What do YOU Think? (based on Matthew 21: 23-32)

"What Do YOU Think?"
(An introduction to the Parables of Jesus)
(a sermon based on Matthew 21: 23-32, page 899 in the pew Bible)

by

Rev. Dr. Paul A. Lance, Pastor
Los Altos United Church of Christ
5550 Atherton Street, Long Beach, California  90815

August 15, 2010

    Jesus was a terrific teacher!  Of course, he was more than that… He was a healer, a miracle worker, a confronter of evil, a defender of the poor; he was the people’s savior…!  But even if a person has a hard time believing in Jesus’ divinity as "the Christ"  -- the Messiah, Son of God -- or has a hard time accepting the supernatural stories about him as literal events -- one must agree that Jesus, as we meet him in the Gospels, was a remarkable teacher.

    So far as I can see, he had three ways of teaching, and they are all done so well that we could probably do a whole seminar on "teaching teachers to teach" by using Jesus as a model. 

    (1) He gave little lectures (or sermons) -- we see that mostly
            in John's Gospel (& a couple of major times in Matthew).
    (2) He asked questions…
    And (3) he told stories.

    Today's text gives us an example of all three...

    The context of today's passage should heighten the drama of the confrontation between Jesus and the chief priests.  He's not on his home turf  in Galilee. He's not walking along the road or sitting on a hillside.  He's teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem… in their Temple.

    Just the day before, Jesus had entered the Temple and had driven out all who were buying & selling, over-turning the tables of the money changers, and welcoming into their place the blind, & the lame, & the children... all of whom were making a lot of noise. The chief priests & scribes became angry. (Matt. 21: 12-15) 

    That was yesterday. It is now the next day.  Jesus has returned to pick up where he had left off, teaching in the Temple, but the chief priests and elders confront him, saying:  "By whose authority are you doing this?  Who gave you this authority?" -- clearly meaning they had not authorized it!

    Their question prompts Jesus to ask the first of three questions in today's passage.  He agrees to answer on one condition: that they first tell him what they have decided in the case of John, the Baptizer, who had  prepared the way for Jesus'  similar  mission / movement.

    After discussing the pro's and con's of alternative answers, the priests and elders said: "We don't know"  (from whom John’s authority had derived.  To which Jesus said: well then, therefore, he wouldn't answer them, either. (!)

    These chief priests and elders were (after all)  the “Supreme Court” judges of Judea, so to speak.  They defined the terms!  So, if they have not yet issued their decision about the status and authority of John -- who by this time had been executed by King Herod -- Jesus would await that precedent to be set before he rendered his judgment about his own credentials.   In other words, until they got their act together, and made public the criteria by which they  judged one's "authority from God," he couldn't answer.

    Jesus then asked them a second question: "What do you think?" -- and then cited a case for them to decide. 
    Please remember: these are the "chief justices" of Judaism.  They sit in the seats of the judges.  They interpret God's Word to the people.  Their words become binding Law! It is precisely (and publicly!) their JOB to decide the morality of a “given” situation.  Well, Jesus gives them just such a case:

   "What do you think?" Jesus asks them, & then follows a story.

      A certain man had two sons. He went to the first & said: "Son, go and work in the vineyard today."  The first son said: "No. I will not."  The father then went to the second, and said the same.  "Yes, sir!" said the second son, "I'll go!"...but he didn't. After a while, the first son reconsidered (changed his mind) and went.

    Now, which of the two did the will of the father? 

    This third question that Jesus asks is a continuation of the last one, directed to the elders: "What do you think? ... Which of the two sons did the will of the father?"

    Now, before we read their reply, let's give it some thought... as they certainly did regarding the “authority” question.  Let’s look at both the “pro’s” and the “con’s” …

    If we say "the first son," then we are condoning a rebellious "in-your-face" refusal to do as one has been directed by an authority figure: namely, his Father!  It also shows disrespect for family relationships, unwillingness to share in mutual support, and it dis-honors a parent.  Surely this is not doing what the father wants!

