God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Three A’s: Acts, Authority and
Answer. My focus is Matthew 21: 23-27. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”[1] Now that our feet are
within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit
enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we
pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
When I think of Three
A’s (or AAA), what comes to mind is the American Automobile Association. But
did you know that there are 170 definitions for AAA, including Antique
Automobile Association, American Accounting Association, American
Accordionists' Association, Atheist and Agnostic Association, Area Agency on
Aging, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Anti-Aircraft Artillery, a
college degree (Associate of Applied Arts) and a battery size.
My Three A’s –
Acts, Authority and Answer – all have to deal with our Gospel, that is, the
acts that occurred before Jesus is confronted, the meaning of authority, and
the answer of the chief priests and elders.
First, Acts.
Chapter 21 opens with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. As he did, people
spread their cloaks or leafy tree branches on the road, while shouting, “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest!” And when some asked “Who is this?”, the
crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee”
(21:1-11).
The chapter
continues with Jesus entering the temple where he expelled buyers and sellers,
overturned money-changers’ tables while declaring, “It is written, ‘My
house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers” (21:12-13).
Meanwhile, Jesus
healed the blind and the lame as children shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of
David!” When confronted by indignant chief priests and scribes who saw
and heard these wonderful things, Jesus cited the psalm which reads, “Out
of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise”
(Ps 8:2). After that, Jesus left Jerusalem. The next morning, after he cursed a
figless tree, he returned to the temple. That brings us to today’s passage.
The chief priests
and elders confront Jesus about “these things.” They are the acts entering
Jerusalem, expelling money changers, healing blind and lame people, and the
acclamations by babes for the Son of David.
Up to this point,
these chief priests and elders of the Temple would not have had much occasion
to clash with Jesus in the Galilean countryside, and their question had only to
do with these acts within the city and temple. And so, as he is teaching, he is
confronted, which fits beautifully into the scope of the passage as Jesus is
Teacher. That concludes point one, acts, and begins point two, authority.
The word authority
means power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior. At times, it
is given by another person in authority such as the president or some local
official. Authority also means grounds or warrant, as in an excellent authority
for believing the claim. An expert may be called as an authority to testify in
the court as an authority.
Although our text
translates the word used in our passage as authority, the Greek word used, exousia,
actually means power. Authority without real power is illusory. Exousia
is God’s power given to Jesus, or the power Jesus gave his disciples.
This power
represents the absolute possibility of action that is proper to God alone as
the source of all power and legality.[2] For example, while God
gives power to Jesus, He also enables others to exercise power. In Luke we read
how the devil took Jesus “up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority
and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will’”
(4:5-6).
God also gave
power to those who arrested and killed Jesus. “Jesus said to the chief
priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him,
‘Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with
you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your
hour, and the power of darkness’” (Lk 22:52-53).
Power is given by
God to the beast in Revelation, where we read, “The beast was given a
mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise
authority for forty-two months. … Also, it was allowed to make war on the
saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and
people and language and nation” (7:5,7). Yet, God’s will encompasses
Satan’s sphere of dominion. And the final mystery of evil is not its power but
the fact that this hostile power may still be encompassed by God’s overruling.[3]
In addition to
possessing divine power, Christ also possessed the divine right to freely share
his power. In the Great Commission, Jesus said to the Eleven, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18), and
he gave it to them.
Now, lest you
think that this power was simply to make church law, know that it is much more
than who can receive Communion or be married. The power that Christ gave to his
disciples and the Church is cosmic. We read in John, “He came to his own,
and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were
born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God” (1:11-13). And later, “Father, the hour has come; glorify
your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over
all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him”
(17:1-2). Several weeks ago, we read in Matthew, “All things have been
handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and
no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to
reveal him” (11:27).
Christ used his
power to forgive sins (Mk 2:10), expel demons (Mk 3:15) and teach (Mt 7:29;
9:8; Mk 11:28; Lk 4:36). As a believer, you have received this power, for you
are children of God possessing the promise of everlasting life (Jn 1:12).
With this
understanding of the divine power that Jesus possessed and shared, we turn to
our passage. By what authority was Jesus doing these things, and who gave him
this authority? We already know that His Father gave him authority, but his
confronters are blind, and to them Jesus poses a counter-question.
Now, to us, this
may seem like Jesus is employing an evasion tactic, like 99% of elected or
appointed government officials use, but this is a rabbinic question and
counter-question conversation used to establish the truth of a matter.[4] So, Jesus appeals to a
recent example, John the Baptist, and waits for his accusers to answer.
The question showed
the lack of honesty of Jesus’ enemies. For Jesus, John’s baptism came from God
for He himself was baptized by John. On the contrary, they did not accept the
message of John and did not consider his baptism from God.
That brings me to
my third point, answer. The priests and the elders were aware of the importance
or significance of Jesus’ question. After some discussion regarding John’s
authority to baptize, they answered, “We don’t know.” This shows
that they were incapable of recognizing authentic authority. We know why they
answered Jesus as they did. The Gospels tell us that they feared looking foolish
or being stoned. Yet, this did not prevent them from taking part in the death
of Jesus.[5]
Their response is
a pretense. Their only interest was not to lose their power over the people. As
a group, they already decided that Jesus should be condemned to death (Mt
12:14). Their total lack of honesty made them unworthy to receive an answer
from Jesus.
Without sounding
presumptuous, as believers we know by whose authority John and Jesus acted. We
also believe that Jesus rose from the dead and lives eternally. Furthermore, we
believe that we too will live eternally because Jesus promised that to his
believers. But what bearing does that belief place on us today? How are we to
live not only as individuals but also as community, as church?
We not only say we
will do what God asks, but we do it daily. Jesus says repent, we repent. He
commands us to carry our cross and follow him, we follow. He instructs us to
let others see our good works, we show them. We love our enemies and forgive
without counting the number of times. We pray, fast and give alms to the poor.
We do all this because Jesus is Lord, Savior and Master. We learn from him,
obey him and love him. To us, nothing matters more than doing what our Lord
commands; and, we do all things without disputing or grumbling (Phil 2:14).
Friends, we are
equal brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are not equal to God, and we do not
grasp at being equal to Him. Even if we can’t physically get down on our knees,
I ask that we recognize in our hearts, minds, lips and acts that Jesus Christ
is Lord, and humbly obey whatever He commands us. And when we do, may the peace
of God that surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
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