Have you ever passed out? The feeling is ugly. One minute everything is fine, then your blood sugar, or blood pressure, goes too low and you lose control of your mind and body. The mind begins to go blank. The body follows. You will collapse to the ground if standing or sitting. At the start of it, you realize something is wrong. You are losing control of things you otherwise believed you would always be fully in control of. But that illusion of control is slipping away and there is nothing you can do to stop it. When you come to, when you are woken up, when your systems are restored, you begin to take account of where you are, and of what happened. At that point you will need to rely upon the stories of others to know exactly what happened to you. Your memories cease as the incident occurs, they do not follow you in to the unconscious state. Your mind stops recording them, your normal brain activity does not work the same, your senses do not function the same. Everything becomes weirded out. It is not a good feeling.
Watch a politician some time who is beginning to lose his/her grip on power. It is daunting how far they will go to keep hold of it. What a person will say, regardless of the facts, let alone of the truth. When a politician begins to become under siege, usually of incidents of their own making, they look to cast blame. Cast blame anywhere but on themselves. There can be no personal accountability, lest the people are unforgiving, and the problem is made worse. Finding a scape-goat, a fall-guy, a patsy, is job one of the first order. Give the constituents somebody else to focus on, let them vent their righteous indignation somewhere else, anywhere else, just not on them. Lies are the neural network of a politician under siege. Most campaigns are built on partial truth to begin with, so going full-on-liar is not a far reach. It is the next logical step in the maintenance of power. But if control slips away anyway, that is if the illusion of control is proven to be what it is, an illusion – anger, rage, denial, any step of the grief process ensues, sometimes all at once. The only additional step might be shame, but that requires some level of self-awareness that behavior was less than ideal. It is not a good feeling.
So what happens when morality, power, and the idea that God ordained the person (combined to form religion as we know it) – goes through the same risk of losing power over the people? Matthew records such a case study in his gospel to the Hebrews. Keep in mind Matthew was trying to reach his contemporaries and blend the Old Testament with the life of Christ, not to alienate them by what he wrote. But because of his love for his audience, he could not shield them from the truth either. The Jewish faith was changing. It was meant to change. It’s entire point was to await the Messiah, and to become enriched by the life of the Messiah. To deny He had come, was to deny the central core tenant of their belief system. It would be hard, for a typical Jewish believer, taught from childhood to honor the traditions and the priesthood, the leadership of the faith – to understand how far off track that same leadership had gone, when facing the idea that power was slipping away from it. But then, how far would any modern Christian church leadership go, if placed under the same threat of loss? To examine ourselves, we must examine our spiritual forefathers and realize we are very little different.
Matthew begins in chapter twenty-one of his gospel picking up in verse 23 saying … “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?” This was a trick question based on a premise of certainty every modern Christian preacher shares. Tradition gave the Pharisees their position. They were anointed. They were approved in a system, through a legacy. None of them just declared themselves to be something the system had not given the voice of approval upon. The Pharisees and Sadducees were certain of their authority. To an extent, even the Roman empire had approved the governing religious body of the day in Israel. But Jesus? Who was He? No one anointed Him (outside of the baptism of John). No Roman gave Him papers for this. No Priest would dare offer Him the stamp of the system’s approval. Jesus was an upstart. Jesus was a homeless, hippy, rebel, who seemed to claim only a one-on-one direct connection with God Himself. And we all know how crazy people are who claim to hear God orally in their lives. We throw those guys out as fast as we find out who they are. It stands to reason the people might follow that course too, so if they could get Jesus to admit who gave Him His authority they could perhaps unseat Him in the minds and hearts of the people.
But here is the first place we go so horribly wrong. While the priest was looking at power and authority, the formerly lame man was looking at a fully restored leg and hip. Love did that, not power, love. Love cared enough to stop, to single him/her out, to recreate that which had been deformed from birth – to restore it so perfectly none would ever believe him/her crippled again. Even his/her parents would marvel at the perfectly recreated limbs from the hands of love Himself. Jesus did not call down fire from heaven to do it. Jesus did not lift Himself up, during the process. A lot of times, He told the healed person to keep it quiet, refusing even the publicity that He knew would come and shorten His ministry. While religious leaders look to power, the head of ALL religion was composed of love, and looked at us through that lens alone. A passion for loving others, engenders reciprocal feelings and creates an environment of love that has the power to transform. Not just the flesh and bones, but the hearts and minds. It is transformative love that makes us new creatures from the inside out. A focus on power, is an absolute divorce from that kind of thinking.