    In fact, the first son should be disciplined under the Laws of Moses, inasmuch as he is directly in rebellion against his father.  The first son had said “No!” He would not do what his father had asked!

    On the other hand, if we say, "the second son" did what his father had wanted simply by saying: “Yes, I’ll do it”, then we are condoning lying.   You see, it's hypocritical to want to appear honorable -- to get accolades for your words (saying, "Yes, sir, I'm your man.  I'll do as you wish.  You can count on me, Dad!")  -- and then not follow through with any action.  The words of the second son cannot be trusted. 

    Surely this is not what the father wants, either!

    So, "What do you think?  Which of the two sons did  the will of the father?"  To answer that, you first have to decide what you think "the will of the father" is.  Because it cannot be strictly 'telling the truth' …for neither son did that. (!)  And it cannot be strictly a matter of 'dishonoring one’s parent' for both sons did that!  … What we've got is a lose-lose situation. 

    Unless we can come up with another over-arching, over-riding "will of the father" -- one that IGNORES the first son's rebellious refusal and the second son's empty hypocrisy, and FORGIVES the fact that they BOTH LIED about their sub-sequent actions -- we can only say: neither one did right.  Both parties have fallen short.  Both sons deserve to be sat down and told to “shape up!”   Both of the sons have sinned.  When the facts come out, as they do, this will be one sad Dad!

    In the end, of course, one of them does the work in the vineyard, but that isn't really the point any more, is it!?

    The stories Jesus tells, and the questions Jesus asks, are like barbed fish-hooks -- they go in smoothly (almost painlessly), but there's always a sudden twist that takes us by surprise... and we're caught!  Our attitudes, our thinking, and our motives are exposed.

    Whichever way the elders decided the case of the two sons, Jesus was ready to make it into a “teaching moment.”  That's when the "lecture-style" is appropriate -- the "sermon" happens only after the audience has done its thinking and has made its opinion known.  Or, as in the case of the Baptist, until they finally decide to make no decision.

    This morning, I want us to stay with the "process" that Jesus uses as he teaches these "chief priests & elders," than in discuss-ing the actual answer that they give to his question.  Partly, that is because different versions of the Bible answer it differently... 

      Our pew Bible, for example, (the New Revised Standard Version) like most Bibles based on the "textus receptus" of the King James Version, answer Jesus’ question by saying:"the first."  The Jerome Bible (and later manuscripts based on that Latin source), the Nestle (Greek) Bible, and the New English Bible answer the question differently -- "the second son."

    Furthermore, the church traditions & scholarship that justify each answer (that is, the ones that say "the first" and the ones that say "the second") also serve to cancel each other out as regards which answer is "authentic" (or "literal"). 

    In effect, either answer is OK.  Since both sons disappoint their Dad in one way or another, it doesn’t really matter much (in the end) WHICH boy we choose to champion, for they BOTH need to beg their Father’s pardon.

    In the same way, I'm also not inclined to spend a lot of time this morning on the sermon-ending (that is, the short three-point "lecture" that Jesus apparently tags on to the story).  Let it suffice that I point out (just for the record) what those three punch-lines were:

    (1) First, Jesus suggests that "despised" people -- sinners & liars, sons & daughters who dishonor their parents, all those who seem to be outside the law (such as tax collectors & prostitutes) -- will (in fact) be part of the Kingdom of God!!  (Now, that’s a shocking idea, isn’t it!?)  The more "kosher" you keep yourself -- the more "orthodox," the more "traditional," the more you separate yourself from others as though you are somehow better than them in God’s eyes -- the more surprised you will be to see "them" invited and welcomed into God’s eternal realm.

    (2) Jesus returns to the question about the authority of John the Baptizer, adding now his personal testimonial to John’s prophetic role.  “John came to you,” says Jesus, “in the way of righteousness.”  John the Baptist came ahead of Jesus to prepare the way.  “But you didn’t believe him,” says Jesus.  “You didn’t follow him!”

