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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you may recall the radio and then TV show “Truth or Consequences”; it was hosted at first by Ralph Edwards, then by Jack Bailey, and then, when I was watching the show, by Bob Barker. On the show, contestants were asked an off-the-wall quiz-type question, which they quickly had to answer with the “truth” or else face the “consequences”, often in the form of “a zany and embarrassing stunt”. Truth and consequences are at the center of today’s Gospel Reading, but the “truth” is not some trivial matter, and the “consequences” are more than momentary embarrassment. The chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people at a minimum are less‑concerned with the truth of John the Baptizer’s—and so also Jesus’s—authority than with the consequences of that truth for them. This morning we consider the Gospel Reading and its “truth and consequences” for us.
From last week’s Gospel Reading of the so‑called “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard”, our three‑year series of Readings has jumped over a chapter or so of St. Matthew’s account to get to this week’s Gospel Reading’s truth about authority and its consequences. In between, the divinely‑inspired St. Matthew perhaps most notably tells about both Jesus’s entering Jerusalem in triumph on Palm Sunday, with the crowds saying He was a prophet (Matthew 21:1-11) and about Jesus’s driving out of the Temple complex all those who bought and sold, with children crying out for salvation to Him as the Son of David (Matthew 21:12-17).
Two days later, on Tuesday of Holy Week, when Jesus entered the Temple complex, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and asked Him about His authority to do such things—apparently, enter Jerusalem as He did, cleanse the Temple, and generally teach and perform miracles as the Messianic King. Jesus answered by asking them essentially the same question about John the baptizer’s authority. Jesus’s answering their question with a question may seem evasive to us but is consistent with earlier Greek and later Jewish argument techniques. The Jewish leaders should have known the truth of Jesus’s authority (just as Jesus knew what the Jewish leaders thought to be true about John’s authority), but (as the Jewish leaders tried to trap Jesus on the implications of the truth of His authority) Jesus tried to get the Jewish leaders to face the consequences of the truth of John’s authority. The Jewish leaders considered the consequences, but they denied knowing the truth.
That the Jewish leaders denied knowing the truth is amazing, as their duty was to know the truth! Their unwillingness to commit to John’s authority being either from God in heaven or from men on earth essentially makes them less‑perceptive than the crowd, who held that John was a prophet. John, of course, had prophetically pointed to Jesus as the Savior Who was to come. The Jewish leaders seem to be both blind to the obvious and deaf to God’s messengers. They indict themselves and make clear that their own authority is of men on earth, if they really have any authority at all. Are we by nature any better than them? In what ways do we challenge Jesus’s authority and attempt to stand in judgment of Him? How well do we listen to God’s messengers? Do we know the truth and recognize the truth’s consequences for us?
In today’s Old Testament Reading (Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32), God through Ezekiel clearly says that the soul who sins shall die. In one way or another, we all sin, for we all are sinful by nature. We all deserve to die, both here in time and in torment apart from God for eternity. That is the truth and its consequences for us—not “a zany and embarrassing stunt” but death! The liturgy repeats what the Bible says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, Who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (Lutheran Service Book, 151; 1 John 1:8-9) Through Ezekiel God says He has no pleasure in the death of anyone and so wants us and all people to turn from our wickedness and to do what is right. Through Ezekiel, John, Jesus, and pastors today, God calls us to repent and turn from all our transgressions, lest iniquity be our ruin. When we turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better, then God forgives our sin and even our sinful natures. God forgives all our sin, whatever it may be, for Jesus’s sake.
Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading may have silenced the chief priests and the elders of the people for the moment, but days later they would have their way with Him. They plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him (Matthew 26:3-4). They sent a great crowd with swords and clubs to follow Judas and to seize Jesus (Matthew 26:47, 51). And, later, they led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate to be crucified (Matthew 27:1-2). The God-man Jesus Christ, to Whom, according to His human nature all authority in heaven and earth had been given, out of love for all people, permitted Himself to die on the cross in order to save you and me. His death was not the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding on the part of uninformed authorities, but self-serving men of ill will brought about His death, and, though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20). On the cross, good triumphs over evil for us.
One of the unique things about the authority of Jesus is that it cannot be separated from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven (Foerster, TDNT 2:568-569). The Kingdom of Heaven is also present with the One Who bears this authority, especially the authority to forgive sins, in the specific ways that God chooses to forgive sins. John’s authority and baptism were from God in heaven, and so also are Jesus’s authority and baptism from God in heaven (Scaer, CLD XI:37 and Discourses 153). So, too, at this Baptismal Font, water and the Word are applied to people of all ages by pastors with the same authority from God in heaven. Those so baptized in His Triune Name are made His children and disciples and are also taught to observe all things He commanded (Matthew 28:18-20), things that include making private confession for the sake of receiving individual Holy Absolution and in Holy Communion eating bread that is Christ’s body and drinking wine that is His blood, for the forgiveness of sins and so also for life and salvation. The Jewish leaders did not believe John’s message (Matthew 21:32), and we know at least some of them rejected his baptism (Luke 7:29), but we, who believe God’s Word spoken through His chosen representatives, also receive His forgiveness in the ways that He chooses to forgive us.
In today’s Epistle Reading (Philippians 2:1-4, 14-18), we heard St. Paul exhort us to be “children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom [we] shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life”. Sadly, even we, who believe and have Christ working through us, still do not always think, so, or do as we should. So, with repentance and faith, we live every day in the forgiveness of sins. Jesus has all authority and rules over all things for the benefit of His Church, and He gives some of His authority to His pastors for the benefit of His people. Through His means of grace, God forgives us our sins against Him, and, in turn, we forgive the sins others commit against us. We believe and confess the truth and we know its consequences for us.
The old radio and TV game show “Truth or Consequences” had only a disjunction: either truth or consequences, either answer the trivia question with the truth or face likely the “zany and embarrassing stunt”. As we have realized today’s Gospel Reading indicates, we have a more of a conjunction: truth and consequences. But, from that conjunction of truth and consequences there is also a resulting disjunction: either confess the truth with positive consequences of eternity in heaven or deny the truth with negative consequences of eternity in hell. Game‑show host Bob Barker used to end each episode with a tagline that I will adapt to end here: God grant that all our consequences are blessed ones.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +