September 28, 2008 Sermon
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Proper 21 - A
Matt 21: 23-32
Allan Conkling
Sept. 28, 2002 St. Thomas, San Angelo
I. Words are important. Without them our actions lose meaning. Without meaning we cannot live.
a. This morning's Gospel reading focuses on two very simple but important words: YES and NO.
b. This story came on the heels of a challenge to Jesus' authority by people who thought they had more "authority" than he did.
c. Basically they were saying: "Who are you, and where did you come from?"
II. In response, Jesus told them a parable--a story show that, when it comes to God, "authority" doesn't mean near as much as one's attitude.
a. What's more, true fulfillment of our responsibilities is a two-fold process: of hearing and to responding.
III. Consider this dialogue with an unnamed teenage member of my family:
"I need you to pick up the living room." (No response)
"Hello, I need you to pick up the living room."
Huh, OK. (no obvious movement--even an hour later)
"I need you to pick up the living room, now, before you have friends over."
(Mumbling, griping, but eventual compliance, sometimes)
a. Is that true in your family as well?
b. Most times you get resistance. Sometimes outright defiance. But eventually most kids will come around.
IV. In Bible times this passage would be understood differently.
a. For Jesus, the kid who "comes around" is like the marginal people: Those on the outside, who eventually turn to God.
b. The kid who
"doesn't" isn't just a problem teenager--rather he represents the hard hearted
Pharisees, the
nay-sayers the "holy" ones, who talk the talk, but fail to live a
changed life.
c. Two words separate two groups and define two attitudes: Yes and No.
d. One could hear Christ ask them, "Which one are you?"
V. The philosopher Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living;" and the teaching of Christ implies the same.
a. This was not an idle exercise. Not a path to a feel-good enlightenment.
b. His words cut to the heart of those who fashioned themselves as having "a special relationship," one of power and authority.
c. There is tremendous control that comes from a "just me and God" approach to life.
VI. If we are honest, we
can see that there are often times that we all talk a "great line"--like the
second son. And do so often: Saying yes to God on Sunday morning
then losing it before we hit
the parking lot.
Or when that friend tells a joke about someone or some group that really isn't funny--but we laugh anyway.
Or when we see someone act in a way that is wrong, but we turn a blind eye--too timid to intervene.
We are not always what we appear to be, nor were the Scribes and Pharisees.
VII. Actually we can embody both sons by our attitude:
When we fail to
share the faith within us, when we fail to love ourselves, when we fail to love
our neighbors, when the sins of pride, judgment, gossip or anger come
between others and us.
VIII. But then, too, there can be those other times when, like the first son, when we've said "No" but then later have stopped, regretted and repented.
a. In those moments, in repentance, our actions speak louder that our original words.
b. I don't like to think of myself as a scribe or Pharisee much less a tax collector, prostitute or sinner. But I am.
c. I wish I could always say yes and mean yes and follow through. But I don't.
d. Looking at myself at various stages of my life I can see myself in each role.
e. Sometimes even now I see myself as each of these people in the course of a single day!
IX. "Let us consider
then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels," writes St.
Benedict. And do so, Benedict says, "in such a way that our
minds are in harmony with our
voices." (RB ch.19)
a. Be in tune--inwardly and outwardly. That is certainly a main point in today's readings.
b. Strip away all the hypocrisy and falseness, cynicism and resistance that infects us.
c. Listen to Ezekiel as he says, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God; so, turn, then and live."
d. Living is God's desire for each of us. Live life to its fullest.
X. Ever since I was a kid I can remember in church saying a prayer called the "General Thanksgiving".
a. It is a petition to help us grow, and develop within us a "right spirit". An attitude of gratitude.
b. It is an approach to life and living that is honest and mature.
c. We are going to say it at the end of our Eucharist service today.
d. When we do, listen for this line. Listen, and let it sink in.
"And we pray,
give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we
show forth your praise, not only with our lips but in our lives, by
giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you in holiness and
righteousness all our days."
XI. God's arms are stretched out for us in a posture of love and forgiveness.
a. We can each be about the Lord's business by doing his will, sharing God's love today, tomorrow and every day.
b. AND, when we fail, we can know that God loves us and sustains us by God's grace.
c. What good news. What Good Words for us today.
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Revised: 10/06/08