Matthew 21:23-32 
Philippians 2:1-13
Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32
Dear All
I hope you are all well and enjoying this lovely weather. This was this morning’s sermon.
This week the news has all been centred on gloomy covid forecasts. There have been further restrictions put in place nationwide by the different leaders. Some people are happy with this and feel it is necessary while others are less so, questioning the authority by which these measures are imposed.
Today in the gospel Jesus is in temple and the chief priests and elders question his authority. “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ask the priests and the elders. “These things” being the teachings of the Kingdom, the healings, the turning over the tables and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey which all precede this text.
The people have every right to ask this question, it was a reasonable question for searching and enquiring minds. After all these were usual events…… But Jesus understands how human authority works. So, he doesn’t answer their question directly, but he does indirectly. By redirecting their focus to what he must have felt was the heart of the matter.
“I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
Here Jesus is deliberately spelling out the link between humanity and divinity. What he is saying is when John baptized these people, was this from God or was it just John messing around in the river? But the leaders can’t answer it.
So, how would we answer it? I think the question is sacramental in nature.
A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of a transforming inward and spiritual grace. At baptism we come to the font, or we are brought as infants, to be changed by God. We turn from ourselves towards Christ and we are washed in water as happened in the Jordan. This beautiful small font and metal bowl and all the others like in churches up and down the country therefore contain the river of life! And we come to it to be changed. We’re drawn to it by God’s love and grace – his forgiveness for all of us – to become something new.
And then every week in the Eucharist as Jesus instructed us, we assemble before God in the act of Holy Communion to experience the grace and presence of God together.
In Baptism water is the outward sign and in the Eucharist it’s the bread and wine but through the transforming power of the holy Spirit they all become symbols of God’s love, presence and forgiveness for us.
“Authority” in a biblical sense speaks of God’s love and action breaking into our world. The ultimate example of this is the incarnation – God becoming human himself in the person of Christ who lived and taught us and experienced life with all its joys and its horrors amongst us.
This all leads us to the epistle which points straight to the incarnation. In his letter to the Philippians Paul urges us to be an imitation of Christ who is God in human form.
“let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be exploited; but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form………..”
Paul is referring here to what we now know as the hymn, “At The Name Of Jesus….” This speaks not only of the incarnation but of Christ humbling himself, setting aside his majesty to dwell with us and to suffer death on a cross. Yet God chose to exalt him to the highest place – a clear reference to the resurrection and ascension of Christ. These great events publicly demonstrated that Christ was divine and that every knee should bow at his name and confess that he is indeed Lord.
In the OT, the theme of transformation continues as the prophet Ezekiel urges the people to turn away from sin and turn towards God.
“Repent! Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit…… I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”
So, whose authority do we live by today? Jesus tells us “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” Matthew 22:21 And so, we have no choice but to live by the rules of the land, even in this time of covid restrictions. Even if we don’t agree with them!
However, we know there is a higher authority. Gods authority………. An authority which manifested itself in the incarnation – Christ living with us and sharing our humanity. And….. An authority which sustains us through the Holy Spirit and is made real to us in the form of the sacraments.
“Work out your own salvation” Paul tells us “for it is God who is at work in you.” Phil 2:5
Amen