Sermon from the 10am Sunday Worship by Felicity Thompson, 10/1/2023, Matthew 12:23-32
Today, I want to reflect upon a powerful passage from the Gospel of Matthew, which not only reveals the authority of our Lord Jesus but also emphasizes the importance of obedience in our relationship with God. How do we define authority? What is authority? What kind of authority is Jesus trying to demonstrate? Under what authority is Jesus operating?
Online, Bible Study Tools gives this definition, “authority is the freedom to decide or a right to act without hindrance.” In the King James Bible Dictionary, authority is the “legal power, or a right to command or to act; as the authority of a prince over subjects”. I have to whisper my last source is a Generative Artificial Intelligence, which states, “the authority of Jesus means that he had the power and privilege to act on behalf of God in the world. Jesus’ authority is also the ability to rule in heaven and on earth.
Jesus is in Jerusalem; the setting is critical for this parable. Jerusalem is the seat of power in Israel. Remember David conquered Jerusalem and ever since then it has been the seat of power. And for all the Bible geeks, we can trace Jesus all the way back to King David. Yes! They are related.
We find Jesus teaching in the temple again. And, oh yes, we find him surrounded by the chief priests and elders again. This time they confront Him with a question that is intended to challenge His authority: "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" It is a question that echoes … even today as I stand here, and I know I’m not the only person in this space who at one time or another wondered about the source of Jesus' power.
I see Jesus in my mind, looking around in disbelief. And thinking, really?? He turns the question back on them, saying, "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." He asks them about the baptism of John: "Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?"
The religious leaders find themselves in a dilemma. If they acknowledge that John's baptism came from heaven, they would have to accept John's testimony about Jesus as the Messiah. But if they deny it, they risk angering the people who regarded John as a prophet. Caught between a rock and a hard place, they answer, I’d like to imagine, sheepishly, "We don’t know." Someone should have told them to call the baker’s dozen.
Jesus' response to their evasive answer is both a rebuke and a lesson for all of us. He says, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." Jesus reminds us that His authority is not based on human approval or recognition. It comes from God the Father.
But the story doesn't end there. Jesus tells a parable, illustrating the importance of obedience in our relationship with God. We have three characters, and this parable is only in the book of Matthew. He speaks of a father who had two sons. He asked the first son to work in the vineyard, and at first, the son refused but later changed his mind and obeyed. The second son initially agreed to go but did not follow through.
Then Jesus asks, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" The answer is clear: the first son, who, despite his initial disobedience, eventually obeyed his father's command.
What is the lesson for us in this parable? It reminds us that faith is not merely about empty words or promises. True faith is demonstrated through obedience and action. Obedience and action is like practicing Ubuntu.
In an article I read recently, Politics of the body, fear and Ubuntu: Proposing an African Women’s theology of disability by Professor Juliana Claassens. This article discusses “the African women’s theology of disability. It can be seen to reject individualism and segregation of people, based on dichotomies. Everyone and everything exists because of the web of life where there is no space for stigma or discrimination. This way of living, in a web of life, was the purpose of God’s Creation and existing harmoniously in community and having right relationships with each other is a principal of morality.
Juliana Claassens is faculty of Theology at the University of Stellenbosch. She mentions this word Ubuntu! Ubuntu is spiritual.
If a child is born with a disability, the degree of inclusion that child is shown through relationships. varies from community to community. If the religious features promoted by Ubuntu are in place, there will not be discrimination, stigmatization, or exclusion.
“Ubuntu is not about give and take, sometimes it means giving and giving. Ubuntu means human beings are obliged to protect the dignity of one another”. “This caring and compassion negotiates the process of inclusion, where the different other and those without, are part of the community. Everyone and everything exists in a web of life, where there is no space for stigma or discrimination.
Jesus points out that the religious leaders, despite their outward piety and knowledge of the Scriptures, were failing to do the will of God. In contrast, tax collectors and prostitutes, who were considered sinners by society, were turning to God in repentance and obedience through John's message.
The message is clear: God values true repentance and obedience over empty religious rituals or empty professions of faith. God doesn’t tell the prostitutes and tax collectors, you know the people society looks down on, to clean up their act, quit their jobs and follow Him. The only people Jesus challenges are the religious leaders who are such hypocrites. God is challenging the people who feel they are the example of upstanding and righteous.
This parable challenges us to examine our own lives and ask ourselves whether we are merely saying the right things or truly living out our faith through obedience to God's will. When was the last time you read the Beatitudes. Are we drinking our own Kool aid? Do we just believe in our minds that we are obedient? Have we turned obedience into an academic exercise instead of living and showing our obedience to God. It is the hypocrisy that Jesus doesn’t like.
He doesn’t like the people who say, “look at me. I am the example of a good Christian”. Instead, Jesus likes those who seek, because they will find.
Let us remember that the authority of Jesus comes from heaven, and He calls us to follow Him in obedience. May we be like the first son in the parable, willing to change our hearts and minds, to repent, and to obey the will of our heavenly Father. Let us not be like the religious leaders who knew the Scriptures but failed to live them out. Let’s put down our stumbling blocks! Instead, let our faith be demonstrated through our actions, for it is through obedience that we truly do the will of our Father in heaven.
Amen.