Rector's Sermon
25 September 2011

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Ezekiel 18:1–4, 25–32	Psalm 78:1–4	Philippians 2:1–13	Matthew 21:23–32

       Today’s account of Jesus’ sharp confrontation with the temple officials occurred right after Jesus had entered Jerusalem, gone into the outer court of the Temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers, condemning the money changers’ very presence. Tensions were high. Neither the disciples nor the temple officials quite expected Jesus’ decisive and swift actions. By this time, Jesus was marked as a troublemaker, a disturber of the peace, and there had been some serious talk in powerful circles about ways to neutralize him. For everyone, there was no turning back.

       The parable of the two sons, the one who said yes to his father’s request and subsequently ignored it, and the son who first defiantly said no and then changed his mind is something every parent can identify with. We likely can also remember various times when we behaved like both children. Jesus, however, was not playing childish games. Jesus challenged the temple officials to act like adults, not children. Jesus did not tolerate abdication of responsibility or justification of selfishness. The officials were exposed as pious frauds.

       The danger for us is to think that this passage only applies to someone far back in the past, and never to us today. Jesus is warning those of every age, that the Gospel always allows for opportunities of deliberation and change of mind. A response to Jesus’ call of discipleship demands further growth; it demands we take the promise of new birth seriously. Too often we turn this insight on its head and expect other people to grow and come to exactly where we already are. Yet, if the Gospel fails to change our life, it likely isn’t the Gospel with which we are dealing.

       Much of public discourse today seems to have the effect of further entrenching us in our opinions rather than deepening and broadening our views. That may be one reason why we are an angry, impatient, and querulous society that seems to spend more energy on pointing the finger and blaming each other than trying to make our society a better place for us and our children to live. All sense of time and perspective is narrowly compressed into outrage of the moment.

       Jesus rarely expects us to stand resolutely in place, digging in our heals, but rather invites us, as today’s church, to trust in going forward beyond known and comfortable borders, to witness in uncertain and unsteady times by being brave and courageous in the face of cynicism of the present and fear of the future, and to re-establish a sense of direction by serving as an explorer and moral mapmaker. That is why the strength of the character of our Christian discipleship is more important than where we now stand on any particular issue. We need strength to deal with the tension of not always knowing what to let go of and what to hold on to, yet nevertheless, going forward in hope that we will discover anew many things we thought had been lost by us forever and of resisting the numbing inertia of resenting any call to change our minds. The disciples never imagined what Jesus would do in Jerusalem, and never anticipated an Easter or a Pentecost. Yes, they were hesitant; some didn’t say yes right away, but clearly said no, but in the end they stuck with Jesus. They came back to Jesus,  repented of their denials and vacillation and recognized and conquered their fear.

       We are not exactly like the disciples on the eve of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, but as people of faith we are being tested. In some sense the Gospel is on trial. It is scorned, ignored, manipulated, and subverted. It is not easy to be a person of faith in today’s world, just asks someone at Ithaca High School, student or faculty. It is not Holy Week, but it is as good a time to be a witness as we will get. Just as the disciples were on that day that Jesus overturned the moneychangers’ tables and confronted the officials’ hypocrisy, we are on the cusp of profound decisions involving our future.

       Don’t think that the best days for the church are behind us, or wish for some supposed heyday of the past. We live in the church’s heyday. For in the church’s heyday, people respond to the Good News and carry the love of Christ out to feed the hungry, to house the homeless, to care for the sick, to act as good stewards of God over the earth, and to preach and practice peace near and far. When we connect the Gospel to our actions this week, we get plugged in to the church’s heyday, of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. When people of faith heed and say yes to the call of Jesus Christ, the Spirit is born again, the journey continues forward, and the church works out its calling in the world. It is God who is at work in us, God who melts the icy coverings of our hearts, God who changes our minds and heals our wounds, who gives us real hope for the future, redefines our directions, and then sends us out as heralds of Good News in the vineyard of the world.

       And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.