Sept. 28, 2011 16th of Pentecost

Matthew 21:23-32

    23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
   24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
   They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
   27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
   Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
  28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
   29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
   30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
   31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
   “The first,” they answered.
   Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.


 “Changed Into His Likeness”

“It is not easy to ‘change our minds and believe’ something we don’t want to believe.
We do it slowly, cautiously, reluctantly, if we do it at all.  Most of the time we try not do it at all.”

All too often even our religious beliefs help us to not change our minds and believe something new and different.  To not get “a new heart and a new spirit.”  Ezek. 18:31

Going to church is meant to be a change agent in our lives.  So we can  “be of the same mind as was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”
Phil. 2:5-7

We are not to just live in the past and stay locked in our old paradigms.  We are to be ‘guided in the way of salvation’ and say yes to what is yet to be.  This also means we will have to say no to some of what has been.

For the fact is, “the absolutes of yesterday become the obsoletes of today.”

There is only one absolute - “God is love!”  Everything else is relative and up for grabs.

To say yes to love is to say yes to change as a way of life; change into His likeness!

“No = Yes”

The parable of the two sons is a biting parable which confronts the people of Jesus day - and us, who are trying to be religious, moral, good, and God fearing  - with the disturbing truth that it is not enough to just talk the talk.  It is necessary to walk the walk.  That means we may have to do something we don’t want to do, something we are not inclined to do, something we even say no to, then have a change our heart, and go do it.

It is better to say no and mean it then to say yes and not mean it.  In fact, we cannot say “yes” without  also saying “no”.  No is an important little word which establishes our identity, gives us dignity, and opens the door to our choosing to say yes.

To say “yes” to God is to never be free again to go our own way and do our own thing without a second thought as to what this means to others.  It is to live out our words in how we handle our money, our time, our gifts, our energy.  It is to be deeply aware that what God asks of us is not easy, yet it is full of grace and love, which makes it more then worth while.