Yes and No
from a sermon on Matthew 21:23-32
The elders, the leaders were challenging the mission of Jesus, His power, His authority. So they asked Him, who gave you this power, where does this force come from? And it quickly comes to the point of this heavy statement of Jesus: "I'm not going to tell you."
So the argument between Jesus and the church elders gets to this turning point, and comes to this parable. It's short but very thoughtful. The father has two sons and he goes to one of them and asks him to go and work in the vineyard, and the answer of the son is no, he just says "no". But later he changes his mind and goes anyway. And then he goes to the second son and asks the same thing, and the second son's answer is "yes, Lord, I will go and work", but he never goes. And Jesus explains the parable with a statement that is not very polite to say to a priest or an elder: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."
Then Jesus reminds them and us of a sermon that was preached by John the Baptist. It was about the kingdom of God being among us, but it too became tough; because among the sinners there were people who were absolutely certain that they were sons of Abraham. So they were listening to the word of God as sons of Abraham. Sons whose answer to the word was "yes, Lord", and they were very pleased by their yes, even proud of their yes. Of all the nations they were the first one whose answer to God was yes, and they received the Law. And we should not think that this is enough, because the yes that has been said and the yes that has been lived are very different. There is a very big gap between these two.
In similar argument on another occasion, Jesus Christ was saying to other people who were saying "our father is Abraham", "If you are the sons of Abraham you would do the things of Abraham." So if you said "yes" to the calling of God, then this has to show in your actions. A son of Abraham: of course all of us would like to be that, to be part of a tradition like that of this title. But this is not a simple thing. Do we want to go on the path of Abraham, a lot of obedience, and where did it bring him? To the altar, to Mount Moria. And this way cannot lead anywhere else. As sons of Abraham, this is the only way.
This is the way of sacrifice, obedience 'til the end. He who is a son of Abraham cannot avoid the altar -- you have to put yourself on the altar, because Abraham in his son put himself on the altar and could not avoid this. It's good to be a son of God as long as we can take the blessings coming from being chosen. It's good to be children of God as long as this will distinguish us from others in a flattering way, and it's not a problem to be a Christian. But when this also means I have to repent in spite of my "yes", that my theory has to sacrificed on the altar; we don't like this, it is very far away from us.
It's good to listen in peace and quiet to the sermon, but this question of God is very disturbing. What do you think about all this? What is your opinion about the fact that those who are not at this church service this morning, and don't want to come, may be ahead of us? They can overtake us. So what do you think about this? Those who said "no" to the calling of God can overtake those who said "yes". Those who had no chance to say "yes", no chance against those who said "yes", who don't have any titles, who don't possess the tradition.
God created us in such a way that we can say "no". It seems like we can say "yes" as well. But regardless of which you say, you cannot avoid one thing: the son who first said "no" changed his mind. What does this mean? This means that this person started to think differently. The parable doesn't say anything about how his mind changed, but it's a fact that he changed his mind.
Matthew who wrote down this story, what was in his mind when he said that the tax-collectors are ahead of us? What was in his heart? When he wrote "the tax-collectors", he wrote his name down here. This man's original answer was "no". This is how we all are born, with a "no" -- or if we say "yes", this also turns into a "no". This is how we are born, this is who we are. So this is very shocking, very disturbing. The life of Matthew was a very deliberate "no"; he stole, deceived, was corrupt, didn't care about the Sabbath day.
So what is present in our thoughts and actions? I started this sermon saying that it is very important to know from where the power of Jesus Christ is. And where do you see this power? When somebody starts to think differently. And this is the power of God. And this is this power that makes you re-think and re-examine all of your attitudes towards everything. And this could be the "yes" or the "no": you can say a very pious "yes" and that still hides the "no". Matthew changed his mind.
So Jesus came to turn rocks into sons of Abraham. Someone who had to rethink his life which began with the answer "yes" is the Apostle Paul -- he was circumcised, coming from a people with no shortcomings according to the Law. They were eager. This is all "yes", "yes, Lord, yes". But all these things that meant gain for me, I have to declare rubbish. They're garbage, so this man had to rethink his "yes". And this is what Jesus talks about, "yes, yes, Lord, Lord" and doing nothing, not going on this road, but forever saying "yes, yes". You can spend your entire Christian life like this: "yes, yes, Lord". And you have nothing to do with His kingdom.
We urgently need to think differently, especially when we say "yes". We should re-think our "yes", re-examine it. We need to be filled with the one real "yes" who is Jesus Christ. This is the one who was faithful until the end. So our answer "no", "yes", whatever, is penetrated with this force, this power, and we can think differently and turn to Him.
[PV]
No. Amen.
