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September 22, 2002
18th Sunday of Pentecost
Matthew 21:28-32
Pastor Joel Zank

The Way of Righteousness

(Matthew 21:28-32) "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.' "'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 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.

In the name of Jesus who alone is the way, the truth and the life, dear sons and daughters of God,

You're familiar with the "Body" brothers aren't you-Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and last (and least), Nobody? You know them because their names came up when it was announced that there was an important job to be done. Everybody was asked to do it, but Everybody was sure that Somebody else would do it. As it turns out Anybody could have done, but in the end, Nobody did it.

I mention the "Body" brothers today because they remind me of the two brothers Jesus talks about in the parable that serves as our text. The Savior has an important spiritual truth for us to consider today-a truth that has do with the road to heaven or as Jesus refers to it, "the way of righteousness." Jesus wants all who hear his words to know that the way of righteousness is not paved with good appearances, rather it is marked by faithful responses. So that we may better understand and apply the Savior's parable to our own lives, it's good for us to know when and why Jesus first spoke it.

Our text takes us to Jerusalem where we meet up with Jesus on Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus has spent the last couple of days instructing his followers and confronting his enemies. In fact, it was on Monday that Jesus had cleansed the Temple, tossing out of his Father's House all who sought to make it a den of thieves. It was apparently that action in particular that had upset the Jewish leadership, the chief priests and the elders of the people, prompting them to ask Jesus, "By what authority are you doing these things?" (Matthew 21:23). Of course, they weren't really looking to learn something about Jesus. They had already judged him to be a trouble maker. They asked their question in hopes that they might use his answer to discredit him in front of his followers. Reading their hearts like an open book, Jesus avoids their trap by answering their question with one of his own. 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 from men?" (Matthew 21:24-25). As soon as the chief priests heard the question, they knew they were in trouble. If they told Jesus that John the Baptist's ministry came from God, then they would have to say the same about Jesus, for John had proclaimed Jesus to be promised Savior from sin. On the other hand, if the Jewish leadership spoke what was really on their hearts, that they believed John, like Jesus was a fake, well then, the people would revolt against them because the people believed John to be a great prophet from God.

So how would the leaders answer Jesus? They would take coward's way out and lie. They shrugged their shoulders and told Jesus, "We don't know who gave John authority to baptize and preach." Most likely they weren't too happy with their own answer, but it seemed safe. Apparently they were willing to score this confrontation with Jesus as a draw. They hoped to turn tail and run. But Jesus wasn't finished with them. You see, he had come to save these people from their sins too. He wanted them to know the truth about John's work and about himself. So he told them a parable about a father who asked each of his two sons to go to work in the family vineyard. The first son told his father, "I will not, but later he changed his mind and went" (v. 29). The second son answered, "I will, sir,' but he did not go" (v. 30). The second son was all talk. Even the Jewish leaders thought so. When Jesus asked them, "Which of the two did what the father wanted?" (v. 31), they correctly answered "The first" - the one who said he wouldn't work, but then changed his mind.

Without realizing it, the chief priests and elders were condemning themselves. The very point Jesus wanted to make was that those leaders were just like the second son. When it came to religion they were all talk. When it came to worship, they were all show. By all appearances they seemed to be model children of God, telling all who would listen, "Yes sir! We do what God wants us to do. We always go to worship. We observe all the religious festivals and we offer up every kind of sacrifice God requires of us." But what they conveniently ignored was what God has to say about repentance. In Psalm 51, the Lord inspired King David to write, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;" (Psalm 51:17). The one thing that God wanted those religious leaders to do, they would not do. They would not acknowledge their sin. Because as they saw it, repentance was for the really bad people of this world, people like prostitutes and thieving tax collectors, not religious people like themselves. Sounds like one of those "Body" brothers doesn't it? Like everybody they thought John's message was for somebody else, in this case they thought repentance was for the nobodies of this world. They thought repentance was for anybody but themselves. Now for the real irony: When the message of John the Baptist touched the hearts of many prostitutes and tax collectors, when many repented and turned to Jesus for forgiveness, not even then did the chief priests and elders conclude that John's message about Christ was from God. Not even then did they think that Jesus might have come to save them as well. Instead they laughed at Jesus when he told them, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."(John 6:29). They, who seemed so eager to do the father's work, never got around to it. They were too concerned with outward appearances to give any thought to the inner condition of their sin-sick hearts and their desperate need for a Savior.

