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Matthew 21: 23-32
“The Power of the Church to Be and Do”
Introduction
The chief priests and elders in Jerusalem did not like Jesus. When he
preached large crowds gathered to hear him. Everywhere he went people lined the
streets to see him, hear him and touch him. He healed the sick, walked on water,
and performed many other miracles. Jesus was more popular than the religious
leaders and so they did not like him. The chief priest and the elders focused on the
law but Jesus focused on Love.
One week before the Passover, Jesus entered Jerusalem and was met by a
crowd that welcomed him like the Messiah. After the crowd cheered him, Jesus
went into the Temple where business men had set up tables to sell animals to
visitors from out of town who needed to present their offerings and sacrifices.
There were also money changers who exchanged people’s coins that had Caesar’s
image on it to ones that had no images because the Second Commandment said,
“Thou shall not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in
the water under the earth.” So people who had money with the picture of the
Roman emperor could not offer it to the Temple but had to exchange it.
The sellers of good and the money changes operated in the area of the
Temple where the Gentiles were supposed to pray. The Temple was built in a way
so that it had the Holy of Holies, and then there was the inner court for the priests.
After the inner court for the priests, there was the court for Jewish men to pray.
Outside of the court for Jewish men, there was the court for Jewish women to pray.
Next to the court where Jewish women prayed was the court for Gentiles, those
who were not Jews, to pray. With the court of the Gentiles, the Temple was truly a
house of prayer for all nations, as Jesus described it.
When Jesus went to the Temple and saw the people selling goods and
trading money in the court of the Gentiles, he overturned the tables of the money
changers and the stools of those who sold pigeons. He also drove out the business
people from the court and told them, “My Father’s house was made to be a house
of prayer but you have turned it into a hideout for thieves.” This action on the part
of Jesus did not go well with the chief priests and the elders of the Temple and they
were not happy with Jesus because he cut in their profits as well.
Main Text
The next day, when Jesus returned to the temple, the chief priests and the
elders came to Jesus and asked him, “By what authority you do these things?” or as
another translation put it, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave
you such right?” They were asking about the authority Jesus had because he was a
part of the establishment. They didn’t know where he went to school yet he was
wiser than all of them. He was a part of their association yet he had more respect
and recognition than all of them. What authority did he have to drive out the
businessmen they had given permission to set up shop in the Gentile Court?
In response, Jesus said, “I will ask you just one question and if you give me
the answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things. Where did John’s
authority to baptize come from: Was it from God or from human beings?” The
chief priests and elders were confused and argued among themselves. If we say
John’s authority to baptize came from God, Jesus will say to us, “Why did you not
believe him?” If we say John’s authority to baptize came from human beings,
well, we don’t know what the people will do to us because they are all convinced
that John was a prophet.” So they said to Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said to
them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority and what right I do these things.”
Jesus was truly a great and wise Son of God. But although he did not tell
them by what authority he did what he did, the people as well as the chief priests
and elders knew that it was by the power and authority of God that Jesus did what
he did. As John 1:1 testified, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was
with God and the Word was God.” So the authority Jesus had came from God.
The right and the power Jesus had to teach, heal and clean out the Temple came
from God.
As followers and Disciples of Christ, the Church is the Body of Christ.
Since the Church is the Body of Christ, the power the Church has to be and to do
things comes from God. The Church is a unique organization. It is the only
organization on earth that is both human and divine. In this organization you will
find people who are saints and sinners. The church is the only association we can
join where our membership does not end when we die but it continues in heaven
because even the saints in heaven are still members of the church.
The head of the Church is Jesus Christ and all bishops, pastors and laity are
under the Lordship of Christ. All bishops, pastors, and laity work for Christ. We
live in particular communities but our mission is to the whole world. As John
Wesley himself said, “The whole world is my parish.” We belong to a community
of faith that can be found in every country and on every continent. Before Jesus
ascended into heaven, in Matthew 28: 18-19, he said to them, “I have been given
all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make
them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will
be with you always, to the end of the age.”
So we, the Church, have been given power and authority to be what we are.
As Peter put it in First Peter 2:9, the Church is “a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, and a holy nation.” Yes, we are the church. We who were ordinary
have become extraordinary because we belong to Jesus. In Exodus 3:11-12, when
God sent Moses to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, Moses said, “I am
nobody. How can I go to the king? God said to him, “I will be with you.” If you
ever felt you were nobody, you are now somebody because God is with you. If
you ever felt powerless, rejoice because now we have been given the power to act
in the name of Jesus.
We have the power to be the Church because we believe that Jesus is Lord
and Savior of the world, that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We have
the power to be the Church because we call ourselves by his name, that we are
followers and Disciples of Christ. The church is not a social organization; we are a
divine organization.
We also have the power to do great and wonderful things. We have the
power to take the Good News to the Poor, those who don’t know God and need to
hear the Gospel. We have the power to proclaim liberty to the captives. People
who are chained to bad habits, people who are addicted to things that hurt them
must hear the Gospel that sets them free from those things that hold them captive.
We have the power to open the eyes of the blind and set free the oppressed. There
are people who can’t find good in others, who see only the negative and have no
hope. We have the power to help them realize the image of God in all of us, that
Jesus is our hope and when we think there is no way, Jesus will make a way
because he is the Way.
The Church has the power to pray for the sick, the lost, and the homeless and
for everyone. The church also has the power to help those in need not because we
want praise and attention but because Christ expects this of us and has given us the
power to do so. Even when it seems people will take advantage of our goodness of
heart, the church just cannot stop being the church and doing good.
In a book titled, Prelude to Practical Theology, the author told a story of the
Church that was always in ministry to the community where they were. However,
one Sunday a stranger came to the church to worship. During a break in the
service, the visitor spoke with the pastor and said he was trying to make his way to
Georgia and needed money for the trip because he had terminal cancer. The pastor
was moved and the congregation for this man at the altar. But they went one step
forward and collected about $80.00 for this man. Later that week, they learned that
this stranger had gone to several churches with the same story and collected money
but he did not have cancer and was not sick.
The church felt used and abused but what could they do? Rather than
stopping the acts of compassion, they came up with a new way. They started a
clothes closet, made vouchers for groceries and gas and developed connections
with other organizations in the neighborhood. The church could not stop helping
people even if they wanted to. Jesus had given them the power to be the Church
and to do things the church should do.
Conclusion
By what authority we gather here and who gave us the right to be in this
place and do the things we do? Jesus Christ did. Just as he implied in his answer
to the chief priests and elders that his authority was from God, and just as he told
his disciples that all authority in heaven and in earth, he has passed that authority
and power on to us. As the United Methodist Constitution declares, “The Church
is a community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. The Church is
the redeemed and redeeming fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by
persons divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to
Christ’s own appointment.”
The power of the church to be and to do comes from the authority of Jesus
Christ. May we continue to use that power for the salvation of the world and the
good of our community in Jesus name, amen.