None the less Jesus responds in verse 24 saying … “And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. [verse 25] The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? … “ The religious leadership had challenged Christ with a question, now Jesus returns the challenge with what would appear to be a simple question. Every member of the audience of Matthew’s gospel would understand this reference. Many would be personally familiar with John the Baptist. Many may even have had the privilege of being baptized by John personally before Herod abruptly ended his life at the insistence of a woman who refused to bend her pride and find forgiveness in a God who so longed to pour it out on her. But what seems like an obvious question to Matthew’s readers, was a complex problem for the church leadership. Picking back up in verse 25 it reads … “… And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? [verse 26] But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.”
We all go horribly wrong again. We choose to overlook truth for the sake of power and the illusion of control. Just as the reader of Matthew “knew” the answer to this question, so did the chief priests in the Temple. John did what he did, because God through the Spirit drove Him to do it. It was his life long mission to prepare the way of the Lord. He was appointed to it, even as far back as in his mother’s womb, a miracle to begin his life even then. But when John spoke truth to power, power rejected it. The chief priests of his day, the church leadership of our own, and perhaps even we – were reluctant to think we “needed” the baptism of repentance in our lives. Our modern-day tradition looks at baptism as a one- time event we do in our childhood, or when we come to know Jesus. We do not consider doing it again unless we may have publicly backslidden in our faith. But the audience who came to see John, and to hear his burning message, were just common ordinary believers. They were not at the start or end of their faith. They were in the middle of their lives. Just like you and me. And John discerned both then and now, that we “needed” repentance. Are we willing to publicly display to others, that what John said all the way back then is still relevant? And that we, the saints, STILL, need the baptism of repentance, even if it causes humility in us? The priests of old, that is the religious leadership of old, did not.
So when you deny truth, and you still wish to cling to power, you must lie. But if you lie to those who clearly know the truth, you may create for yourself an incident from which there is no escape. Matthew continues in verse 27 saying … “And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” The only out for the Pharisees is to refuse to say, to claim they are uncertain. A full denial of truth, without being held to the denial by the people. Jesus too refuses to fall into the trap that was set for Him at this time. The power and authority behind Jesus would be self-evident to the people. To anyone who would listen, Jesus always identified His Father as the source behind every miracle, behind every act of love, behind every action they pursued next. Jesus was in constant submission of His own will to the will of His Father. He had absolute trust in His Father. Never questioning it, until the garden when even then He would continue to submit.
The mission of Jesus however, was motivated in love, not power. So even though these wicked priests had tried to trap Him, Jesus was still bent on saving them, as He still looks to save the church leadership of our day. Jesus decided to speak directly to the church leadership of old, and of now, through the telling of stories or parables. There is truth in a parable, in its theme, in its illustration. A parable is not a word for word exact revelation of truth. Instead it is the equivalent of going to a play, or a movie, albeit with a much greater author, a much deeper meaning, and a motive of redemption few entertainment venues still care about. This way of story telling could keep the direct rebukes to the church leadership under a slight mask. It would allow Jesus to chastise us, without the direct horrific pronouncements we might use on each other, or like the one Jesus uses on the fig tree in our earlier study. Instead the negative aspects of the stories would allow church leadership to see where they are, what their roles are, and how they could still find redemption if they turned away from self, and towards the only source of our salvation.
So story #1 begins, picking up in verse 28 it reads … “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.” Here Jesus portrays Himself as a Father figure, who has two sons (presumably the whole world). The world breaks down into two camps, those who are religious, or faithful, or see themselves as followers of Christ. The other as those who see no value in the love of God, and reject the Christ choosing to do whatever they please, or whatever pleases them. This is actually a pretty accurate description of how the world breaks down even today. The command is given of our God to go into the vineyard and work. This is also pretty close to a command given to go into all the world and spread the gospel of love, to work for the redemption of those who have not heard it, or who are in so desperate a need of it. You would think since both are sons, both would listen and obey. But then ask yourself, when was the last time Christians were known for their obedience?
The story continues picking back up in verse 29 saying … “He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.” The first son just completely refuses to do what is asked. How typical of those who do not believe. They reject being “told” what to do. But the pain of living without Jesus as the center of our lives is significant. The things we do outside of the will of God, bring us pain, they hurt those we say we love. Over time that pain becomes excruciating, all of it, of our own making. When finally presented with the love of Christ, we are broken, and only then see, that His way, was the better way all along. We are transformed by His love. And at once, we develop a desire to join in the work of redemption of others. This is the process Jesus describes as “repented” followed by the obedience we once refused to offer.
