AtomWhen “No” becomes “Yes”
Matthew 21:28-32
I gotta tell you…this really isn’t one of my favorite Jesus stories. It hits way to close to home for me. I mean, I know too well the image of his parable…you do, too. Just before you leave for work or a meeting, you ask the kids to pick up the toys in the basement or to mow they yard, and they say, “Sure.” But when you get home later, the toys are right where they were when you left and the mower is still in the garage. Or, your wife asks you to check the dryer while they run to the store. And you look up from the book you are reading or from the football game and you say, “Sure, I’ll get it.” But when they get home an hour later the clothes are still in the dryer and by now need and iron to make them presentable. Or, it may even be an experience we have at work. You ask for something to be done. Your co-worker says, “Sure.” But when you check in later it still hasn’t been done. I’ve been there in all cases, been the one asking…been the one asked.
On the other hand we can also probably remember the times when we have been surprised by our kids or spouse or co-worker. We asked them to do something… to wash the car or the dishes or something and they got all upset and said, “No,” and then we got all upset and there was a knock-down, drag-out argument, whereupon we stomped out of the house only to return later only to find the job done and then some. Now that kind of response we can live with. And we may even be able to rejoice at the change of heart! And yet, to be quite honest, we would rather not have the initial resistance. How much better to hear the one asked say, “Yes,” and then return to find the job done.
To be sure, however, the first is the most frustrating. And I have a hunch that we’re most frustrated because in the lack of follow through we hear the message that, “You’re really not all that important to me. I have more important things to do.” Or maybe because words like “yes,” or “I will,” or “I love you,” are empty, meaningless words unless they are filled up by actions. So we know and so Jesus would remind us. The life of faith isn’t just about smiling and saying, “Yes.” It’s also about doing “yes.”
That much is obvious from the story…it’s a story we have all lived. What might not be so obvious is why Jesus tells it. Except that if you have been following along in the story it is pretty apparent that Jesus is growing frustrated with people who are all talk and no action – people who say, “Yes,” to God and forget what that yes means. Religious people in fact who know all the right things to say about God and yet fail to do what God asks. Now, even as I say that to you it makes me uncomfortable. I am one of those religious people. I am one of those leaders not unlike the ones Jesus speaks to here. I am one of those who knows all the rules for membership, who knows the right clothes to wear to honor God, who knows scripture and most of the hymns, who “looks good in church.” Yet, according to Jesus looking good and saying the right words is not all that it is about. Memorizing scripture and singing hymns and listening to Christian radio has no point unless it somehow carries over into how believers treat the family next door or their teacher or their spouse or their kids or their parents or the new kid in class or those who are devastated by hurricanes or by loss of job.
Again and again in this chapter of Matthew we find Jesus upset with lack of love and compassion and concern for others among those who claimed to be on the side of God. And at every turn of his ministry they are also finding fault. They see people healed and lives changed and made whole and yet they don’t want to hear Jesus’ message about a God who comes to give abundant life to all – to reach even to those who don’t know all the books of the Bible or who have grown up on the wrong side of town or who have a “questionable reputation.” They don’t see or understand.
So finally Jesus is fed up. He goes into the temple and cleans house. You remember the story. He throws out all those who are using God’s name for personal profit. You know how he kicked over the money-changers’ tables in the temple area. Then…you may not remember this…then, on the way out of town Jesus stops by a fig tree, probably to curb his hunger a bit and the fig tree that looks so good from a distance – all big and green – has no fruit. Jesus curses the tree, “May you never bear fruit!” he says. He is reacting to what he sees among those who claim to listen to God but live as if it doesn’t matter. They look good. They have lots of leaves, but they bear no fruit for God. They are all “yes” and no action. And they oppose him at every turn.
