AMCP 27 September 2020

My reflection for today is based in those words we’ve heard from Matthew 21: 23 – 32

I must begin with a confession. When I first read this passage last Sunday afternoon, my first though was: really … what does this mean for us? My reading and pondering has, however, opened my eyes. This is a word for our times.

My understanding is helped by placing this often-overlooked passage in the context of what precedes it. Just before this, Jesus entered Jerusalem, and was greeted by crowds shouting ‘Hosanna to the Heir to the House of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Most High! Hosanna in the highest!’ We remember that this is not only a greeting to the one being honoured, but that ‘hosanna’ means ‘(God) save us – and from who, the Romans of course. It may be said that this was challenging the authority of Rome.

Then, this is followed by that tumultuous Temple scene, where Jesus rampages in the Temple and drives out those engaged in commerce – selling goods and changing money. This is a challenge to the authority of the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law.

These preceding events set the scene for today’s reading. When Jesus next enters the Temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him – I sense the tension! – and ask:
“By what authority are you doing what you do? Who gave you this authority?

I further sense that Jesus knew that he was being set up – he was ‘on a hiding to nothing’ if he tried to engage those with authority in these precincts in a debate. Instead he deflects the challenge,
by asking a question, referring to John the Baptiser – ‘What was the origin of John’s right to baptise?
Was it divine or human?

The important folk were thrown into a quandary. Whatever way they responded they would be in trouble, so their safe response was ‘we don’t know’; to which Jesus replied to what he had been asked with: ‘then I will not tell you by what authority I am doing these things’.

Jesus, then tells the parable of the two sons. We’ve heard what happens.The reply to Jesus’ final question in the sequence of events describing the responses of the two sons: ‘which son did the right thing?’ exposes those in authority.

Jesus pronounced this [which wouldn’t have ‘made friends and influenced people’]: “The truth is, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kindom of God before you. When John came walking on the road of justice, you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did.”

I have been dismayed by some of the online material I’ve read related to this reading. Many of the responses have had to do with the relationship between fathers and their sons and what should be done to ensure that these are positive. Other responses seek to paint the Jewish authorities in a bad light – the basis of those views that have inflamed some of the Christian-Jewish relations over the centuries – giving substance to attitudes that still persist in our world.

Perhaps these views are still evident in our world when we hear responses to a suggestion related to defining ‘hate speech’ that have surfaced in New Zealand in the last few days.

When I consider that we don’t know why Jesus told this parable or why Matthew chose to share it,
I want to suggest that the general interpretive assumption I’ve just described, misses the mark.
I place today’s parable alongside others that contain words of surprise and hope.
There is a clear possibility that someone who has refused to listen to God – to hear the gospel imperatives – may yet change their mind; that one’s past actions or current status do not determine one’s future; and that those who may be deemed to be beyond the pale of decent society are never, ever beyond the reach of God. This is Gospel – Good News!

An aside to finish: I’ve decided that I’m over our current election campaign. I had hoped that here in New Zealand we could move beyond attacks to the person – commenting on looks, background, gender, sexual orientation and the like – to comment, if it was necessary on policy, seeking to clarify what actions would improve our world, and the steps necessary to achieve these desired outcomes.

Today’s gospel makes it quite obvious that to ‘play the man and not the ball’ does not create an atmosphere that enhances anything for anyone. Jesus has a word for us when he makes it clear that those on the fringes of society will make it ahead of those considered ‘good’. I must keep this in mind.

Election campaigns are a time when electorate candidates and their parties seek to be given authority – the authority to determine how the country will managed for the succeeding period of time. A Government should be able to say ‘we have been given authority by the people’; and within our laws the people should be able to say that is our government, and we support our government. Is that not our understanding of democracy?

A writer Paul Tillich, German-born U.S. theologian and philosopher, whose discussions of God and faith illuminated and bound together the realms of traditional Christianity and modern culture, wrote about the ‘Eternal Now’. Paul Tillich wrote that God is inviting each of us into the kindom that not only lives out in front of us, but has the capacity to shape our every moment, from this moment forth.
Each moment is pregnant with the possibility of receiving God’s grace, repenting of the things we’ve done or were done to us, returning to a right relationship with God and those around us, receiving the future as open rather than determined.

This morning it is my prayer that we are open to this call – to realise the eternal that is now;
and not a dream to be looked forward to. May we play our part in creating this.
So be it. Amen.