HTLC Sermon Notes: 09.27.26 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Many of you know that before I became a pastor, I worked in the world of retail. I managed Joann Fabric stores for several years; later I went to their corporate office and worked there; and still later I was a District Sales Manager for a fortune 500 company.

I remember well managing the JoAnn Fabrics in Brecksville. I had a great team of folks and by and large was very happy there, but one day on my day off, a stock person decided to completely redo the clearance section of the store. When I came in the next day, I was a little perplexed…who said they should do this? Who said they could do this?

I felt like my authority was usurped, and I wasn’t a bit happy (although I tried my best to hide it).

I’ll bet some of you have had similar situations. Many of us have been in leadership positions in our companies. Many of us have been in leadership positions in our families. Every once in a while, somebody might just defy our authority (raising teenagers springs to mind).

If you can cast your mind back to a time when your authority was questioned, you might be a little bit compassionate for the scribes and Pharisees in today’s passage from Matthew.

This isn’t the first time Jesus has gone against their authority. Certainly, he let his team pick grain on the Sabbath. He let them eat without washing their hands. Most recently, he has ridden into Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna, blessed, it is a Son of David.”

Today’s passage would have taken place on the Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus has already tipped over the tables of the money changers. (And just a quick sidenote, he was not upset about things being sold, but he was upset over the fact that the people were being cheated.)

At any rate, the church leaders were really getting upset— so they ask him, “By whose authority are you doing these things, are you saying these things?”

Jesus answers their question with a question about John the Baptist, “By whose authority did John baptize? Was it God or was it men?”

I can picture a quick huddle of the temple leadership as they tried to decide how they should answer.

“If we say heaven, then where is the problem? Why aren’t you following John’s ideas?”

“If we say man, then the people are going to be upset with us because they have seen John’s work— they have followed him.”

Neither answer was going to work…so they did the next best thing— they shrugged their shoulders and said, “We don’t know!”

Jesus was not one to miss a teachable moment, so he shared a parable with them. Last week it was the disciples who earned a parable. This week it is the temple authorities.

We have a father with two sons. The father asked them to work in the vineyards. One of the brothers said, “Sure, no problem,” but he did not go. One brother says no, but after he thinks about it a while, he goes and does his dad’s bidding.

Jesus asks the scribes and Pharisees, “Which one did the will of the father?”

The answer was obvious: the one who went to work, whether he said he would or not.

Then the zinger…Jesus tells them that prostitutes and tax collectors will enter the kingdom before they do. After all, the prostitutes and tax collectors were listening, believing, and accepting that lessons being taught.

Now I ask you — haven’t we all been like either son at one time or another? Haven’t we promised something that we just couldn’t deliver — or forgot about doing something?

Or haven’t we had a fit about being asked to do something and then later cheerfully did it? I won’t site specific examples, but I think I’ve seen all of that a time or two here at church, and I know in my own life I’ve certainly been both of the brothers at one time or other.

In my mind, part of the challenge for the scribes and Pharisees is that they had come to believe that they were the final authority. They loved the trappings of their lives. They loved the beautiful temple. They loved the fact that people looked up to them. They were so caught up in living the dream that they possibly forgot the will of the Lord. I always tell people that I believe there was way too much emphasis on the letter of the law…

It makes me think about people who are so impressed by the beauty of a cathedral or the glorious music of a pipe organ that they might (just might) miss the point of what God thinks is important.

In every church I’ve served, there have always been people who care greatly for the property…don’t get me wrong…that’s important. But we should never worship the property above all else.

It’s the same with our words. Can we say the right words about forgiving and loving and inclusion but turn our backs on people who need our help?

Words are important. It reminds me of a time when one of my teenagers was being especially defiant (and I can’t even remember what the argument was about), but at some point I brought God into it and I asked what they thought God would say.

Now this person (who shall remain nameless) spouted off a beautiful sentence about God‘s love and how we were supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves, yadda, yadda yadda … “That’s great,” I said, “and I hope you believe that, but I want you to know that just saying the words doesn’t make it so — God knows what’s in your heart even if I do not.”

I watched that person turn kind of green when they realized that it was true. God knows what’s in our hearts, no matter what fancy words we say.

So a reminder that the call from God is not about fancy buildings or fancy words … it’s not about man-given authority ... it’s about doing the will of the divine mystery. It’s about many of the things we have talked about over the last several weeks.

It’s about the sermon that I did on the F word, forgiveness, not only are we forgiven, but that we are asked to forgive others.

It’s about the sermon Pastor Rick gave about being followers of Jesus and all that means.

It’s about last week’s sermon on grace. Just as God has blessed us with so much grace, we are also supposed to extend grace and mercy to others.

And what a blessed relief to know that those things are all available to us, whether we know the right words to say, whether we always do the Father’s will or not.

I want you to remember that when Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the kingdom first, he did not say that the temple authorities would not get in the kingdom — a perfect example of showing grace.

Two quick follow ups: one is about my authority concern when I worked at that JoAnn Fabric store … as it turned out, I must confess that my employee had done a beautiful job of totally redoing the clearance area, which had been a mess! I thanked her, I told the other employees how nice her area looked, and I was humbled.

The other follow up is that we did not talk about the third son. I know the parable gave us two choices. The person who said no but did the will anyway, and the person who said sure I will no problem but never got around to it. There’s a third choice: the person who says they’ll do something and then does it.

We are so lucky that in this congregation the third type of person shows up more often than not. We do really well in following through with our commitments.

In fact, in life I think it happens more often than not.

I’ve given you a lot to think about today, and I suspect a lot with which you can identify, but basically we just need to remember to follow the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. To practice forgiveness, being a follower of Christ, and grace. To be so thankful that we have been shown forgiveness and grace in our own lives. And finally, to extend forgiveness, grace, and mercy to others.

Amen.