My friends, that same thing isn't happening to us is it? Are we, like those chief priests, more concerned with appearances than repentance? Are we like that second son? Has our Christianity become all talk? Do we spend our days putting on a good show for one another, trying to look like model sons and daughters of God on the outside, while on the inside we're rotten to the spiritual core? Do we live to confess our sins to God and to each other or do we spend more time making excuses for our wrongs? How easy it is to fall into Satan's trap, supposing that the finger-pointing, sin-exposing message of God's commandments is a sermon meant for everybody and anybody other than ourselves. Oh how pleased we are to think ourselves closer to God because our lives appear so much holier than the lives of all those sinners around us. How tempting it is to become satisfied with appearances.

But know this! The road to heaven isn't paved with good appearances. Appearances don't mean a thing to God. The person who only looks likes a Christian will end up in hell. So says Jesus, warning every Christian imposter, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you." (v. 31). Oh how these words must have stung in the ears of the Jewish leadership. The nobodies of society were entering heaven before this group of self-professed somebodies. Why? Weren't those nobodies terrible sinners? Oh yes, the prostitutes and tax collectors were just like that first son in Jesus' parable, the son who had told the father, "I will not go and work." The tax collectors and prostitutes were people who by their lifestyle had told the heavenly Father, "No, we don't want to do your will. We want to live as we please."

Isn't that the same thing we tell the heavenly Father as often as we enter into sin-"No Father, I don't want to put you first in my life, I want to indulge my sinful nature instead. I want to drink enough beer to make life's troubles go away-every night if I choose; and if my language is filthy, I don't need you telling me to clean it up. And that business about loving my neighbor - I don't want to. I'd rather be angry with him instead. No Father, I won't do what you want." We're like that first son all right-just as stubborn, just as selfish as he was. But pray that the similarity doesn't end there. For when the first son came face to face with his sin, he had a change of heart and headed to the vineyard to work. In the same way when many of those prostitutes and tax collectors heard the Baptizer's message they repented and turned to Jesus for saving help.

What about us? Here we are - people who possess the worst traits of both sons in Christ's parable. Today Jesus shows us that while traveling the road to heaven we have veered off course many times, getting lost on detours of sin and hypocrisy. We are guilty and stand before God convicted of the worst kinds of offenses. And yet, in his love Jesus is not ready to disown us. Rather he comes to us sinners to show us that he's the way of righteousness. He alone is the road to heaven for us sinners. So Jesus comes to us as God's perfect Son; he comes to cover our stubbornness and pride with his righteousness, his holiness, so that we may still claim a place in God's family. Jesus comes to us to remind us that he has already taken the blame for our rebellion. He went before God on a Friday long ago to take ownership of our sin. On that day he became the rebel. He became the hypocrite. He became every sin and every sinner to face God's anger, to suffer hell's torment so that we might never have to know what it's like to be disowned by our God. Jesus comes to us today as our victorious Savior who after paying the wages of our sin, made death turn him loose so that he could do the work of God, namely the work of giving us faith to believe in him, faith that makes his life and death and victory our dearest possession in this life and the one to come.

Thanks to Jesus you and I are in the kingdom of God. We're on the way of righteousness, the road to heaven, a road paved not with our good appearances or works, but with the blood of Christ. As we travel heavenward there is nothing for us to do, but to mark each day of our journey with expressions of gratitude, responses of faith that demonstrate that we know and believe that Jesus is the one who has brought us this far and Jesus is the one who will see us safely home. There is no better way to do this than to live a life of daily repentance, always acknowledging our sins against God, always bringing them to him in a spirit of sorrow and humility, always pleading for his forgiveness and, then, always rejoicing in his promise that we are his forgiven sons and daughters. Our faithful responses to such abundant grace will certainly include an effort to turn away from our sinful habits, an effort to meet with our God more often in Word and sacrament, an effort to serve each other in love, an effort to share the gospel with all - the list is endless. All the faithful responses that mark our journey along the way of righteousness are engendered by God's love, empowered by his Spirit and are limited only by our own imaginations. So go to it, dear friends, live life as the forgiven people you are, for Jesus' sake. Amen.