    And (3) Jesus lifts up the real difference between the two sons in the story.  Each of them had lied, yes; they acted differently from what they’d said they’d do; and each had dishonored & disrespected their Dad.

    Ah, but one repented. (!)  One of them had changed his mind later on, and had done what his father had originally requested.  In other words, one son reconsidered. One of the two was willing to change.  (Yes, you heard me right: he was willing to change!) 

    In Jesus' mind, that -- not the actual work done in the vine-yard -- was what it took to get in line with the will of the Father. I believe, that's the teaching Jesus wants us to get out of this story.

    Now, why have I raced past the two “different” answers that the elders gave, and mentioned only in passing the three mini-sermons that Jesus gave at the end of the story, in order to have us look (instead) at the "process"? 

    That’s because I believe the greatest gift Jesus' stories bestow on us (the church of today) is found at the point of sudden surprise, when we have to engage our own brain (and bring our own presuppositions into view) in order to answer his question.

    The question: "What do you think...?" is more important to God (& to your personal growth) than knowing which answer some ancient priest (or later "Bible-writing" scribe) came up with as their answer. 

    To ask myself (or yourself) "What do you think" as you wrestle with the situation as Jesus describes it (in this story or in any of the many other examples) is more insightful for us than skipping over that point to get to the "tacked on" sermon solution to the parable-puzzle.

    This is not to say we can't learn from the elders (and from their reasoning), nor that there isn't profitable teaching to be gleaned from the three-point sayings that follows the Parable of the Two Sons.  It's just that we are apt to lose the punch (the inherent tension & teaching) of the story itself  by jumping ahead to those summary conclusions.

    The stories Jesus tells are technically called "parables" -- which comes from two Greek words: "para" (meaning "along-side" as in parameter, paradox, or parallel) and "bola" (which means "to be caught" like those “bolos” Argentinean cowboys throw). 

The connotation is that of a fisherman, who drops a net alongside the boat, and then hauls it up, catching the fish who have unwittingly floated above it.... or, like a "fish-hook"…  Parables are intended to "catch us."  Stop us in our tracks and make us reconsider… take us in a different direction.

    At the very beginning of their ministry, Jesus had told Peter and Andrew, James & John, that they would become "fishers of men" -- and it seems to me that the net they would use as they "fished for people", were simple stories such as this one (about the two sons) that had an unexpected punch within it which would "snag" one's thinking.

    We experience a parable like a little "snapshot" of life -- a short verbal adventure (or puzzle) in which we get "caught up" in the unfolding drama -- and then, with a sudden unexpected "twist" our thinking is "caught"…  our values are exposed.

    Parables are not to be taken literally -- after all, they are stories!  Stories, designed to take us by surprise and to stimulate a reconsidering of our attitudes & behavior in light of some new insight into the values of God (as Jesus articulates them). Jesus tells parables to express something about the Realm of God (God's Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Heaven, as he calls it). His stories teach us new things about God.

    I tell you this, because we've already had several parables -- the story of the Prodigal Son & the Responsible Older Brother (for example), the Sower (& the Seed that falls into four kinds of Soil),  the mustard seed which grows from a small beginning to become an over-arching bush; the one lost coin out of ten, the one lost sheep out of 100; the metaphors of light, and the vine, and the new wine put into fresh wineskins -- and we're going to have several more of Jesus' parables over the coming summer Sundays as our Scripture readings.  So, it may be helpful to know how we should approach them.  (Parables are a specific "literary genre" which Jesus uses very well.)

    Parables are (first of all) stories, (second) that teach something about God's values, and (3) are designed to "catch us" by surprise, so as to change us.  Let me say that again… Parables are stories that teach something about God's values, designed to "catch us" by surprise, so as to change us. 
    So, when you hear a "parable" (or read one in your pew Bible),    I encourage you to ask yourself:  What does this parable tell me about my present life... about my prejudices and my values? 

