Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Mt 21:23-32)
A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” And he answered, “I will not”, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, “I go, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “the first.”
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the book of Genesis, chapter 41, the prisoner Joseph is called to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams: 2 dreams in fact – one about seven ugly cows swallowing up seven fat cows, and the other one about seven withered ears of wheat swallowing up seven good ears. And Pharaoh says to Joseph, “And I told it to the magicians, but there was none who could explain it to me.”
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.” – He then goes on the interpret the dreams and then he says, “And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dreams means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.”
Listen to these words again: “The doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.”
Often God does things in twos. He tells you what you should not do, and he tells you what you should do. He shows you what is good, and he shows you what is bad.
In Hebrews 4, the word of God is compared to a “double edged sword.” It is a sword which works in two ways – one: to cut you to the heart, two: to save you from your enemies. One: to show you your sin and threaten you, two: to defeat sin, death and the devil. The word of God is a merciless blade which leaves no heart, no human flesh unscathed: but it pierces the side of your loving Saviour on the cross showing you water and blood flowing out and washing all over you.
Today, we see this living and active word of God working in the sacrament of Holy Baptism, as Sophia Fandrich and her old nature is killed and destroyed, and raised to new life with Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead.
The word of God is living and it is active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
So it’s no wonder that God shows us his will, reveals his will to us in twos, with two blades, two sharp edges.
Jesus often shows us two examples and cuts a dividing line between them. So we have a wise man with his house built on sand, we have a foolish man with his house built on a rock. And the rain came down, and the floods came up. You know the rest of the story. But you are either one or the other. You are either in column A or in column B. There is no half-foolish half-wise man with his house built on a rubber hovercraft. Jesus cuts you in half – either your house is on rock or it is on sand.
Or there’s the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee says, “I thank you, God, that I am not like that tax-collector over there.” The tax collector says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” You are either one or the other. There’s no half-Pharisee or half-tax-collector in between.
Or what about Lazarus and the rich man? You are either one or the other. You are either feasting sumptuously every day dresses in fancy clothes, or you are having your sores licked by dogs. Which one’s it going to be? You will either be in the bosom of Abraham on one side of the chasm or you will be in agony on the other side.
If there is a man beaten half-dead in your path, you are either walking on one side of the road with the priest and Levite or you are bandaging the man and pouring out wine and oil with the Samaritan. There’s no half-way.
On the last day, there will be sheep on the right, goats on the left. There’s no halfway breed like the mule, the liger or the labradoodle. You’ll either be a sheep or a goat.
You see how Jesus always gives us two examples. He reveals his will in twos. He presents to us the law of God with all his strictness, weight and severity. But he also presents to us the gospel with all its sweetness, its refreshment, it’s delightfulness.
On the day of Easter, Jesus breathed on his apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father has sent you, even so, I am sending you. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness, unforgiven they remain.”
There’s only two tasks that the apostles and all pastors of the church can do if they want to act with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. Forgive sin or withhold it. The door of heaven is either opened for people or it is shut. The keys to the kingdom of heaven either open the lock or they bolt it shut.
If this is how pastors should operate in their preaching and pastoral care and in their ministry, if this is how the ministry of called and ordained servants of the word operate, it’s no wonder then that Jesus does the same, because he says, “As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you.”
So in our gospel reading today, a man has two sons. Not one, not three, not four: two.
So the question I ask on this beautiful Sunday morning in Toowoomba is: which one are you? Are you the first son or the second son? If we don’t ask that question, we’ve missed the point. Jesus sets before us two sons – # 1 son, and # 2 son. You are either the first one, or you are the second one.
Jesus is calling out to us in this parable, as in the Deuteronomy: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”
Two sons: one is a man of life, one is a man of death. Which one are you going to be?
We read: “A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” And he answered, “I will not,” but afterwards he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, “I go, sir,” but did not go. Which one of the two did the will of his father?”
We have to admit that both of these sons are a bit dodgy, to say the least. There’s nothing perfect about either of these two sons. And Jesus knows full well that none of us are perfect. We are all a bit crooked, all have our fair share of dodginess. We are all conceived and born in sin. Every thought, word and action of us, is tainted by this corruption, by constant disobedience.
Just a couple of words about this: Sin, and especially the teaching of original sin is something that we learn about only through the word of God. We can’t learn the depth of sin by looking at ourselves, or at a new-born child. Most parents don’t see this at all – at of course they don’t see it. They love their new-born children. They think they’re perfect. That’s what love is: “love holds no record of wrong.” But that love shouldn’t get in the way of the teaching of Scripture. The word of God still tells us that all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. God said it, I believe it, that settles it.
So Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” And St Peter says: “Baptism now saves you.” God’s word said it, I believe it, that settles it.
Baptism is not our work though, but it is the work of God. It is his powerful creative work, where he sends a person the Holy Spirit, life and salvation and forgiveness, freely, because Christ died for that person and rose again for that person, that child, and gives all of this without any contribution at all on the part of the person being baptised.
