by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
When Jesus 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?” 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. 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?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 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.
“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 will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 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. 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.
—Matthew 21:23-32 (NRSV)
Today we are talking about beliefs. Here is a little story about a man who comes to believe something to be true that might not be.
A fellow was hitchhiking in Arizona at night and it started to rain, and rain hard. Time passed slowly and no vehicles went by. It was raining so hard he could barely see his hand in front of his face.
Suddenly he saw a car approaching, moving slowly and appearing ghost-like in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped. Wanting a ride very badly, the guy jumped into the car and closed the door. Only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of the engine to be heard over the rain.
The car crept slowly forward and the guy was terrified. The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, too scared to jump out, he started to pray and beg for his life. He was certain the ghost car would go off the road and crash.
But just before the curve, a shadowy figure appeared at the driver's window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the hitchhiker was alone again.
Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally, the guy, frightened nearly to death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran through the storm to the nearby town.
Wet and in shock he told everybody about his supernatural experience.
A silence came over those listening and everybody got goose bumps.
They realized the guy was telling the truth.
About a half hour later, two fellows walked into the cafe and one said to the other, 'Look Joe, there's that character that rode in our car while we were pushing it in the rain.'
Well there goes that belief doesn’t it?
So, let me ask you a question. If a stranger asked you what you believe about God what would you say? I love another old question that goes like this. If you were on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? It’s not exactly what we are talking about but it’s in the same ballpark.
Have you thought about your personal theology lately? In order to answer the stranger’s question about our beliefs, we would need to be prepared. That would require some forethought and study. Only if the serious work of thought and study had been done could we expect to be able to answer the question.
As an example, I imagine most people assume I went to seminary to become a priest. I didn’t. I went to seminary so that I could have access to the books and the professors that would help me answer this very question about my understandings of God. What did I truly understand and believe about God? I thought when I finished school, I would have the answer, but I find I haven’t finished. My belief system continues to develop as I encounter new insights. I often have to revisit this question, and do some more spade work, as I continue to develop as a lifelong student of this important subject.
In the first half of the gospel today the folks in charge are attempting to trick Jesus and he knows it. Their question, “by whose authority” is a trap to get him into trouble so he asks a question he knows they will struggle with. “Answer my question and I will answer yours”, he says. And they can’t answer it because they haven’t truly thought about it or it isn’t politically expedient to admit what they know to be true.
Yet the common people know the answer. Jesus has asked about John the Baptizer’s authority. Where does it come from? It’s clear to the average person that it didn’t come from humankind. From their experience with John they know his authority clearly had to have come from God. If Jesus had asked them, they could have easily answered his question. They had thought about their beliefs and were certain what they understood to be true.
In the second half of the gospel two sons are asked to go to work. One says he will and doesn’t, and the other says he won’t yet does. In Sunday school the kids today will be thinking about this part of the gospel this morning.
We are both sons, aren’t we? We often change our minds just like those two sons. (Hopefully the first son wasn’t lying from the beginning because that’s a whole other problem.) For our purposes we realize that this metaphor is describing a change of heart, and a new understanding of God and our relationship with God.
Jesus says the bottom layers of society understand it better than those in power. They need their relationship with God and know they need it so they have spent time thinking and praying about it. Those in power need it too but they just aren’t as ready to recognize that need. They think they can get through life alone. It’s truly a first world problem, one many people suffer with today too.
After I finish this conversation with you JD Neal will be inviting us to recite a first century creed we find in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Some of the people reciting the creed in that day had first-hand experience with Jesus, and after his resurrection, the Risen Jesus. Paul is quoting a creed written by people who had that experience. They recited it in their mid-first century worship as we do the Nicene and the Apostles Creeds today. JD will have something to say about it before we begin. I invite all of you to listen closely to the belief structure as we recite it.
As we daily encounter the world today it is hard to reconcile a Christian belief structure to what we experience. And things are getting crazier by the day. There has never been a better time I believe to examine the question being asked by our theoretical stranger. What do we believe about God?
Do we believe in a God of love, humility, forgiveness, and reconciliation? To find out we are invited to do the work of theology, to examine what we know, and to study what we can learn about God in scripture, in prayer, and from each other. Only then are we capable of coming to our own conclusions about God. And we also know that as new information about God is encountered, we are free to rethink and update that understanding. In fact, God hopes we will I am convinced.
And then finally, when we are done and ready to answer the stranger’s question let’s take a look at the world around us. Is there a contrast between the God in which we believe and what we are experiencing in the world? Whose lead do we then personally choose to follow, God’s or humankind’s? Are we like the son that said he wasn’t going to work and then changed his mind and went? We can hope so.