231001 Sermon on how outward appearances are not enough (Pentecost 18) October 1, 2023

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

“Repent, for the kingdom of God is
at hand!”

In our Gospel reading the chief priest and elders are upset
about Jesus. The chief priests and elders had never liked Jesus. Jesus wasn’t a
part of their club. He wasn’t from Jerusalem. He didn’t go to the right
schools. He wasn’t from the right families.

What’s more is that he also appeared to them to be a
dangerous heretic. He healed people on the Sabbath, for example. That’s work,
is it not? That’s forbidden. And his disciples didn’t wash their hands before
they ate. Every self-respecting Jew had been washing his hands a certain way from
time immemorial! And here these cheeky disciples were flaunting the traditions of
their people.

So the chief priest and elders already didn’t like Jesus,
but what had been going on lately was over the top. The day before our reading
took place was Palm Sunday. Jesus entered Jerusalem amid shouts of joy: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Jesus is the
King like King David! Hosanna, which means, save
us we pray!” The people were joyously saying stuff like that, and it
made these people sick. Jesus was a heretic! Jesus was no good! All their best
theologians had said so.

But then Jesus did something more. He entered into their
home turf. He entered the Temple. When he saw what was going on, it made him
angry. Buying here. Selling there. And so Jesus kicked them all out. They had
set up tables with pigeons, cash registers and such, and Jesus grabbed hold of
their tables and flipped them over. Money and pigeons went flying everywhere. Jesus
quoted Scripture to them: “It is written, ‘My house
shall be called a house of prayer.’ You have made it a den of robbers!”

Our Gospel reading today is from the day after Jesus did these
things. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the chief priests and elders
should go up to him and say, “By what authority are you
doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” They wanted to
know: had Jesus been authorized to raise havoc? They, of course, believed that
they already knew the answer. Of course he didn’t have the authority, because
they were the higher ups, and they certainly had not given him any such
authority!

But Jesus surprises them by not immediately answering their
question. He asks them a question. If they’ll answer his question, then he’ll
answer theirs. Jesus asks, “John’s baptism: where did
it come from? Was it from God or from man?” You heard how the chief
priests and elders discussed how they should answer. If they said that the
baptism was from God, then Jesus will ask why they didn’t get baptized? But if
they said that John’s baptism was merely human they knew the people wouldn’t
stand for it. The people were sure that John the Baptist was a prophet. So they
said, “We don’t know.” And neither did Jesus
tell them by what authority he did what he did.

Now let’s look a little more closely at what the chief
priests and elders were doing. Notice how the chief priests and elders were
dishonest right from the start. Already with the first question that they ask
Jesus, they weren’t looking for an honest answer. It’s more an accusation in
the form of a question: “By what authority do you do
these things?” They don’t want to know what authority he has. They
already know that he has no authority—at least so far as they’re concerned.

Then, when Jesus asks them his question, Jesus subtly points
them towards the truth. Jesus brings up God—something that wasn’t even on the
chief priests’ and elders’ radar. Jesus would have them consider: Might it be
that John the Baptist was sent from God? Might it be that if John the Baptist
was sent from God, then Jesus, also, was sent from God? Might it be that his
authority comes from God?

This subtle suggestion is lost on them, however. It was like
seed being sown on a beaten path. They didn’t think about God. They only
thought of how they hadn’t liked John the Baptist either. He too wasn’t part of
their club. He too said stuff and did stuff that annoyed them. No, of course
John’s baptism wasn’t from God, but they dare not say that out loud. The idiotic
people regarded John to be a prophet.

So notice what these church leaders are doing, or, rather,
not doing. They aren’t interested in what is true. They don’t lay their cards
on the table. They operate in a calculated and artificial way. Their thoughts
are not on God, their thoughts are only on how their words and actions are
going to affect themselves negatively or positively. Since they do not care
about God or about what is true the meat and substance of what they are
supposed to be about as members and leaders of the church has been lost. They
are only dealing with the husks, the outward appearances of faith.

