Year A

Philippians 2:1-13 & Matthew 21: 23-32

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Interview that Transforms

A few years ago, the well known television psychologist and celebrity Dr. Phil was asked by someone interviewing him, “If you could interview anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?” Dr. Phil replied rather quickly, “Jesus Christ. I would really like to interview Jesus. I would like to have a conversation with him about the meaning of life.”  We might agree with Dr. Phil and long for an opportunity to talk with Jesus about many things but on second thought, we might be crazy to want this. From what we already know of Jesus, he would certainly turn us and our lives upside down and inside out and probably end up telling us to sell everything we own, give the money to the poor and come follow him; leaving our heads spinning and our lives as we know them, on the line. No doubt we could not remain the same at the end of the conversation. So are you sure Dr. Phil this is what you want?

The chief priests and the elders of the temple discover that conversations with Jesus can be rather dangerous and can throw everything out of balance. You see, the day before his encounter with the chief priests and elders, Jesus enters the city accompanied by shouts of “Son of David” A title meant to refer to Jesus as God’s anointed or the Messiah. The chief priests and elders of the temple understood what was meant when the people called Jesus “Son of David” and they began to know he was a threat because He and his followers wouldn’t give them the honor they thought they deserved, tying right into last weeks passage from Matthew when Jesus says “the first shall be last and the last first.”

So when they heard the people hailing Jesus as the Savior, they became enraged. It didn’t help that after entering the city Jesus began to drive out all who were selling and buying in the temple, knocking over the tables of the money changers and calling the temple itself a “den of robbers.” The next morning Jesus returns to the temple and is confronted by the chief priest and elders who demand to know, “By what authority are you doing these thing?” Their question is important, as they attempt to figure out who Jesus is and how he thinks he gained the authority to do and say what he does. I can understand, I owned a small business for eighteen years and if someone walked in and began to tell me what to do and what I was doing wrong, and then turn my money drawer over, I might have questioned who this person thought they were.

The leaders truly believed they were the ones who had the authority. They thought they were doing the right things, but they had also gotten so attached to their own ideas about what was right that it was hard for them to give up their ideas for a new experience or understanding of God. So in telling the story of the man with two sons Jesus was telling them that not only were people they despised possibly going into the kingdom ahead of them because God wants the kingdom to include those who have been excluded, but that it is not those who say yes to God who find life with God, but those who actually do what God wills in their lives. According to the story, what expresses the will of God is not your history of righteous deeds but, rather, your embrace of repentance and your need for mercy.

Matthew characterizes the authorities as those who have said they will obey God’s will, but who fail to respond to the repentance and forgiveness that God issues through John and now through Jesus. The authorities may have said yes to God but their actions said a big NO to Jesus. Just as they rejected John the Baptist and his witness to Jesus as the Savior, it is now necessary they reject Jesus. It’s easy for us to judge the chief priests and elders because we already know the story. But what if we were to put ourselves in their shoes? Most of us have a tendency to want to maintain the status quo? We can be resistant to changing our ways of being and doing. We can even be resistant to the transforming work of God in us, God’s love, forgiveness, and mercy enabling us to will and to work for God’s good pleasure. Most of Jesus’ questions call his followers to be transformed.

Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians that we, as followers of Christ, are called to be imitators of Christ. We are called to live in a way that allows other people to see Christ in us. It is not about impersonating Christ, but about adopting Christ like attitudes in all areas of our life. It’s also not a call to perfection because we know that is impossible but rather an invitation to be honest with ourselves and to understand that God is with us and is doing something unique and special in each one of us. This is God’s challenge for us to live in a manner that is counter-cultural. To live in a way that is different than what we see in the chief priests and elders of our day. Yet, this is a process as we all know. Christian living is a process.

We don’t just wake up one day and decide this is the day I’m going to transform my life, my attitudes and my actions. We may decide that, but by the end of the day look back and think…I’m not sure I did such a good job because transformation takes time and work. It requires we make the decision to be different, to be in a different place if we are to be true Christ followers. So, it sometimes takes turning our life upside down and inside out. As Paul puts it, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to both will and to work for God’s good pleasure.

This is good news for us. God doesn’t leave us to work out our salvation, to work out our transformation alone. We get help with God’s spirit, God’s word in the scriptures and the example that Jesus gives us of what it looks like to empty ourselves, like he did, becoming obedient to God’s will for our lives. God calls us to faith by believing in Jesus; following him and in the process the world is turned upside down, tax collectors lead the parade and the privileged religious leaders are left shaking their heads. So the heart of the matter seems to be asking ourselves what will it take for us to allow our hearts to be changed, to be broken open, again, and again, and again? Open to receive and give God’s forgiveness and mercy.

Jesus wants followers, and it seems to be less important whether we say yes or no as to what we actually do. Yet, it’s not a question of faith verses works for in Matthew’s theology, to do God’s will and receive Jesus means doing the Sermon on the Mount. It means striving to live lives of transformation “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure”. Then we might even thank Jesus for the interview because we will discover that nothing will do but to give ourselves over to living God’s mercy, justice and compassion.