Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Matthew 21:23-32.
By whose authority do you do these things? That was the question the chief priests and elders put to Jesus. Well, what things? If we back up a bit in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus had just ridden into town triumphantly on a donkey on what we now call Palm Sunday. Then, like a conqueror, he cleansed the Temple, driving out the moneychangers and the animals for sale. The chief priests were what we would now call pastors and presbyters, or in other traditions perhaps bishops. The elders were what we would call ruling elders. This group who challenged Jesus was in charge of the Temple. Who was he to ride into town and disrupt their operations? By whose authority?
But if we zoom out a bit, we can ask, what is our source of authority? In the early days of Christianity, when the Gospels were written down, there was very little hierarchy and very little organization to the Jesus movement. The original apostles held positions of respect if not authority, as did Jesus’s brother James and the apostle Paul, and perhaps a handful of others. Over the next few centuries, more and more hierarchy developed, as did the canon of scripture.
We Presbyterians are bookish people. We come from a tradition that holds to sola scriptura, that is, Scripture alone holds authority. Yet if you probe that just a little, you will find that it is a façade. We may say that only the Bible has authority, but then the first part of our constitution is the Book of Confessions, a pretty thick book of interpretations of the Bible over the centuries of our development. The second part of our constitution is the Book of Order, which states, “These confessional statements are subordinate standards in the church, subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him. While confessional standards are subordinate to the Scriptures, they are, nonetheless, standards.” In truth, we behave more like the Anglican or Wesleyan traditions that hold to prima scriptura, or scripture first, supplemented by tradition, reason, and experience. I certainly have a Wesleyan worldview, shaped by my first two decades of life as a United Methodist.
Of course, even with the Wesleyan quadrilateral, there are questions about whose tradition, whose reason, and whose experience count. Both Anglican and Wesleyan denominations have bishops and other leaders who are responsible for maintaining tradition. They decide, then, whose experience informs their understanding of God. One of the great advances in theology over the past century has been an explosion in the number of different voices that contribute. Instead of being straight white men like me, we have heard from feminist and womanist and Black and queer and many other scholars, plus liberation theology has grown in the developing world. These new voices have challenged our long-held beliefs, and have also enabled us to see that Scripture was mostly written for people who were oppressed, not for the powerful.
Still, many Christians express some form of the sentiment, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” They hold to some literal or quasi-literal interpretation of the Bible and use it to support whatever worldview they have inherited from their family, community, and culture. They become doctrinaire and assert that if you don’t believe in the way that they believe, then you must be wrong and a heretic and damned to eternal conscious torment in a lake of fire. They erect barriers between themselves and anyone who might change their minds.
On this World Communion Sunday, we should remember that while we practice an open Table, where anyone who wishes to approach Christ is welcome to partake of His body and blood, there are many churches where most or all of us would not be welcome to commune. Certainly, here in Rolla, there is at least one where I would not be allowed, St. Pat’s. Many of us were baptized as infants, so we would not be considered “real” Christians in many churches.
These doctrinal disputes are inherently divisive. Soon after Constantine adopted Christianity as the religion of his empire, he wanted all of the Christians to get together and decide just what they believe. The result was what we call the Nicene Creed, which says things like, “We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.” Wait, what? What does it mean for him to be “eternally begotten”? Later, it says, “true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” I defy any of you to clearly explain just what exactly that means in a way that everyone here can agree with.
The most controversial line comes later on: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” Originally, it just said, “who proceeds from the Father.” Two centuries later, the Western church added “Filioque,” meaning “and from the Son.” The eventual result, a few centuries afterwards, was a split between Eastern and Western churches. Now, there was other stuff going on, too, but certainly, the Filioque clause was a significant source of conflict that split Christ’s body.
Some of you may be familiar with CrossRoads, which is the church that meets in the same building as the Mission. One of the reasons it exists is that there was a doctrinal dispute in another church. So, as a congregation, CrossRoads has no doctrinal statement. A few weeks ago, their pastor, Patrick Wilson, posted this: “Historically, creeds have been used to evaluate who can be a part of and who can lead in congregations and denominations, which socially divides people and sets up unhealthy, destructive power structures. … So, regardless of your beliefs you are welcome at CrossRoads. Come join us as we learn, grow, and serve together.”
Jesus did not put forth any creeds or doctrinal statements. Jesus never explicitly said who he was, but instead let others come up with a theological explanation of his relationship to the other two persons of the Trinity. Jesus did not even directly claim any authority, although he implied that his authority came from heaven. The authority that he had emerged through the nature of his service to God and his work to build God’s kingdom. The evidence of his service, his allegiance, his beliefs, and his role was simple: LOVE. Jesus claimed only the authority that derives from a self-emptying love of all of God’s people.
Our passage today from Philippians is probably a hymn that circulated in early Christian communities. It is a beautiful expression of Christ’s nature. Not that he was “eternally begotten” or “begotten, not made.” Rather, instead of wondering about where he came from or how he related to the God who had been revealed to Moses, the hymn said, “He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” This was Jesus’s source of authority: his humility. He did not seek power over others. He did not directly confront Roman authorities. Rather, he emptied himself and served everyone, obedient to God’s will and willing to die for the sake of even those who despised him.
In our parable today, we hear of two brothers. One says the right thing, but does the wrong thing. He doesn’t follow through on his commitment to serve his father. He professes obedience with his mouth, but not with his actions. He is like someone who claims Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, but whose actions are far from Christ-like. Someone who claims that they love their neighbor, but whose actions are far from loving. The other brother, when challenged by his father, rebels and refuses to follow his father’s directive. Yet the father’s words took root in his conscience. As he thought of all that he had been given and all that he owed his father, he realized that he should respond by doing his father’s will.
In the same way, we should each seek not only to say the right things, but also to do the right things. Beliefs matter, but only if they drive actions. I saw a meme recently that said, “You can’t trust an apocalyptic religion to find real world solutions. Their identity is based around the world ending.” That’s why we talk about theology, why I hammer on my belief in universal salvation, why we talk about the horizontal nature of God’s kingdom as well as the vertical nature. We must have a theology that somehow orients us towards building God’s kingdom here and now. But theology is not sufficient. Our beliefs about the inherent value of God’s creation need to drive our actions.
The way we behave is the clearest expression of what we believe. If you say that you care about the welfare of children, you should be doing things to support children’s growth. If you say that you care about the homeless, you should be doing things that help alleviate the suffering of the homeless and work to end homelessness in our community. If you say that you care about hunger, you should be doing things that reduce hunger in our community and around the world.
If you read the Old Testament prophets, you will pick up on a couple of main themes. One was the tendency of the Israelites to worship other gods. Another was the tendency for them to worship God with their mouths and with their sacrifices, but not with their actions in their community and nation. As the Prophet Micah said, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Not only to preach justice, but to do justice. Not only to profess your beliefs, but to walk humbly with God. Doing justice, loving kindness, and walking with God are concrete actions in the world. Concrete acts that bring about God’s reign in your life, in your family, in your community, in your nation, and in the world. Concrete acts of service, of self-emptying, of pursuing right relationships and reconciliation. Concrete acts, not just in worship on Sunday morning, but in the community all 168 hours of the week
As we turn now to the Lord’s Table, let us seek to be spiritually fed. Let us seek to be bound together with all of Christ’s body, which is the Church, communing this World Communion Sunday. And let us seek to use this spiritual renewal to empower us to take concrete steps towards building God’s kingdom today. Amen.
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