Authority. Matthew 21

 Matthew 21 : 23-32  " Authority"

Open to the Great Mystery for an Opening Prayer.

From: Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

"Please, Lord, join me on the road, enter into my closed room, and take my foolishness away. Open my mind and heart to the great mystery of your active presence in my life, and give me the courage to help others discover your presence in their lives. Amen."  ( This prayer seems at the heart of all that follows here and opens up the issues with our denials and saying no to God)

Henri Nouwen 

The meditation today is about authority and where we go with that in our own lives.  It is said a message should have one purpose and that the other points should follow from that. 

In this Gospel for today Jesus' authority is being challenged by the chief priests and the elders .  " By what authority do you do these things?"  Matthew 21 :23 The chapter begins with a familiar event as Jesus rides into Jerusalem upon the borrowed colt. We call it Palm Sunday. We read of this also in Luke 7:29-30,"And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him."

Here is a pointed illustration of authority :

"It is said that Billie Burke ( of the 1920's famous for playing Glinda, the good witch of the north in the " Wizard of Oz" ), the Hollywood actress, was enjoying a transatlantic ocean voyage when she noticed a man at the next table was suffering from a bad cold. "Uncomfortable?" she asked sympathetically. The man nodded. "I'll tell you what to do for it," she offered. "Go back to your stateroom and drink a lot of orange juice. Take five aspirin tablets. Cover yourself with all the blankets you can find. Sweat the cold out. I know what I'm talking about. I'm Billie Burke of Hollywood." The man smiled warmly and said, "Thanks. I'm Dr. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic!"  from sermonindex.net/illustrations/authority

Sometimes we get caught being the authority when we should have been taking in wisdom from others for sure. 

1. Background of this about authority--- Jesus throws out the money changers in temple next to show that they were dis-respecting the House of God. Matthew 21:12  He does that to show that He is Lord and King.

  In our text for today Jesus is asked about His authority and He replies with a question.  Where was the baptism of John from ?  Heaven or from men?  Here they are caught for to say from heaven would recognize John as a prophet and teacher.  But to say from men would be to ignore the fact that the people considered him a prophet. So they take the middle ground.  Perhaps it is the easy way, " We know not" is their answer.

An example of authority is seen in the oaths given to the new King.

In England when Charles was crowned as King he agreed to the below: "The King kneels at the Chair of Estate. The Archbishop says

Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England?"

2.  What is the point of this encounter for us? Charles Erdman in his The Gospel of Matthew  summarizes well here, "  ..if they had accepted the message of John , they would be prepared to accept Jesus. It is true if we are afraid to accept the logical conclusions of our doubts and denials , we never can hope to discover truth."

This seems to be the heart of this Gospel passage for our benefit.  Our doubts and denials need to be heard. They need to be dug into and looked at, but in the end we are in the same place as the authorities of the Jewish people if we leave it there.  They rejected the counsel of God and did not get baptized by John.

Where is our authority ?  What matters and what guides us to truth in our lives?

As someone who has made this journey and continue on the journey, I  make a suggestion.  Jesus is our Lord and Saviour and what He has said gives us a lot of hope for this life , and the life to come! But we all must make our own choices and go through our own struggles and questions.

 Good mentors and people have been helpful to me through this process. We all need that.  The Church is the place to start for help. Usually these are people we know and respect that can guide us through decisions and help us with our problems .  They have been invaluable.  The Saints of God are people just like us.  I have had some good mentors.  One was in California at St. John's Chapel.  Both Episcopal priests were helpful, but Fr. Patience had the right name .  One time he said after I was talking to him and taking a pointed position he said, " David---just let me give you a hug."  We laughed.  That hug said it all .

The Hymn we sing, " I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" tells us all about it:"

And one was a doctor, and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green: they were all of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one too" 

Later, the hymn continues with:

"And one was a soldier, and one was a priest, and one was slain by a fierce wild beast: and there’s not any reason, no, not the least, why I shouldn’t be one too"

"An office manager was complaining in their staff meeting that he wasn't getting any respect. The next day, he attached a small sign to his office door: I'm The Boss! Later that day, he returned from lunch to find that somebody had put a note over his sign. It read, "Your wife called. She wants her sign back."   hotsermons.com/sermon-illustrations

3. The end of the Gospel passage is the summary of all that went before really:

"Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." Matthew 21:32---

We too can believe him.  It starts with what we prayed in the beginning.

"Please, Lord, join me on the road, enter into my closed room, and take my foolishness away. Open my mind and heart to the great mystery of your active presence in my life, and give me the courage to help others discover your presence in their lives. Amen."