When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders
of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of
authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell
me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these
things. Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from
heaven or from humans?”
They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’
he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But we can’t say ‘from
humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a
prophet.” Then they replied, “We don’t know.”
Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what
kind of authority I have to do these things.
“What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the
first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
“‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his
mind and went.
“The father said the same thing to the other son, who
replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go.
“Which one of these two did his father’s will?”
They said, “The first one.”
Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors
and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to
you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and
prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your
hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.
***
As usually happens after funerals, I get questions and
people pondering if the deceased was saved. Those questioning have this desire
to get in the person’s head the seconds before their death and ask, “Do you
believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” In turn, it makes the righteous
upset, that even the most hardened criminal could voice this statement and, “go
to heaven.” Both of these desires put humans in the judging place, and make God
likewise, and neither of these attributes for salvation are ones I ascribe to
God.
My answer to those questioners, usually goes something like
this, “Oh, I am Presbyterian, and we think about these things totally
differently,” and they, not knowing the first thing about the differences
between dominations say, “Well it’s not about being Presbyterian or not, it’s
about the Gospel,” and then I am reassured that this will be an unfruitful
conversation about the literal interpretation of the Bible, against an
interpretation that seeks to take into consideration things like the historical
context in which the Bible was written, or literary devices like parable and
metaphor which it’s authors used, or understandings of science which we have
now know today. But that is a lot explain when someone is challenging my
preaching our imperishability with God, or needing reassurance about the
eternal location of the deceased, and so I tell them what I believe. “I believe
in an abundantly loving and faithful God who welcomes and includes all.” Often
those questioning don’t know what to do with this statement. When you have
lived your life thinking that if, “I act a certain way and do all the right
things God will welcome me,” or if you have lived your whole life simply
believing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and therefore you get to
go to heaven,” to hear God’s everlasting grace is freely given to all, is a
hard statement. But this is the God of my heart, and that is what to believe
really means, to belove.
When I read this scripture I can see the distinction between
belief and belove,
“A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said,
‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ “‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied.
But later he changed his mind and went.
“The father said the same thing to the other son, who
replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go.
“Which one of these two did his father’s will?”
They said, “The first one.”
When I think about this scripture in human terms it doesn’t
make much sense. In my house growing up, I would have gotten in trouble for
being either one of the sons. I would have gotten in trouble for saying, “No, I
don’t want to.” Likewise, I would have gotten in trouble for being the second
son and saying I would go, but not going. In my house growing up, my parents
were the authority, and to disobey in word or deed, meant you were in trouble.
It was how I was brought up, and many of you the same. You did what you were
told, and you succeeded, you disobeyed and you got in trouble. And we often
like to imagine God just as simply, but God doesn’t work in balance scales, God
works in abundance and love.
In the scripture, the one who does the Father’s will is the
one who says no, but then goes and helps in the vineyard. This response to go
help is the faithful one. Faithfulness isn’t about doing what you said you
would, or wouldn’t, it’s about acting out our love and thankfulness. The first
son’s response is of honest love, love that does for others as we would want
for ourselves. It is love that is thankful for all the father has done and
seeks to return to him a portion of the offering of his sons’s life and
labor. It is loving, and love is what belief really is. Believing is
beloving. To believe in is to love.
This translation is a lot closer to how the people in
Biblical times would have understood Jesus than we do today, and I want you to
listen to the difference in these statements, firstly, in today’s words,
Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors
and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to
you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and
prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your
hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.
Now listen to them in words closer to their original
meaning,
Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors
and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to
you on the righteous road, and you didn’t be-love him. But tax collectors and
prostitutes be-loved him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your
hearts and lives and you didn’t be-love him.
Faithfulness isn’t about what we say in the moments before
we die, or the ways we have checked off the boxes of being a good person
throughout our life. Faithfulness is to love, to love God and to love one
another. It is to see this love and change our hearts and lives. It is to be
transformed, and in this transformation is brought the kingdom of God.
It’s what the tax-collectors did, it’s what the prostitutes had, it’s what
those who listened to John the Baptist heard, it’s what Travis had when he was
with his children, it’s what Jodi had in her interactions with others, it’s
what Pat Fessel had in spunk, it’s what Kim Berry had in sass and hospitality,
it’s what Jean Geddes has when she writes you a card, or Sharon Defrees when
she decorates for a service, or Dotty when she delivers a meal, it’s what Karen
has when she dedicates her heart to the Mission of the church, it is Gary
Yeoumans and LaVonne’s love and faithfulness to one another, it is Dale and
Shirley still giggling like school kids, it is the way Silas and Sydney lit the
candles this morning to a smiling Clarissa or the way Jake McClaughry helped as
liturgist, it is in the crisp fall blue juxtaposed with the sun still warm on
my face, or the wonder of the first snowfall. It’s what I tell those that want
some sort of assurance after death, that I have seen the kingdom of God
already. I don’t have to wait for moments before death, because I see all
around me, and this is proof enough of a loving and gracious God whose kingdom
has already broken in and surrounds us now and always. I believe in a be-loving
God. Amen.
