First Reading: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? 3As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.
25Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? 26When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. 27Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. 28Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. 29Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
30Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. 31Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.
Psalm: Psalm 25:1-9
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love. (Ps. 25:6)
1To you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.
2My God, I put my trust in you; let me not be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3Let none who look to you be put to shame;
rather let those be put to shame who are treacherous.
4Show me your ways, O Lord,
and teach me your paths.
5Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.
6Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.
7Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your steadfast love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
8You are gracious and upright, O Lord;
therefore you teach sinners in your way.
9You lead the lowly in justice
and teach the lowly your way.
Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-13
1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Gospel: 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.”
CHILDREN’S SERMON: (Hold up a toy car if you can) I have had a lot of doctor visits recently. I jokingly tell my friends I am going in for my 75,000 mile check-up, a little late as I am turning 77! We laugh but it is a truth I was taught by my father when I was learning to drive. Take care of your car regularly and don’t wait for an emergency. So let’s group-think a minute. When we take our car in for a routine check-up, what do we want the mechanics to look for?
Let’s pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptible in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.
SERMON
Today Bethany is celebrating 100 years of ministry. 100 years of the Lord’s leading and blessing. I don’t think any of us were here 100 years ago but I have heard stories of how people were married here, had children baptized at Bethany, worked at VBS to train these children, and have faithfully aged together. That is a 100-year-love-story of God’s grace through good times, hard times, fighting times and loving times. You have cried together at the death of pastors, spouses and friends. You have laughed together at meals and celebrations. You have dug in the dirt together in Bethany Gardens and you have welcomed the neighborhood in the Bethany Day Care Center. You have enjoyed the days of plenty, pews full, and you have been faithful during the meager days when finances were stretched. Bethany has been an honest ministry in the midst of a real world that struggles, waiting for God’s final coming. So how does our given text that is kinda serious, speak into the celebration reality we live in today? I think Jesus asks us two very serious questions and ends with a challenge for us to take home and ponder.
Question 1:
“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
The chief priests and elders come to Jesus in the Temple and ask him by what authority he does what he does. The day before, he has just thrown out the money changers, “cleansed the Temple,” and declared, “My father’s house is to be a house of prayer.” So much for quiet, gentle Jesus. Then returning to Jerusalem he curses the fig tree that is not producing and it withers immediately. The disciples are speechless. Jesus enters the temple courts and is confronted by the chief priests and elders. What is his authority? Jesus reverses the conversation by asking them what authority was John the Baptists operating under, God’s or people’s.
Now that is a question that goes to the heart of integrity. I suspect it might be like walking into the car shop and the receptionist asking how you are going to pay. Is your credit card goood? Jesus is asking Bethany today if our credit card is tied to God or are we charging based on confidence that our hard work will eventually be able to pay the bill we are building up. What is Bethany’s credit card that backs her ministries? Do we draw from the Bank of Human Hopes or do we draw from the Bank of Heavenly Promises? How would you answer?
Jesus couches the question in the life of John the Baptist. Was John operating from heaven’s authority or people’s authority? Interesting. Jesus did not ask about Moses or Abraham, the fathers of their faith. He did not point them to their past successes but to their present dynamics. John was a current personality. As we put this in our present context, I do not think Jesus is asking if our car, Bethany, was beautiful, shiny and economically running well at the beginning. He is not asking about all the road trips and all the places our car has taken us. He is asking how we understand ourselves now, at the 100,000 mile check-up. I think it is like lifting the hood and checking out the engine. What makes Bethany tick?
At 100,000 miles we often start considering whether we are approaching a new car. We subconsciously start checking out the other guy’s car and ask questions like if the electrical car is the car of the future or perhaps we look at a hybrid something. Maybe we should switch to a foreign brand with a good reputation. It is no different in our spiritual life. The temptation to surf the church options is always there. Perhaps we ponder new programs, how to get younger people, and what a new pastor might look like. Jesus’ question goes to the heart of our commitment to God here at Bethany. Are we hungry for God or are we hungry for success?
