Matthew 21:23-32

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

 When he 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?’ Jesus 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. Did 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?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So 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.

The Parable of the Two Sons

 ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which 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. For 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.

The Parable of the two sons contrasts the faithless leaders and the faithful outcasts.  What matters?  What is authentic?  What we say or what we do?  Affirming the right thing, but not acting on it, stands in the way of authentic response to God.

Jesus challenges conventional perspectives of right and wrong and shows how different God’s Kingdom is from the kingdoms of this world.

By asking Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” the chief priests and elders hope to discredit Jesus and trap him into claiming his authority comes from God, so that he can be charged with blasphemy.

In true rabbinic style, Jesus replies with another question that presents the priests and elders with a dilemma.  If they answer that the baptism of John the Baptist was from God, then they must explain why they did not acknowledge John.  On the other hand, if they rely that John’s baptism was “of human origin”, the fear the response of the crowds who believed John was a prophet of God.

After telling the parable of the two sons, Jesus asks the priests and elders, “Which of the sons did the will of his father?”  In answering that the son who actually did go into the vineyard to work, even though he told his father he would not go, actually did the will of the father.  In their answer, the priests and elders exposed their own hypocrisy.  Affirming the right thing, but not acting on it, stands in the way of authentic response to God.

1.     How does the dilemma presented between saying and doing continue to affect us today?

2.     Reflect on the responses of the sons in terms of your own personal relationship with God.  How are you like either one or both of them?

3.     In this parable, Jesus turns conventional assumptions upside down.  What changes are we called to make from the implications of this story?