Larry Smoose

Reformation, Media

Pentecost 20

This morning, even as we sit here at worship, there are pastors in various parts of the country participating in and encouraging other clergy to participate in an action that they are calling “civil disobedience.”  They are going to talk about politics from the pulpit and endorse particular candidates for office, defying the constitutional separation of church and state.  And the question we must ask in such a situation is the same question that the Pharisee’s asked Jesus in the temple – by what authority?  By what authority do you say these things and do these things? 

Jesus knew that this was a loaded question.  If he said that his authority was from God, they could accuse him of blasphemy – after all, they had the diploma’s and ordination certificates that said they were the ones who certified who spoke for God.  On the other hand, if he said he was doing it on his on authority – on human authority, they would discount it and bring to bear the civil penalties for disruption and disturbance in a public place. 

So Jesus throws it back to them with a question of his own – about the authority of John’s baptism – and the Pharisees, who are pretty smart themselves, realize they are in the same dilemma, and after conferencing like a bunch of advisors to a presidential debate to consider what the crowds would say to them or do to them based upon the two possibilities, they plead ignorance. 

By what authority – Human authority, we know is derived primarily by power – if you have enough people or money or guns with you – what you say goes.  You set the rules, give the diplomas, and determine the standards.  For most of us, whatever authority we have is based on human authority.

But there is that other authority – divine authority.  Ironically, though it is authority derived from the omnipotent one, it is not based on power, but it is based on truth – the truth of God and the truth of what God meant us and this world to be.  And to help us understand that authority, Jesus does a follow-up question with the parable of two sons in the vineyard. 

Now I just got back from being out at a vineyard to help with the harvest, and you know that if a vineyard owner wants me to come out and help at the peak of the harvest, they’re willing to take just about anyone.  Everyone works when the harvest is ready.  So the father goes and asks his two sons to work in the vineyard – The first says, “No – but later changes his mind and goes out to work.  The second one says Yes – but did not go out to work.  Which one did the will of his father, asks Jesus? 

You see, says Jesus, divine authority is attached to an act, what a person does, rather than to the person.  So John’s baptism, which brought about repentance in people evidenced divine authority; Jesus’ healings evidence divine authority and the Pharisees, with their diplomas and certificates, were demonstrating by their actions – their lack of belief and their unwillingness to recognize the work of John and Jesus, that they were relying on human authority and had become blind to God’s presence and truth.

I bring this important distinction up for two reasons – first of all, when pastors try to masquerade political campaigning as civil disobedience, and we correctly ask – by what authority – it seems to me that they are primarily getting involved in and thus serving human authority and trying to camouflage it in religious rhetoric.  If most of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day  could not even recognize Jesus when he was among them, I get nervous trying to baptize one candidate or another as a Savior today.  I would rather encourage all of us to pray for God’s guidance as we vote and pray that God will guide whoever becomes president in the performance his duties in that most difficult office.  The institutional separation of church and state, in my opinion, is still a good thing and it is that very separation that will allow me to exert a prophetic role when the authority of God’s truth needs to be proclaimed.

The second reason I bring this up is because it raises a question for all of us, about what authority we follow in our lives.  We are so immersed in human authority that we sometimes do not think about or reflect on how the authority of God’s truth influences our lives. 

This morning, we are celebrating three baptisms – rejoicing in people choosing to acknowledge God as their authority.   The Father is saying  “Will you work in my vineyard today?”  And they are saying yes!  And, at some point, all of us have affirmed and re-affirmed our yes to God. 

But there are going to be days when we remember the yes, but end up not going to work in the vineyard.  We spend so much time working to be successful and rely so much on our jobs that we overlook practices or policies that we don’t agree with.  We want to have our kids in all the right schools and all the right activities and to get into the right universities and be hired by the right companies and family life suffers, or our kids feel all kind of pressure.   You see, the work in the vineyard is not just about going to church or doing church things – it really is about working in God’s world in a way that serves God’s purposes, God’s truth. 

God wants strong families, good communities, healthy people, happy people who get along and respect each other – And God wants this for everyone.    And when those qualities are missing, when those characteristics are not present, it means there is something wrong in the vineyard, there are tenants who aren’t caring for it the way God intended.  Government, business, schools, religious communities, individuals, all of us are involved in that work. 

That son who said, “No, I don’t have time for this”  -- and then decided to work anyway.  The key was he “changed his mind –or literally, the Greek word means “He changed what he cared about.”  He suddenly realized his values and respected his father’s authority.  Or maybe he remembered the words of Isaiah – “Why do you work for that which does not satisfy and spend money for that which is not bread?  You who thirst, come to the waters, you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without price.”

By what authority – In the short term, human power and authority may seem to overwhelm divine authority – even crucify it – but do not underestimate the power of God, who is able to take even the blood of his crucified Son who so faithfully worked in the vineyard and turn it into the wine of salvation.