Mathew 21:28-32  (KJV) (RSV) (NIV)
July 22,2001

"PERFORMANCE, NOT PROMISE"

Some years ago, when I was Co-minister at North Shore Church in Fox Point, my colleague, Harry dark, preached a series of sermons on the topic, "Things I wish Jesus had never said". For the next two weeks, I am' going to be preaching on two stories from Matthew 21. Both of these stories fall under that classification.

These stories are tough.  Jesus does not say things we want to hear.  As Ernest Campbell, former minister at Riverside Church, said on one occasion, "If these don't rub your hair the wrong way, you don't have hair."

Those of you who are sports fans, know the most frustrating part of being a manager or a coach is to have an athlete who shows great promise, one in whom high hopes and a lot of money is invested, only to find that the performance never matches the promise.  Gridirons, diamonds and courts are littered with the remains of promising athletes who never performed well.

This scriptural story appears in Matthew's gospel, after the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  In our liturgical year, we call that Palm Sunday.  It is a confusing day, because most of Christendom celebrates it as a triumphant ride into Jerusalem.  What made this event confusing, is that for the average person, this was a day of promise.  Most knew little about Jesus, because whatever religious convictions they had, were steeped in the literature of the Old Testament, and Jesus was known only by reputation and hearsay.

Most were aware of the Jewish concept of Messiah.  The pious believed that the age would end when Elijah returned, and the Messiah would appear.  Many hoped that Jesus would be this Messiah. He was a religious personality of promise.  Clearly, Jesus did not fulfill the promise they hoped for.  Instead of a triumphant ruler who restored the political fortunes of Israel, they got a leader who hung on a cross, bled, and died.

Now, centuries later, we believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but his concept of Messiahship was not the triumphant Messiah of Hebrew literature.  Neither was the Kingdom for which Jesus died, a political reality, where one nation got preferential treatment over others.  It was, instead, a kingdom of service and faithful living.

Jesus has come into Jerusalem.  He has driven the money traders out of the temple in a remarkable scene of righteous anger.  He is now seen healing the sick, comforting the poor, paying great attention to the children and even acknowledging with affection the reality of women.  People are being attracted to this solitary and unique figure, and it is driving the leaders of the Temple mad.  Their way has been upstaged, and control is eroded.  The leaders come right at Jesus:  "By whose authority are you doing these things?"  Jesus confronts them with a question, "The baptism of John: is it from the authority of heaven, or of humans?"  That caused them to argue among themselves. "If we say from heaven, he will say, 'Then, why don't you believe in the validity of John's baptisms?'  If we say from men, the crowd will turn on us because they think he is a prophet." So they answered, "We don't know."  Jesus said, "Well, I won't tell you by what authority I do these things."  Then, when he had their undivided attention, he told them this story.

A father had two sons.  The father asked both to work for him.  The first said, "No!", but later went.  The second said, "Yes!" but never showed up.  Which do you think did the will of the Father?  They gave the only answer that they could; they said the first.

In essence, Jesus then said, "Don't you get it?  You know the right words; you deal with them everyday. Can't you see the presence of God in my works?  You fight me all the way.  You raise questions and stir rumors.  You do everything, except think that you, too, need to change."

"Look around you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes; those who cheat steal and lie are being changed.  They, not you: the pious, stoic religious leaders.  They are following me into the kingdom of God, not you."  I doubt that Jesus made any friends among the temple leaders that day.  This story of Jesus speaks to me in different ways.  In the first instance, it seems to me that this is "the way life is."  It is ambivalent; it is usually not black or white; it is gray.  When we are faced with an issue that is easily right or wrong, a decision is easy.  It is when the issue is gray and we have to choose from the lesser of two evils or the better of two goods ..... that's when decisions are tough.  People who see things in black-and-white terms tend to have all the answers; but, in my view, they are usually very severe and really not practical.

I find that I have very little patience with people who seem to be certain about who is or who is not a true believer.  I've been concerned about a group within our Congregational fellowship who are so certain about what a TRUE Christian Church is, that they are willing to withdraw fellowship from others because of their differing ways.  Who gave these people the power of omniscience?  It seems to me that they are acting in a very unchristian manner by being so exclusive.

