"Authority and Accountability"
September 19, 2004
 The Rev. Laura L. Stellmon

The Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 8: 11 - 17
The New Testament Lesson: Luke 20: 1 - 19

Before we begin reading from Luke’s gospel today, we should note that Jesus has just recently entered the city of Jerusalem. His ministry strategy has not really changed--he is still preaching and teaching and healing--but now he faces a different audience, and more intense opposition.

Jesus has been teaching in the temple, and has just run out the moneychangers, reminding everyone that God’s temple is to be a place of prayer, and not a den of thieves. