September 27, 2020: Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 21:23-32
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.”
There have been times in my life when persons in authority, and even people in religious ministry, have stunned me by actions I believed wholeheartedly to be wrong. Once I recovered from my initial shock and disappointment, these experiences have served to teach me externals matter less than what lies in the heart. Looking back, I believe that some of these leaders’ actions took place because of fear –fear of upsetting the status quo, fear of toppling structures that provided these leaders security.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus challenged the religious leaders of his day to examine their hearts. He chided them for their inability to believe in John’s message, for their stubborn reliance on law vs. true repentance. Jesus knew the chief priests and elders were more interested in maintaining the power structures that kept their positions secure, than in opening their hearts to truth.
The sad thing is, the chief priests and elders lost out by their inability to truly hear John’s invitation to repent. I cannot imagine the religious leaders of Jesus’ day experienced peace of mind and openhearted love of neighbor, for their focus was not on what is everlasting, but on that which is transitory and illusional. External power structures cannot be the ballast by which we live our lives, because too often these structures are based on human folly and not on God’s wisdom.
What are the things in our own lives that stand as barriers to our belief? What keeps our hearts hardened that we cannot let go and trust? We need to examine ourselves and ask for the grace to let go of that which keeps us from conversion. We need to base our lives on what is true and meaningful, for only then will we know peace and contentment.