep from the goats, the wisdom to know the difference, the right to that power. Jesus is the one and only human being with the right to condemn anyone, because he is also God - and what does he do with that authority? What does he do? He lays it down. He lives in the dirt with us. He heals. He feeds. He forgives. Again and again, he forgives. When we are very lucky to get things right, we, too, living by the Spirit, also may find ourselves healing and feeding, welcoming the stranger and forgiving debts. 

Remember, when we confess together as a community at the start of worship, “We confess that we are captive to sin, and cannot free ourselves,” the word of forgiveness that comes is not mine. It is by Christ’s authority that I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins. It is by Christ’s authority that the word of forgiveness is spoken to you and for you, just as by Christ’s free gift his own Body and Blood are given and shed for you.  

So when we work the work of Christ - God’s work, our hands - it is by his authority that we feed the hungry, visit the homebound, love the lost and the least. And when we find ourselves facing backwards, full of regret for what we did or did not find the courage and wisdom to do, it is by Christ’a authority that we are forgiven.

I believe that, had Judas not lost all hope and died by his own hand, Christ would have received him still as one of the twelve when he returned from the dead. I’m not sure about how the eleven would have treated him, but if Jesus could forgive those who nailed his hands and feet to that cross, could forgive the criminals hanging beside him who mocked him, he could forgive even Judas, even me, even you. Peter became enshrined by the church as the first Pope even after what he had done. There is no place too far gone for the love and forgiveness of Jesus to reach you, nor anyone else, neither.

Does it matter which of the two sons you are in the story? Or does it matter more that the One who tells the story knows your heart and has come to feed, heal, and forgive you?