This was the very thing that Jesus reacted against so
violently the day before. When he came into the temple and saw what was going
on he saw that it was mechanical and empty. There was certainly a lot of hustle
and bustle, but nothing of substance, nothing of faith. People were coming and
going. They put in their offerings. Week after week, rinse and repeat. Jesus looks
upon their bored faces and exclaims: “This house is to
be a house of prayer!” That means that people are supposed to care, to
think, to wrestle and to call upon God. Wrestling with God was not on the
table. The husks were. The meat and the substance was gone.

That’s a good way to understand the contrast between the
chief priests and elders on the one hand and John the Baptist and Jesus on the
other. John the Baptist and Jesus called out for the meat and the substance.
The Gospels summarize the preach of both as being the same. Both John the
Baptist and Jesus preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of
God draws near!”

That is a clear message. The king is coming. God is coming. That
is a simple message that affects every last one of us. God can come suddenly
and unexpectedly. Any one of us could die today or tomorrow and that is when we
will meet our maker. That is the kingdom of God drawing near for us personally.
Or today or tomorrow could be the end of this age when Christ will come with
his angels in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.

In light of the kingdom of God drawing near both John and
Jesus say the same thing: “Repent!” Change your
ways! Let the sinner sin no longer. Paul says, “Do you
not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men
who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor partiers,
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God!” There’s that word: “kingdom of God.” “Those who do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Now I know that you’ve done such things. I’ve done such
things, I’m sorry to say. John the Baptist and Jesus say, “Repent!” “Stop it!” To which we might very well say,
“I don’t want to.” That might very well be the truth! After all, why have we
done these things to begin with? Nobody held a gun to our head and said, “Be
sexually immoral or else!” “Be greedy or else!” We did these things because we
wanted to do. It might be against our will to stop.

I’ll give you another example: Your dad comes to you, as
dads tend to do, and tells you, “Go outside and work!” I’ve never met the kid
who unfailingly responds: “Hurray! I get to go and work!” More often than not we
say, inwardly at least, “I don’t want to.”

Jesus gave the chief priests and elders a parable along
these lines. He said, “What do you think? A man had two
sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but afterward he repented and went. And the
father went to the other son and said the same. He answered, ‘Yes sir. I will
go,’ but he never did. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said,
“The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and
the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John the Baptist
came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the
tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did
not afterward repent and believe him.”

It is not surprising that someone doesn’t want to go work. Likewise,
it is not surprising that anyone who likes to sin would want to stop. The tax
collectors and prostitutes were the open sinners. They brazenly said: “We don’t
want to,” but later they changed their mind. They repented.

The other son, on the other hand, looked better. He looked
more pious. He said, “Yes sir!” when his father told him to do something he
didn’t want to do. Although he looked different as far as outward appearances
and words was concerned, inwardly he was just like his brother. He had the same
heart.

But, as it turned out, he ended up being worse. He had looked
better, he had said the right words, but he was worse because he did not
repent. Even when his brother, who had said the wrong words, nevertheless went
out and worked, he still didn’t repent and go and work. He was content to have merely
said the right words and to have had the right appearance.

This is a special danger for regular churchgoers like us. We
can be content with appearances. We have our church machinery that runs here
week in and week out. It is quite easy for us to believe that being minimally
involved in that machinery is more than enough. We don’t need to repent, unless
we should happen to want to.

But to this we must say, “No!” The kingdom of God draws
near. Husks and outward appearances are not enough. We might fool our fellow
human beings with such things, but there’s no fooling God. God’s kingdom is
coming. The king is coming. How will you welcome him? See to it that you are
not ashamed! Welcome him with joy!

It is not like we need to be afraid of the real substance, the
reigning and ruling of God. God’s kingdom is good! Jesus is gracious and
merciful. The people who greeted him on Palm Sunday were full of joy at the prospect
of Jesus being their king. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after he rose
from the dead, they didn’t go running in terror from him. They were glad when
they saw the Lord, even though they knew that they had done much that needed
forgiveness.

God’s kingdom is like our opening hymn:

As surely as I live God said,

I would not see the sinner dead.

I want him turned from error’s ways

Repentant, living endless days.

The Lord bless your communion with him today. May this house
be a house of prayer! Amen.