I Wonder – Matthew 21:23-32

A text – Matthew 21:23-32

²³ When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.

A reflection:

In Matthew’s gospel, early Holy Week events go in this order: Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’s cleansing the Temple of moneychangers, Jesus’s teaching in the Temple, and this story of Jesus’s being challenged by the chief priests and elders. So Jesus had just been welcomed with open arms by the people in the streets, he cleared obstacles for the people’s worship of the Lord, preventing their being cheated and overcharged, and then, as he was bringing learning and healing to the people gathered in the Temple grounds, the temple leaders tried yet again to trap him to silence him. If the trap had worked, perhaps no crucifixion would have been warranted.

But instead Jesus traps them and then tells this parable about two sons, one who did the will of the Father despite earlier refusal, and one who said all the right things but did not do anything toward his Father’s work. Jesus further implies that tax collectors and prostitutes will be favored by God because they changed their ways and followed Jesus, doing the will of the Father, while the scribes, Pharisees, chief priests, and elders changed nothing as a result of being near Jesus but instead put obstacles in the way of Jesus’s ministry. Some scholars think that this moment was the actual final straw that caused Caiaphas to bribe Judas to produce Jesus, that this story and this moment set the arrest and crucifixion in motion. Jesus says that the Temple was to be a house of prayer for all people, but the money changers and animal sellers who sold at high prices for Temple sacrifices had made the Temple into a den of thieves. And Jesus surely knew that this accusation made to the Temple leaders’ faces would get him arrested. Jesus is telling them plainly where they went wrong, exactly where they missed the boat.

I have to wonder, thinking of this story as a little movie running in my head, where is the one scribe or Pharisee or Temple elder who suddenly thinks, “Hey. He is speaking the truth. He is a true prophet and maybe more. We have got this wrong.” Does that man, having been willing to change his mind, does he attend the mysterious night court where Jesus is brought up on charges and stays silent? Does that man repent and become a follower? Is that man entrusted later with helping in the ministry of the disciples? Jesus was being so plain in his final week of face-to-face ministry to human beings. Someone had to get it, right? What became of those persons who changed their minds? Would such a person, could such a person have been me? I hope I would have done something. But I wonder.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us Jesus’s plain words before his arrest and death. Help us always to be willing to change our minds, to take action, like the son who did go to work in the vineyard. Help us to recognize you when we see you and get to work in your kingdom. Amen.