A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21, Year A)
October 1, 2023
Text: Matthew 21:23-32
Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Several years ago, in September of 2016, a video was released online featuring our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry. This was only about a year after he was elected to serve as Presiding Bishop, and it was before the world knew him as the charismatic bishop who preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In the video, Bishop Curry talks about the Jesus Movement. Now, this should come as no surprise to any of you who have heard our Presiding Bishop speak or deliver a sermon. He loves to talk about the Jesus Movement!
For the past eight years, everyone in the Episcopal Church has been talking about it. In fact, the phrase has become so popular among Episcopalians that it’s even shown up in our merchandise. Yes! You, too, can buy a bumper sticker that says, “We are the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.”
But what, exactly, is the Jesus Movement?
We use that phase a lot, but I think it’s important that we talk about what it really means. In Bishop Curry’s video, he paints us a picture of what the Jesus Movement is by reflecting on an important moment that happens every week in our Sunday worship.
Slowly walking in the midst of the noise and busyness of Manhattan, the Bishop describes that moment in our liturgy when we stand and sing praises to God as we prepare our hearts and minds to receive God’s Word through the reading of the Gospel.
We stand, and we sing. The Gospel Book is held high as the procession moves from the Altar to the center of the Nave where the words and teachings of Jesus will be read in the midst of the people. And, as all of this is happening, everyone in the congregation turns in order to see the place where the Gospel will be proclaimed.
Quite literally, we turn toward Jesus, and in that moment, according to Bishop Curry, “the Church has become the Jesus Movement, with life re-oriented around the teachings of Jesus and around his very spirit— teachings and a spirit that embody the love of God in our lives and in this world.”
I love Bishop Curry’s message in the video, and I recommend that you go online and watch it for yourselves. It’s very short—only about four minutes long. All you have to do is go to YouTube and search for “Jesus Movement…Michael Curry.” You’ll be glad you did.
Often, when we hear the word, “movement,” we think about a group of people working together to make some kind of change happen in the world or a campaign focused on matters of equality or social justice. I think about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s or the movement for women’s voting rights in the early part of the twentieth century.
But, that’s not the kind of movement Bishop Curry is talking about. It’s not a rally for social or political change. It’s a movement that’s been going on for thousands of years, a movement of the heart that we, as members of the Body of Christ, have been called to continue and share with the world in our own time and place.
The Jesus Movement is what happens when the people of God stand up and re-orient themselves toward the Gospel. It’s the path we’ve been called to walk as followers of Christ.
In the Episcopal Church, the way we worship prepares us for the work that God has given us to do when we leave this place. So, there’s a reason why we stand and turn our bodies to face the place of the Gospel. Not only is it a sign of reverence for the words of Jesus, but it’s also preparing us to stand and turn toward Jesus in our everyday lives and to get back on track in those times when we’ve fallen short of our call.
In the language of the Church, we have a special word for when we turn or re-orient ourselves toward Jesus, and it’s one that we don’t use lightly. We call it repentance. Repentance is what happens when we turn away from the things that are weighing us down or holding us back in our relationship with God and turn back toward Christ.
And, it’s not something we do once or twice in our lives. It’s an ongoing, life-long series of mistakes and failures, of falling down and asking for forgiveness, of confessing our sins and making changes in our lives that will bring us closer to God. Thankfully, our God is a god of grace and mercy, and we’re given opportunities in our lives for true repentance, to turn from death to newness of life.
I think this is the point Jesus is trying to make in our lesson today from Matthew’s Gospel.
There are two parts to this Gospel reading. In the first part, the chief priests and elders of the people come to Jesus while he’s teaching in the temple and question his authority. This happens not long after Jesus arrives in Jerusalem along with his disciples. They ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
Well, Jesus knows exactly what these religious leaders are up to. They’re trying to trap him into a corner and publicly discredit him. If he claims his own authority, he’ll be seen as a fraud and false teacher. And, if he claims that his authority comes from God, he’ll be accused of blasphemy. It’s a dangerous situation for Jesus.
So, rather than playing the game of the chief priests and elders, Jesus turns the tables and asks them a question. “Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”
The religious leaders begin arguing amongst themselves, carefully weighing each option. They finally decide that there’s no good answer that won’t expose them to public scrutiny. If they answer, “from heaven,” the people will ask why they didn’t believe in John the Baptist. And, if they say, “of human origin,” the people who regarded John as a prophet will revolt. Their only concern in all of this is maintaining their authority and status among the people.
So, rather than answering the question, they say to Jesus, “We do not know.”
Then, Jesus tells them a parable about a father and his two sons. In the parable, the father asks both sons to go and work in the vineyard. The first son initially refuses his father’s request. But, after some time, he changes his mind and goes to work.
The second son immediately agrees to do as the father has asked but later decides not to go. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Without hesitation, they respond, “The first.” Jesus then says 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 prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”
The nineteenth-century Danish theologian, Søren Kierkegaard, once wrote a spiritual reflection on this parable entitled, “Under the Spell of Good Intentions.”
In his reflection, Kierkegaard suggests that the most important lesson from the parable is not how to distinguish the difference between what is and what isn’t God’s will but to learn the importance of being faithful to the vows we make before God.
Kierkegaard writes, “The good intention, the ‘Yes,’ taken in vain, the unfulfilled promise leaves a residue of despair, of dejection. We do not praise the son who said, ‘No,’ but we need to learn from the gospel how dangerous it is to say, ‘Lord, I will.’”
The son in the parable, who quickly responded, “I go, sir,” and later rejected the will of his father, and the chief priests and elders, who turned away from God when they refused to accept the teachings of John the Baptist, are examples of how quickly our good intentions and unfulfilled promises can cause us to turn our backs on God.
The Good News, though, is that God grants us the ability to change our minds—like the other son in the parable who first said, “No,” and later changed his mind and did what his father asked.
God grants us the ability to turn back when we’ve lost our way—to repent when we’ve fallen short. God knows that all of us are going to make mistakes from time to time, but even in those moments when we’re unfaithful, God is there. God isn’t done with us yet. There is mercy and forgiveness, and God is always ready to welcome us back home again. Amen.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 