So, finally, here today Jesus tells them to “put up or shut up.” And he is painfully direct. He draws them in by telling of a common experience of parenting – one we can all identify with – whereupon they quickly identify that it is actions that speak louder than words. And then he turns a hard eye upon them and says, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into heaven ahead of you.” It is not the one who says all the right things who stands to inherit the kingdom, but the one who actually lives their “yes.”
In his little book in the New Testament, the apostle James said it this way, “Faith without works – “yes without go,” faith that is not lived out in the way we treat our neighbor or the poor or the hungry or the single parent or the child – that faith is dead.” One of my favorite Christ song-writers and singers, the late Rich Mullins once sang, “Faith without works – its about as useless as a screen-door on a submarine.” The life of faith is not just about saying, “Jesus is Lord;” it’s about living each day as if that were true. Jesus is Lord and he is my Lord – the one I follow and serve.
These are hard words today, friends. They are hard words because most of us here today probably would count ourselves among the “religious.” Our being here is evidence of our “yes” to God’s call. But we are also painfully aware – when honest with ourselves – of how our actions do not always fit our words. Of easy it is to leave this place and live just like everyone else out there – even those who do not know Jesus as Lord. How often we – I – have said “yes” to Jesus call to a different attitude with my family only to fall back into old patterns. How often have I hear Jesus call to spend time or money on the needs of others only to be distracted by my own wants.
I don’t like this story. It’s hard to distance myself from it. It’s too personal. I can’t say, “It’s only about the Pharisees in the story.” It’s about me. But I’m also quite sure that this is how God wants me to hear it – wants you to hear it. To hear it as personal. But not as a word from God meant to pin us to the mat and never let us up, but rather as a word meant to invite us to a new direction – to an escape to new freedom – a new “yes” free from that which holds us back.
We should not get so caught by the story of one who says, “Yes,” but does not go (That is confession of sin) that we do not also see ourselves in the story of the one who says, “No,” but later changes their mind. I believe that even as Jesus tells the story, he would invite his hearers – all his hearers – to that new possibility. Jesus here speaks of tax-collectors and prostitutes – those who quite clearly know that they have not lived up to God’s calling, but who heard John the Baptist’s call and now Jesus call as an invitation to get it right – to now move in a new direction. They heard again and recognized their need. They saw it. “Nope, we’ve blown it – God help us to get it right.” Which is what Jesus wanted the Pharisees to hear too – to not be so stuck that they couldn’t – in the language of the Bible – “repent” and start over, that they couldn’t move in a new direction. One writer says this about repentance: “To repent is to come to your senses; true repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying “I’m sorry” than looking to the future and saying, “Wow!” – “Wow!” because of the freedom and meaningful life that God wants for God’s children. The message of Jesus is this, “How you lived your life yesterday is not as important to me as how you will live today and tomorrow.” The tax collectors and prostitutes and others who lived questionable lives heard and believed and found themselves headed in new directions. No longer were they the ones who were left out or excluded from God’s love and God’s calling. They were God’s people and God was going to do something new in them.
Some of you here this morning might feel trapped by your past, too. Something happened yesterday or last month or last year or 15 years ago. You blew it. You heard the call of God and didn’t go. You knew something was wrong and you did it anyway. You knew something was right and you looked away. It may be difficult to forget such mistakes. Our families and friends may be even less inclined to let us forget them. Yet the mercy of God comes to us fresh again this day, “Behold, I make all things new!” says Jesus in Revelation. And that means YOU! I have worked with others like you. My book is filled with stories of people who missed my call somewhere along the way. They blew it and later came to their senses. You know them: Moses, Rahab, David, mary Magdalene, Peter. People just like you. How you answered yesterday is not nearly as important as how you answer today. Even if you said, “Yes,” before and did not go, this call is for you. Today is a new day…because I am the one who lived my yes for you!”
Prayer: Dear God, help us to hear and be made new in our parenting and learning, in our buying and selling, in our serving and neighboring, in our life in your vineyard, that you might be honored and that your world might be renewed with hope!
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