Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?" [Matthew 21:23]
Along with me, some pastor friends of mine–two elders in the United Methodist Church, one a teaching elder/pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)–have sometimes joked among ourselves, "How would Jesus have fared if he had come before a Conference or Presbytery Board of Ordained Ministry?" I can hear some of the Board's conversation now.
"I don't know that I can support this man, Jesus. He caused his parents all sorts of problems stretching back to his childhood. I understand that when he was just 12 years old, he slipped away from his parents when they'd traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. He hadn't even had his bar mitzvah and yet, there he was, sitting presumptuously with the Temple teachers, asking them questions as if he were a grown man. Three days he'd been missing! Three days he had caused his parents to be fraught with worry. Honor thy father and mother; I'm not sure about this candidate.
Another added, "He's gathered together a strange sort of group. Not a theological degree among any of them."
"He has no regard for the Sabbath. Didn't you hear that he healed the bent-over woman on the Seventh Day?"
Yet another can be heard to say, "I think he may need psychiatric aid. I hear he thinks he battled with the devil himself outside of town.
A final church leader quips, "I agree. Have you read his psychiatric evaluation? He has anger management issues. Reliable sources indicate he burst into a worship area and busted up the tables and booths where we provide the currency exchange for traveling pilgrims. This Jesus; he seems to have issues with authority."
Indeed, as we turn to this week's Gospel reading in the Lectionary [Matthew 21:23-32, RCL, Year A], we see that a number of Jesus' harshest critics have cornered him in the Temple, where he has been teaching. They pose two closely related questions to him [see Matt. 21:23b]:
- "By what authority are you doing these things?"
- "And who gave you this authority?"
With regard to "these things," they're referring to his healing the sick and infirm, of granting forgiveness to those who'd clearly sinned, like tax collectors, prostitutes, the woman at the well, etc. As to Jesus' authority, they knew they hadn't given him permission or authorization to teach and preach. Who had?
Some of the leaders no doubt thought that Jesus might name a noted scholar or rabbi as his mentor. Yet others were more devious. They wanted to hear Jesus say that his actions were based on authority given him by Yahweh. That would be blasphemy, of course, and they could get rid of him.
Thinking they've painted Jesus into a corner, they hear his response and realize that not only has he overturned the tables of the moneychangers, he has turned the tables on them as well, for he tells them he'll respond if they first answer a question from him: "John's baptism–where did it come from? Was it from heaven or of human origin?" [Matt. 21:25]. Realizing that they are trapped, with no winning response, they simply say "We don't know" [21:27]. Jesus then says that if they won't answer, neither will he.
Jesus then draws an eyebrow as he launches into yet another of his parables. A man has two sons. He tells the first to go into the vineyard to work. The son says no, but then changes his mind and goes. The other son is told the same thing. This one responds that he will go, but he does not do so. Jesus asks the priests and elders, "Which of the two did what he father wanted" [21:31].
Their quick reply: "The first," of course. With their answer, they don't immediately realize that they've actually just answered the question earlier posed to them by Jesus. For as Jesus says, they are the sons who said they'd go into the vineyard (a common metaphor at the time for the house of Israel), but they'd not done so. But the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God ahead of the religious leaders, for John came and the leaders did not believe him, but the sinners did believe. And even after the leaders saw the sinners' reactions, says Jesus, they did not repent and believe John.
It's easy for many of us in the so-called "modern" church to point a finger at the "chief priests and the elders of the people" [Matt. 21:23] and thank God that we aren't like those people over there. Before we do so, we might want to read another of our Lord's many parables–the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican–found only in Luke's Gospel [see Luke 18:9-14]. It's easy to put our hand on the shoulder of Jesus and say, "Yo go, Jesus! Those people over there won't enter the Kingdom until those of us who are more deserving enter first." And yet, most of the time, particularly when we really don't want to admit it, we're an important component of "those people over there."
Truth be told, most of us have a lot more in common with the chief priests and elders than we do with the lowly prostitutes and tax collectors. We're the ones who head up the church committees. We're the ones who help decide how the money is spent. We're the ones who fret over the cost of the stained-glass windows, or the pipe organ repairs, or the new roof, or the new program to teach our youth. Let me duck low here; we're the ones who teach and preach.
One "danger" of looking too closely at the encounter between Jesus and the Temple leaders is that it shows us that the question originally asked Jesus by the chief priests actually gets spun around by our Lord and it reverberates back to them and, therefore, back to us: "Upon whose authority do you act (or fail to act)?"
Authority for the Temple leaders consisted of Rome, political ties, and the ability to twist arms and exert pressure–what we sometimes call community organizing. It consisted of landholdings, kickbacks, cash flow generated by money exchange at the Temple, and a host of other worldly concerns. It consisted of careful alliances, of joining one's financial strength, one's collective prestige within the community to move an agenda along–an earthly agenda. In truth, this authority did some/does some good things, but since its authority was/is earthly, it had to compete/has to compete with all the other earthly forms of authority that abound around us.
Juxtaposed against this earthly "reality" was a new concept ushered into the world by a homeless carpenter from Nazareth, a wandering rabbi who talked with and ate with sinners, a man who gave sight to the blind, who made the lame leap with joy, a son who graced a wedding with water turned to wine. Something–or rather someone–new was being ushered into the world and that someone had/has true authority for, as Matthew tells us throughout his Gospel, Jesus' authority was "from heaven."
The encounter between Jesus and the Temple leaders–dare I say it?–between Jesus and us, teaches us that there is but one true authority, and it isn't of this world. It isn't a presbytery or an annual conference. It isn't a congregation or a charismatic church leader. Authority is not found in a collegial gathering within a community organization.
Authority is only in our risen Savior. We have his word on it. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" [Matt. 28:18]. In the final verses of Matthew's Gospel, we hear what has come down to us as the Great Commission. Jesus foretold that Commission with this week's parable. I'll rephrase it only slightly so as to bring it within our own vernacular: "A Father had a son and a daughter. He went to the first and said, …." [Matthew 21:28].
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