Who remembers Holy Week?
It’s not a trick question. Believe it or not, Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, was April 5, just a little less than six months ago.
A little over six months ago on March 13 our congregation, and many around us, moved worship online and closed our buildings, in a faithful effort to manage the impact of the novel coronavirus on our community. None of us imagined then that we would still be managing life in a pandemic six months later, but here we are.
And while autumn’s arrival helps us mark time and distances us even farther from springtime, this year especially, it feels like Holy Week happened a very, very long time ago.
But today’s gospel is a Holy Week text. On Palm Sunday our attention turns to the triumphant procession that carries Jesus into Jerusalem, but this gospel text takes place on what we call Holy Monday, the day following Jesus’ arrival in the royal city.
As we listen to this gospel text, it’s helpful to place it in the context of the days preceding Jesus’ arrest and execution.
It isn’t surprising to hear some of the religious leaders question Jesus’ authority. These same leaders had questioned his disciples about why he ate with tax collectors and sinners (9:11) and why they didn’t fast (9:14) and why he healed on the Sabbath. They were convinced his authority came from the devil. (9:34) Matthew tells us they were angry after hearing about the Hosannas that were shouted the day before. (21:15)
So now, fueled by their resentment and fear, they confront Jesus, hoping to expose him as a charlatan, a fraud.
And instead, he reveals their own hypocrisy.
Jesus tells the leaders he will answer their question if they will answer his. Similar to Socratic questioning where the teacher probes the students’ knowledge with questions, Jesus poses his own question to search for the truth behind the question they have asked.
But instead of answering truthfully, the leaders hem and haw, arguing about which answer was best. They could answer that the baptism of John came from heaven and, consequently, admit they denied the evidence of God’s power at work in front of them. Or they could deny God’s power was at work in John and incur the wrath of the people who saw him as a prophet.
When they realized that neither answer would get the result they wanted, they chose not to answer at all, telling Jesus, “We don’t know.”
He wasn’t fooled.
They didn’t like the evidence before them, but they knew the answer. They didn’t like what telling the truth would cost them, so they lived the lie.
When the leaders wouldn’t answer him, Jesus tells them the parable of the two sons, clearly comparing these leaders to the second son, the one who feigned obedience and told his father he would go to the vineyard and work, but never went. Like the leaders, that son had all the right words and he was courteous and respectful, but his actions were empty.
In contrast, the first son answered truthfully, “No, I won’t go.” Jesus doesn’t tell us how the father reacted, but he does tell us that late, this son changed his mind. The Greek here is “he repented.” And after he repented, he followed his father’s instructions and did his father’s work.
Jesus compares the tax collectors and prostitutes to this son. These same sinners who had drawn the leaders’ criticism earlier in Jesus’ ministry aren’t the people who spend all day in the temple court (or the church). They don’t know the prayers, they don’t follow the rules, and they don’t show the religious leaders the reverence they expect. But they see the truth in John’s proclamation, and they believe and follow Jesus.
And Jesus says they will go into the kingdom of God before the so-called religious leaders who have failed to recognize God’s power at work first through John and then in Jesus.
Jesus’ question, “Which of [these] did the will of his father?” invites us to reflect on how we respond to God.
When have we said, “yes” but not lived out that “yes”?
When have we said we are “Christian” but forgotten to follow Christ?
When have we been unwilling to give the unpopular answer because it will be uncomfortable or inconvenient?
When have we refused to let God change us?
When have we rejected the ways God is at work because accepting God’s transformative love for all is disruptive?
I expect most of us recognize times when we have followed more closely in the footsteps of the chief priests and elders, than we have followed Jesus. Our sinful nature turns our attention to ourselves and our self-preservation and turns us away from God.
The Good News we hear today is that we can repent,
change our minds and hearts, think differently,
and go to work in the vineyard, doing our Father’s work
in God’s kingdom here on earth.
Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for your Son Jesus who came into this world, revealing your power and authority.
Forgive us when we become captive to fear, resentment and self-centeredness, especially when it hurts your beloved children.
Help us see how you are changing lives in our congregation and in our community and drawing people to you, and put us to work in your kingdom here on earth.
Amen.
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