We can look at our documents about mission statements, aims, goals and objectives but that is like trying to convince ourselves we are good Christians because we listen to the Gospel lesson on Sunday. Jesus is not asking if we listen and read Scripture but if we know God and are obedient to his voice.
John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentence in preparation for the Messiah, the One who was to come. John was preaching about life style and heart commitment, not church membership or church goals. John was popular with people flocking to hear his sermons and being baptized but those numbers did not seem to go to his head. When Jesus went to be baptized, John immediately realized that Jesus should baptize him, John, not visa versa. Jesus tells the disciples,
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11)
The chief priests and elders could not acknowledge this truth. They were caught in their own hypocrisy. They were not being honest about the condition of their engine – the odometer was inaccurate, the pistons missing beats, and an accident had caused damage – so when Jesus lifted the hood and looked and asked his question, they hung their heads and could not answer for fear. Jesus did not answer them in their duplicity either.
As God lifts the hood of the engine of Bethany today, he asks by what authority we do what we do. I pray our answer is true relationship with God and not just a clinging to tradition.
Question 2:
31Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Jesus now tells a parable of a father who has two sons. The father needs his son’s help. He asks the first who refuses but later goes and helps his father. He asks the second who agrees to go but never shows-up for work. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, which son did the will of the father? They agree it is the son who actually shows up for work.
I recognize this scenario. I tell the kids to clean up their room and they are so very agreeable. I suspect they quickly realized that with five kids, I would forget. Sure enough the rooms often were not cleaned. “Yeh, Mom, Sure, Mom” sounds good, stops any potential lecture, and pacifies me but the work is not done. We come on Sunday and Jesus asks us to reflect. Do we just say, “Yeh God, Sure God” and agree but walk out and immediately forget? I do not want to make this sound like works so that we end up with a kind of New Testament law like “thou shalt witness to your neighbor.” So let us go to our New Testament reading.
Phillippians 2 is famous as it charges us, “5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Paul pleads with us to be of the same mind, united, not quarreling and gossiping and not jealous. Are we guarding our hearts against selfish ambition, regarding others better than ourselves? As we read the passage, it is not a “to do” list but a “to be” list. As I read about “the body of Christ,” I hear a diversity of functions, of looks, of gifts, and of honor being mentioned. Walking in the image of Christ does not mean that we all are the same in our thoughts and actions but we do work in a united way to the glory of God with a humble heart for others.
Jesus asks Bethany as we celebrate our 100th anniversary if we are living by our goals and mission statement to the glory of God. Are we using our talents as we can to support Christ’s body here at Bethany? Then he adds a closing comment:
The Challenge
“and even after you saw it,
you did not change your minds and believe him.”
After experiencing truth presented by John the Baptist, the chief priests and elders did not change. They could not embrace John the Baptist and the baptism he taught to prepare for the Messiah. They saw and heard and they did not change. The problem was not being a sinner. Jesus would take care of sin on the cross. But the problem was that even after experiencing truth, they could not adapt. Perhaps they were frozen in their traditions. Bethany of 2023 is a different Bethany than the Bethany of 1923. Our context has changed. We are older. Our culture has changed. But our God has not changed. God still speaks into our lives through his Word, through his people, and through our giftings. I wonder, how will Bethany respond to their love story with God?
By what authority does Bethany do what Bethany does? I pray that we are attuned not just to our mission statements and specific goals but also to the voice of a God who watches over us and directs our paths. He wants to partner with us.
Is Bethany doing the will of God? That is not a question of Bethany Gardens or Bethany Day Care but a question of our hearts in relation to each other and to God as we seek to respond to his authority.
Bethany is on a journey. I pray we will have eyes to see and adapt as God opens the path into our future. I pray we will have ears to hear his voice and hearts open to the new horizons he is calling us to. I pray Bethany’s feet are ever running to serve their Lord who guides, redeems and loves his presence here at 4702 South East Street, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Let the people of God say, “AMEN.”
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On the Way to Wonder 