Jesus continues in verse 30 saying … “And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.” Yikes. This is the answer offered by the church. This is the answer you claim, I claim, and in His day, what the chief priests were publicly saying. All the supposed followers of Jesus, that is of the faith He authored, were claiming to obey and do whatever God asked. But our God asked us to love. Our God asked us to care about the salvation of others, not just to passively say we care. The work of redemption is NOT reserved for ministers, it never has been. It is supposed to be the work of believers, that is, anyone who claims to believe in Jesus. Keep in mind, the verbal response is respectful, but the action of the feet and hands is non-existent. They, or we, do no real work. We simply never go. We talk a good game, and do nothing. We wait for others to go. We wait to encourage missionaries, never to become one, even in the fields that surround our home or office. We rationalize that this is not our “gift” of the Spirit, while never considering it is our “testimony” and our “witness” that is lacking because we have never really experienced the salvation the first crowd has. And no action is taken.
Jesus then asks the cutting questions in verse 31 saying … “Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” The priests examine the situation, and can easily say it is the first crowd who actually “did” the work of the Father. Both groups are no less considered sons. This is not a story about a son and a slave or a servant. God loves us all. But how we respond to Him reflects whether we have found true salvation from ourselves, or whether we believe that “we” are pretty good people, you know, saints, or something like that. People who find true forgiveness, find also true transformation, and a different purpose for their lives than the purpose “they” thought they would have. They give up “their own” will in favor of following the will of the Father. People who find only forgiveness and are content to stop there, and never experience what it is like to truly obey, because they refuse to truly submit their own will to anything. They worship their own will, even in matters of religion, and therefore do “nothing” while claiming to fully do everything.
So Jesus offers a stinging rebuke to us. If we were to modernize His language into something modern Christians would understand better. Jesus says “the hookers, the abortionists, the pornographers, the homosexuals, and the pedophiles – will find the kingdom of heaven and go in – before you or I do”. It is not that any of those sins are welcome in perfection. But it is that any of those sinners can find true reformation because they are willing to repent, and want a change, and see the value of His transformative love, prizing it higher than anything their pathetic lives can offer. Whereas you and I, like the Pharisees of old, believe we already “know” God, and are already “good” people, already claiming His forgiveness for the relatively small sins we commit – while not truly embracing transformation, or seeing the need of it. So like the Pharisees of old, we repent so late in our experience, we lose so much we might have otherwise had. We love sinners so late in the process, we are hardly the effective vineyard workers. Instead we sit around the vineyard and judge which grapes we think are worthy, and which ones we should not even bother ourselves with.
Jesus concludes the first story saying in verse 32 … “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” These church leaders refused to admit the truth of who John was, and of the need of true repentance. So do we. But those in pain heard John, saw the love of God in his message, and repented of “who” they were. It was not just of what they had done, but of who they had become. This is the level of true repentance that brings about seeing the need of transformation. Church leaders refused to do so; both then, and now, and in the mirror. We refuse to see our pain, instead calling it pleasure. We indulge in the momentary-feel-good and ignore the lifetime of regret and pain we cause to ourselves, to any who love us, and to our God most of all. We think these acts of sin are isolated incidents, not a representation of “who” we really are. And we deceive ourselves, clinging to pride, and refusing to submit. And so the sinners we judge, become the ones who truly work in the vineyard of redemption, because they come to know what it means to love like God loves. While we, clinging to pride, learn to love only ourselves, and claim forgiveness makes it all OK. The repentant seek no control. While the saints believe they must hold all of it, or risk the church heading over into the ditch. But true control belongs only in the hands of our Savior, it is nothing more than illusion in our own.
Yet the story of Jesus was not meant to end in condemnation. It was meant to end in enlightenment. There is still time, for us to let go of our pride, abase ourselves before our God. We can still submit our lives, and truly give them over to Jesus, so He can rewrite them however He sees fit. If we allow this, our testimony will become real, our witness unmistakable, and our care for the vineyard nearly immediate. The work of redemption is not complete, and there will never be enough workers in it, until all are a part of it. Let us learn to be the sons, He calls us still. Let us go and do, because it burns within us. Because He puts a heart of flesh within us, ripping out our heart of stone. In this we will never be happier. In the absolute lack of control, we will find our bliss, trusting in Him to handle all things. And in this we will find a kingdom of heaven, in the here and now.
But the lessons for church leadership, both then and now, were not over yet …
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