INTRODUCTION: Our Scripture reading this morning is set by the Lectionary (which is a list of Scripture readings for worship used in many Protestant and Catholic churches.) It is part of a chapter where Jesus challenges religious leaders to “practice what they preach,” that is, not just talk about God’s love and justice, but actually believe in it and live it out.
Scripture: Scripture: Matthew 21:23-32
23When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
28“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For 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 after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
Sermon: “Holding on to Comfort?”
My husband Paul and I love to watch HGTV—Home and Garden television. We love the “reality” shows where they re-hab—or fix up-- houses. In one such show, that’s called “Love It or List It,” the story line for each episode goes basically like this: There’s a couple who own a house together. One spouse or partner LOVES the house, is deeply attached to it for some sentimental reason: their kids grew up there, their father built it, it’s the best neighborhood on the planet. The other spouse or partner HATES the house because it doesn’t function anymore the way they need it to—and, perhaps, it never did. For instance, there was one episode where a husband didn’t have a closet—he had to keep his clothes in a room down the hall. In another episode, a wife had to go outside and down a flight of stairs to do laundry—because there was no access to the basement from inside the house. In another episode, the couple had to sleep in sweatshirts, hats and mittens because there was no heat in the master bedroom. The big question in each episode is: can the expert fix the house up enough so that both people LOVE IT, or will the spouse/partner who is uncomfortable win the day and convince the other to sell that house and buy something new?
While it is always interesting to see how each show turns out and what the couple ultimately chooses to do, what I actually find most surprising in each episode is how oblivious and dismissive the spouse who loves the house is to the discomfort of his or her partner, the person for whom the house is not working. All the person who loves the house can see is how the house meets his or her own needs.
Many of the chief priests, elders, scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were like this. They were comfortable as leaders of the Temple and were completely oblivious to the discomfort of the people around them. All they could see was how the Temple met their own needs. They couldn’t--or wouldn’t-- see how the larger Temple system exploited those who were poor and vulnerable.
And then Jesus comes into the mix. Like “Demo Day” on a house show where the expert starts demolishing things with a sledge hammer, starts clearing out old walls and cabinets and appliances to make room for a new design that works, Jesus clears bad practices out of the Temple to make room for what is truly important: meeting the spiritual and physical needs of all God’s people.
Our Scripture reading this morning, from Matthew Chapter 21, verses 23-32, picks up shortly after the famous passage where Jesus clears out the Temple. Earlier in chapter 21, verse 12, we read how Jesus overturns the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves (these were the dishonest merchants who cheated poor people out of their hard-earned money.) If you’ve read this passage, I’m sure you remember it, because Jesus seems really angry--incensed, even. He says to the money changers and dove-sellers in verse 13, “’My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.” Why is Jesus so angry? Let me answer that: Because the Temple of God, the very place that should be all about love and justice -- all about welcoming, helping, and healing the poor and vulnerable -- is, instead, exploiting the very people God calls them to embrace. So Jesus acts decisively, forcefully to return the Temple to its God-given purpose: being a place where all people--especially the poor and vulnerable-- can find comfort, healing, hope, help and connection to God.
But the leaders of the Temple--the chief priests, elders, scribes and Pharisees-- aren’t happy about Jesus clearing out the Temple like this. Why? Because now people will be expecting them, the religious establishment, to follow Jesus’ lead and start doing something radically different. Now people will be expecting the religious leaders to:
· Start living out God’s love and justice instead of just teaching about God’s law.
· Start welcoming the poor, the lame, the blind, widows and orphans instead of standing by and letting them be exploited by an unjust system.
· Start praying and working for their healing, instead of judging them and declaring them unclean.
And that’s where today’s reading picks up. In today’s Scripture reading, we find the religious establishment, the chief priests, elders, scribes and Pharisees questioning Jesus’ authority—questioning him not because they think he’s wrong, but because they know that if they don’t stop him, they will have to change—have to change their behavior, and possibly even their minds and their hearts. And they don’t want to do that, because they are too comfortable. Like the oblivious spouses in the house show that I described, leaders of the religious establishment of Jesus’ day were holding on to their own comfort at the expense of the people around them.
Which brings me to a question. “Where am I doing that?” “Where in my life am I holding on to my own comfort at the expense of someone around me?” That is a question this Scripture challenged me with this week, and I offer it to you to ponder as well. “Where in your life are you holding on to your own comfort at the expense of someone else?”
To go back to the house show analogy: Metaphorically (or literally): Where am I hogging the closet space? Where have you blocked the door to the laundry room? Where have we shut off the heat?
Have we done that at work? At home? At church? Where are we holding on to our own comfort at the expense of someone else? Maybe it’s not blatant. And maybe it’s not that we are actively harming someone. Maybe it’s more that being comfortable with life as we have known it is stopping us from seeing or acknowledging the ways that injustice embedded in our systems is hurting other people.
The chief priests, elders, and Pharisees of Jesus day weren’t horrible monsters or even really bad people. They were human beings with gifts and flaws, like us. In fact, at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew, we read that many Pharisees came out to hear John the Baptist preach his message of repentance. The problem is, when push came to shove, as a group, they didn’t act on what they heard. They didn’t change their ways. Comfortable in their own lives, they did not challenge the injustice embedded in the system of religious life that they had control over. They stood by and allowed the poor and vulnerable to continue to be hurt--by practices in the Temple that they had the power to stop.
My brothers and sisters in Christ--let us not make the same mistake. This Covid crisis and the protests around racism have laid bare some of the deep flaws and inequities in the various systems of our society--health care, education, criminal justice, to name a few. Hearing about these flaws and inequities makes us all uncomfortable. But we cannot close our ears and our hearts--we cannot stand by while the poor and vulnerable continue to hurt. We cannot allow polarizing political rhetoric--or our own fear of change--stop us from doing the hard work of naming injustice and working together to reform our systems.
I believe we can talk together, despite whatever political differences we may have, and we--as a church and as a society-- can begin to name some of the injustice that we see in our society and our world.
For instance, I believe we can voice support for police officers and still name the ways our criminal justice system needs to change in order to be more fair to our black and brown brothers and sisters.
I believe we can stand with the protestors and listen to the stories of black and brown people who have experienced racism without condoning violence or rioting.
One way we can begin to practice doing this--naming injustice and looking for ways to work together to make positive change-- is by taking part in the virtual book group led by Peggy Maxwell and Jean Southard, that starts in October and asks the question, “Are we a racist society?” I’ve read the book that they will be studying--and it helped open my eyes in many ways, including naming privileges that I’ve taken for granted as a white person, privileges that are not available to our black brothers and sisters.
May Jesus be with us all as we follow Jesus’ example and live out God’s love and justice in our daily lives. May Jesus be with us and use us to change and bless the world. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA
(Earlier versions of this sermon were written, edited and preached in September of 2014 and 2017)