Any contribution on our part would always be tainted and corrupted, like one the two sons in our reading today. It would always have a bad smell, it would always be a bit dodgy. Only Jesus is perfect. Only his sacrifice on the cross is perfect. That’s why he has to give everything to us through baptism and through the hearing of the word of God.
Which brings us back to the these two tainted sons in our reading. One says, “No, I won’t go”, but then he changes his mind. The second one says, “Yes, I will go”, and doesn’t.
This simple situation which Jesus puts before us can be applied on all sorts of different levels. And we can see the problem with these two men, we can see the sin in each one. The second son is particularly dangerous. The second one says, “yes” and then doesn’t do what his father says. We don’t have any choice about being a sinner: but what sort of sinner?
But the reason why Jesus tells this parable is because in the first part of our gospel reading today, the chief priests don’t recognise the authority of Jesus. They don’t see the divinity of God the Father radiating from his face, they don’t hear the voice of the one who created the heavens and the earth echo out from his mouth. This is the great sin: not to recognise the authority of Jesus. Most sins in the church have to do with not recognising the authority and the presence of Jesus – not recognising him present in the church, standing among his disciples behind closed doors, not recognising him in the sacraments, working salvation through holy Baptism, not recognising and discerning his body and blood truly and physically present in the Lord’s Supper – and also, not recognising the work of Jesus through his called and ordained shepherd, the pastor, whom he sends to congregations. When we sin against these things, we sin against the authority of Jesus. We don’t recognise the authority of Jesus where he has put in. We don’t see him standing right here in the midst of the church of God on earth, amongst the seven golden lampstands, with the seven stars in his hands.
In our reading today, the chief priests and the elders say: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you a question: the baptism of John, was it from heaven or from man?” They talk among themselves: “If we say “from heaven” he will say, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “from man” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold him to be a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Listen to their answer: “We do not know.” They lie – of course, they know the answer, but they don’t want to accuse themselves, they don’t want to repent. They don’t want to cut themselves with God’s own sword. The words “we don’t know” deserve no place in the church. If God says something in the Scripture, the words “We don’t know” are simply not a satisfactory answer. Luther said that pastors should never ask for forgiveness after preaching a sermon, because you shouldn’t apologise to God for speaking his word! There is no altar to an unknown God in our churches, and the words “We don’t know” deserve no place in our pulpits. Jesus wants you to know – he wants you to recognise his authority – he wants the scales from your eyes to be peeled away, like with St Paul. Jesus says, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find.” Shut your open mouth and your open mind on something solid. God kept the mystery of his will hidden for the ages, and now he has revealed it to us in Jesus Christ. He wants us to know his will. He wants to pour out on us all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He wants our sins to be forgiven through Christ’s holy and precious blood.
When Jesus says to you, “Who do you say that I am?” it’s no good to say, “We don’t know.” Instead we need to look him in the face, kneel before him in his holy presence, and say, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Which brings us back to the first son. He says, “No”, but then he changes his mind afterwards and goes.
After our parable today, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”
There is only one way to enter heaven and that is to join forces with tax-collectors and – yes! – prostitutes, and acknowledge that you were wrong when you said to your heavenly Father, “No, I will not go.”
All of us sin, you know. We all say to God, “No” and if we do the will of God and believe the gospel, it is only because God has won us back to him, and allowed the Holy Spirit to call us back and change our mind. Nobody recognises the authority and the divinity and the real presence of Christ at first – everyone changes their mind later on. Jesus gradually reveals to us his presence and his glory in the church bit by bit as we can take it, he shows us his Holy Spirit in the font, his body and blood on the altar, his judgments in the absolution of the pastor. Each week we are being lead more deeply into these realities, each week we are enabled to see heaven on earth more fully, until we die when we see everything we believed in by faith on earth.
That’s the cross of preaching too – because pastors preach week after week, and rarely see their work bear any fruit. That’s because we all say, “no” and change our minds later. Even now, I look back at sermons I heard ten years ago, and realise that the seeds that were sown all the way back then are now bearing fruit. Pray for your pastor to have patience. Preaching requires great patience and it requires a trust that the word we preach is good seed.
So as we come to the Lord’s table today, let’s recognise the authority of Jesus anew and afresh, and say “yes” to our Lord not with words only like the second son, but turn away from the “no”s of our past like the first son.
God is in his holy temple. He is here to forgive you. He is here to show you the death and resurrection of his Son. He is here to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. He has come to build your house upon a rock. He has come to take you to Abraham’s bosom. He has come to open the kingdom of heaven for you and usher you in through the doors. That’s what the church is.
It’s not the time to say “We don’t know”, but it is the time of salvation, of certainty, of faith, of confidence. Now is the time that Jesus with authority does these things.
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, protect us from saying to you, “Yes” with our mouth like the first son, though we refuse to believe in your promises. But shows us all those places where we have said, “no” and denied you, change our minds, and shower us with every gift of your Holy Spirit, especially the forgiveness of all our sins, through our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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