    It's not really about a vineyard that needs workers, nor about fathers and their sons...  These parables are stories about US!  About our values & decisions, about our relationships. We need to engage them with our imagination (or, as Jesus put it: with "eyes that see, and ears that hear, and a heart that understands.")  How do we do that?

    Let me suggest two steps:  First, by looking for yourself  in the story... Bring Jesus' story alongside your story, and find the context that applies to you.

I did that a couple weeks ago, for example, by getting inside the prodigal’s older brother, and seeing life through his hard-working, responsible, resentful eyes. That is a situation, a context, that applies to many of us as older brothers & sisters in our families! 

    In today’s parable, you might identify with the parent, who has two disrespectful children, each with their own short-comings -- one who mouths off at you (like the first son) or who simply doesn’t follow through on their chores and commitments.  You may be like the Dad.

    Or you may be like that first son who isn’t very agreeable, who isn’t happily helpful, who doesn’t like being told what to do! 

    Do you rebel against authority?  Mouth off in a rude way from time to time? (If not in church, how about in traffic?)

    Or are you more like the second son, who say “yes!” (Yes, Dad. Yes, sir! You know you can count on me.  I’ll get right on it!) 
    …But then who forgets to follow through, who doesn’t do it, or who delays until it’s too late, or won’t do what’s needed if it isn’t convenient at the time.

    Perhaps you have traits of all three characters in the story!  So, step one is for you to imagine: “who are you in the parable?”

    Then, second, look for the "twist" that catches you by surprise.  Find the point of "reversal" in the story.  Find the place where the teaching seems to contrast with your expectations; where it clashes with the common sense values of society (as you understand them).  For that point in the story is the real "punch-line" -- and it’s imbedded within the story -- not some "moral" tacked-on to the end. 

    To benefit the most from any of Jesus' two dozen parables is a two-step process: para: alongside -- bring the story alongside your story... and bola: to be caught.

    Jesus wants us to imitate the first son -- despite his rude-ness to his father, and the initial "refusal" to do his part, he repented and did the work in the end.  So, are you taking steps today to recover from whatever irresponsibility, or lie (or the rebellion or the pain you may have caused)?  It’s never too late! 

    As the saying goes: today is the first day of the rest of your life!  It’s never too late to say “I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.”  Changing one’s mind is not a “loss of face.”  You can start over -- start fresh -- get a 2nd chance!  I’ve said it many times: “You have to face it if you want to fix it.”  So, let’s admit it: it’s very hard to repent, to change directions, to do the right thing. 

We think we have to "save face."  We don’t like to “back down”!  We don’t like to change our minds, if we don’t have to.  We don’t want people to think that we "go back on our word."  We don't want to be seen as "wishy-washy."  I get that! I don’t like "flip-flopping" politicians any more than you do.

    No one ever said doing the will of the Father/God would be easy.  No one said that everyone will "understand".  In the end, your spiritual integrity comes down to one thing: "What do you think?"  And as you reconsider your words and your actions, on those occasions when you sense they are wrong, do you have the character to make changes?

    That's the model our remarkable Rabbi, Jesus, gives us, as he teaches new ideas about God and the world in parable-form:  “What do YOU think” is the over-arching issue in every parable.  Don’t rely on someone else’s interpretation of what a story “means.”  Find your own answers.

    1) Ask the hard questions he raises in the text of yourself.

    2) Bring the story alongside your story. 

    3) Let yourself be "caught up" in it.

    4) Roll with the punch of the "punch-line" as you find the sudden twist in the plot... the point where you say: "Oh my, that’s me!" Or "My, my, my, that is hard  to do!"  Or, "I sure didn't expect that!"

    5) And then trust your instinct to know that that's the point where your work must begin. 


     May God assist you and me in that learning process.     Amen.