I've had it with these self-righteous individuals who insist that their point of view is the correct one.  They are exactly the people about whom Jesus was talking.  And, may I say, one of the dangers in our Congregational Way is that some are so convinced of the rightness of our cause and our method of governance, that they don't deal with Christianity as a faith.  We have people who know the Congregational story and who can tell you a ton of reasons why they are not something else, but they have a tough time telling you what they do believe.  We must guard against such an attitude.  We must, I believe, be tenacious in our understanding and conviction about the Congregational Way, but we must also realize that there are many of differing understanding, who are also very good Christians.  Our conviction about ecclesiastical governance is not a litmus test for determining who embraces the truth.

By outward appearances, the religious leaders of Jesus time were very religious.  They knew all the right terms.  They were aware of the conduct that was expected.  They knew or at least were supposed to know that God had accepted them in their flawed condition.  Yet, they were the very ones who were critical of Jesus, and they were also the one's who were the recipients of Jesus wrath.  In fact, it is the religious leaders throughout the New Testament who are the subject of Jesus' anger, because they put legalism and methodology, above performance and sincerity.

In this story, Jesus spells out the exact condition that God faces.  Humans are constantly promising to do this or that and seldom measuring up to the extent of the promise.  If God were not forgiving and accepting, we would all be lost.  Is it not reasonable that God expects us to be accepting and forgiving?

I remember very well as a kid, that the visiting evangelists who came to our little town in British Columbia always stayed at our home.  My Father was enamored, I think, by these preachers who literally scared the hell out of us.  Anyhow, one of them who came said he was preaching sermons on temperance, but they were really sermons on abstinence.  No problem there, if that is his conviction.  But he was a huge, fat man, and when meals were served at out home, he ate like a pig. He wanted temperance?  He should have practiced some.

I think that I read the same Bible as others, though, sometimes I'm not sure.  I find that Jesus was very specific in a few requirements, like loving God with all our heart and soul and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.  That's about it, and friends, I don't need to remind you that is tough to do just that.  But, every now and then, when I'm in a masochistic mood, I turn on the religious channels on TV.  It's amazing!  I haven't the faintest idea where they get all their stuff, but they find material in the Bible that I simply can't.  Then, to add insult to injury, some of them try to sell me on ideas and techniques that were valid at the time of the writers, but we have long since discarded.

The job of the contemporary preacher is to make the scriptures meaningful and understandable in today's terms.  The truths of the Bible are eternally true, but the vehicles that carry the truths change.  We miss the point of the scriptures if we literalize the truth carriers.  What the stories are saying is the issue.  Jesus is saying to the authorities, my authority to do what I do does not come from you.  You are not the ones who control my actions.  I do what I do, because that is what I believe God has called me to do.  And I do what I do, in the spirit of love and acceptance.  Like God, the father in this story may have been disappointed that the promise of his son did not translate into performance, but there is no evidence that the father stopped loving either of his sons, or stopped hoping they would perform to the level of their promise.

Shakespeare caught the whole essence of this story; in fact, he characterized humanity quite correctly in his great play, King Lear.  Lear prepares to divide his Kingdom among his daughters.  The test is one of verbal assurance.  The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan pass the test with flying colors by gushing forth the depth of their love for their father.

Cordelia, the younger, is more reticent.  She loves her father dearly, but is unwilling to make the extravagant claims of her sisters.  As the play nears its end, the elder daughters have turned against their father. Their promises never resulted in performance.  Cordelia, has come to the rescue of her father because she has heard of his difficulties but, alas, she comes too late.  Undaunted, she does what she can, including accompanying Lear to prison.  She is, in fact, willing to die with him.

Too late, because both Lear and Cordelia are now prisoners of Edmund, the out- of-wedlock-son-of-Lear, who is in love with the widow Regan.  Goneril is jealous, so she poisons her sister Regan and then commits suicide when the deed is found out.  Albany, Goneril's supposedly weak husband arrests Edmund, but it is too late to prevent Cordelia's hanging, because of Edmund's orders.

Lear, a feeble broken-hearted figure enters the stage with the body of Cordelia whom he now knows performed as she promised.  Kent, the faithful one, utters words at the end of the play -

"I have a journey sir, shortly to go;

My master calls me, I must not say no."

and Edgar Lear's son who sees only the good, says

"The weight of this sad time, we must obey,

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."

(Act V, Scene III)

The final test for your life and mine lies not so much in knowledge or proper language, not in outward show or prestige received.  What God wants, is not just promises . . . God wants our performance.

Along with Kent, let us say, "My master calls me; I must not say no."