October 1, 2023

 Jesus is at work again this morning disrupting our idea of what is fair and right and showing us what the Kingdom of God looks like.  It’s important to understand the context of this Gospel to have any idea what they’re talking about.  The chief priests and elders come to Jesus as he is teaching in the temple and ask what gives him the right, the authority, the gumption to come in to the space where they are supposed to be the authority, to claim authority himself.

They are very upset.  This same day, Jesus came into town riding on a donkey at the same time as the governor rode into town on his horse.  Jesus’ parade was a mockery of the big parade happening on the other side of town.  It was a contrasting event.  Herod rode on a horse.  Jesus rode on a donkey.  Herod had banners and armies with him.  Jesus had palm branches and cloaks.  Herod’s parade attracted rich, important people.  Jesus’ parade attracted ordinary poor people. Herod had pride.  Jesus had humility.  Herod struck fear.  Jesus brought cries for God’s saving power. 

What gave Jesus the authority to ride into town making fun of Herod?  What gave him the gall to be humble and lowly and yet be called a king?  What authority did he have to make a spectacle, an alternative vision of what it means to be king—to serve, to be among the lowly, not to be looking to gain in conquest, not to be self-serving or amassing power and weapons?

The next thing Jesus did was go to the temple and upend the tables of the money changers.  If the parade didn’t get the attention of the chief priests and elders, this did!  Jesus asked what right people had making his father’s house into a den of robbers and pushed the tables over so the money of all those doing business there couldn’t sort out whose was whose.  Everyone who had been working there is very upset.  So they ask him what gives him the right, the gall, the authority to disrupt a system that gives the priests and elders authority?  What gives him the authority to upend and destroy what they hold dear?

Jesus loves answering questions with questions and gets them thinking about authority of other people—specifically John the Baptist.  Basically he gets them thinking about where authority comes from—do you have to fit in the existing system to get it?  No.  John got it because of something else, which I believe is integrity.  He was consistent between his words and actions and that made him different from most people.  Furthermore his authority comes from God and God’s vision of this world transformed to one of wholeness and abundant life for all.  This is of course the same place that Jesus gets his authority and even more so because Jesus literally is what he says. 

Jesus is love.  Jesus is mercy.  Everything he does is an expression of that, of his unity with God the Creator.  He can’t be anything else.  He expresses it in not coming to get anything for himself.  There isn’t anything he needs except to offer the world hope and new life and that isn’t for him, but for the sake of the world.  He is focused on his mission which leads him to come riding in on a donkey, overturn the tables of the money-changers, expose people in power as being full of self-interest, give his life on the cross, and rise again to share new life and a new vision of the Kingdom coming to earth.

This is a challenging parable for Lutherans especially, because we know it isn’t by our works that we are saved, but God’s grace alone.  We confess Jesus as Lord.  Is that enough?  This parable tells us that actions are important.  They show what is really in our hearts, what we really believe comes out in our actions.  Also our actions matter to our neighbors because they affect other people.  Whatever beliefs we hold that we don’t act on, don’t show love to others, aren’t expressed so that others might be blessed by them.

This parable is telling us that words and actions need to match and if they don’t, actions are what really matters.  What’s great here is that both sons flub it.  The one says he won’t and then shows up.  The other son says he will and then is a no-show.  The third son is Jesus who does both.  No other human fits the bill.  We all fail.

And yet there is a word of grace, that our actions can still show where our heart lies.  Because of who Jesus is, that he goes there to do the work, which is going to the cross, which is doing the hard things, which is humbling himself, which is washing feet, we can go there, too.  The other grace for us is that the work of the son who showed up isn’t measured.  It doesn’t say how many hours he worked or how many vines he clipped or how many bushels he picked.  He showed up.

Showing up is a big part of this.  Jesus shows up for us.  He showed up in a stable.  He showed up as a refugee in Egypt.  He showed up at the well with the Cannanite woman.  He showed up at the daycare and gathered the children around him.  He showed up at deathbeds and among the lepers and in the storms and in the courthouse and on the cross and he showed up in the garden and at the lakeside and shows up in every rejected, hurting person. 

We take heart in knowing that showing up is a big part of our work so that others know they are not alone.  There are so many situations, we don’t have the right words for, but when we show up, accompaniment is such a big deal.  It means so much.  We show up and sit with people who are grieving.  We show up and welcome people who have been rejected.  We show up and offer the warmth of our presence.

The church is supposed to be the body of Christ, active in the world and showing up.  But these days the church is more known for being judgemental and hypocritical, saying we are loving and yet rejecting and blaming.  Or we show up for our own self-interest, wanting more members so our church can survive.  Jesus shows up with compassion and we are invited to let go of our self-interest and have genuine care and concern for the other person.  People can see right through our hypocrisy.  People have their BS meters set on high when they encounter Christians.  Even I do!  I’m watching out when I meet someone who tells me they are Christian.  Is this someone who wants to change me, to correct me, to blame me, to attack people I love?  Or is this someone coming from a place of care of concern and sharing who can build something, who will show up when I am in need, who will show up beside me to do the work of the Kingdom of God?

This is why this reading matters so much, today.  We can’t earn God’s love by our works, but we can show up with compassion and walk with Jesus the way of the humble cross with our hurting brothers and sisters.  Jesus shows up for us and he understands if we can’t always be at work in the vineyard, but he has high expectations of us that we would begin with love in our hearts and show up when we can to contribute our part to the greater good that is being built, the Kingdom of God right here on earth.