[AV, closing words of the stage play Long Friday]
The elders, the leaders were challenging the mission of Jesus, His power, His authority. So they asked Him, who gave you this power, where does this force come from? And it quickly comes to the point of this heavy statement of Jesus: "I'm not going to tell you."
So the argument between Jesus and the church elders gets to this turning point, and comes to this parable. It's short but very thoughtful. The father has two sons and he goes to one of them and asks him to go and work in the vineyard, and the answer of the son is no, he just says "no". But later he changes his mind and goes anyway. And then he goes to the second son and asks the same thing, and the second son's answer is "yes, Lord, I will go and work", but he never goes. And Jesus explains the parable with a statement that is not very polite to say to a priest or an elder: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."
Then Jesus reminds them and us of a sermon that was preached by John the Baptist. It was about the kingdom of God being among us, but it too became tough; because among the sinners there were people who were absolutely certain that they were sons of Abraham. So they were listening to the word of God as sons of Abraham. Sons whose answer to the word was "yes, Lord", and they were very pleased by their yes, even proud of their yes. Of all the nations they were the first one whose answer to God was yes, and they received the Law. And we should not think that this is enough, because the yes that has been said and the yes that has been lived are very different. There is a very big gap between these two.
In similar argument on another occasion, Jesus Christ was saying to other people who were saying "our father is Abraham", "If you are the sons of Abraham you would do the things of Abraham." So if you said "yes" to the calling of God, then this has to show in your actions. A son of Abraham: of course all of us would like to be that, to be part of a tradition like that of this title. But this is not a simple thing. Do we want to go on the path of Abraham, a lot of obedience, and where did it bring him? To the altar, to Mount Moria. And this way cannot lead anywhere else. As sons of Abraham, this is the only way.
This is the way of sacrifice, obedience 'til the end. He who is a son of Abraham cannot avoid the altar -- you have to put yourself on the altar, because Abraham in his son put himself on the altar and could not avoid this. It's good to be a son of God as long as we can take the blessings coming from being chosen. It's good to be children of God as long as this will distinguish us from others in a flattering way, and it's not a problem to be a Christian. But when this also means I have to repent in spite of my "yes", that my theory has to sacrificed on the altar; we don't like this, it is very far away from us.
It's good to listen in peace and quiet to the sermon, but this question of God is very disturbing. What do you think about all this? What is your opinion about the fact that those who are not at this church service this morning, and don't want to come, may be ahead of us? They can overtake us. So what do you think about this? Those who said "no" to the calling of God can overtake those who said "yes". Those who had no chance to say "yes", no chance against those who said "yes", who don't have any titles, who don't possess the tradition.
God created us in such a way that we can say "no". It seems like we can say "yes" as well. But regardless of which you say, you cannot avoid one thing: the son who first said "no" changed his mind. What does this mean? This means that this person started to think differently. The parable doesn't say anything about how his mind changed, but it's a fact that he changed his mind.
Matthew who wrote down this story, what was in his mind when he said that the tax-collectors are ahead of us? What was in his heart? When he wrote "the tax-collectors", he wrote his name down here. This man's original answer was "no". This is how we all are born, with a "no" -- or if we say "yes", this also turns into a "no". This is how we are born, this is who we are. So this is very shocking, very disturbing. The life of Matthew was a very deliberate "no"; he stole, deceived, was corrupt, didn't care about the Sabbath day.
So what is present in our thoughts and actions? I started this sermon saying that it is very important to know from where the power of Jesus Christ is. And where do you see this power? When somebody starts to think differently. And this is the power of God. And this is this power that makes you re-think and re-examine all of your attitudes towards everything. And this could be the "yes" or the "no": you can say a very pious "yes" and that still hides the "no". Matthew changed his mind.
So Jesus came to turn rocks into sons of Abraham. Someone who had to rethink his life which began with the answer "yes" is the Apostle Paul -- he was circumcised, coming from a people with no shortcomings according to the Law. They were eager. This is all "yes", "yes, Lord, yes". But all these things that meant gain for me, I have to declare rubbish. They're garbage, so this man had to rethink his "yes". And this is what Jesus talks about, "yes, yes, Lord, Lord" and doing nothing, not going on this road, but forever saying "yes, yes". You can spend your entire Christian life like this: "yes, yes, Lord". And you have nothing to do with His kingdom.
We urgently need to think differently, especially when we say "yes". We should re-think our "yes", re-examine it. We need to be filled with the one real "yes" who is Jesus Christ. This is the one who was faithful until the end. So our answer "no", "yes", whatever, is penetrated with this force, this power, and we can think differently and turn to Him.
[PV]
No. Amen.
[AV, closing words of the stage play Long Friday]
posted by CS at 12:08 AM
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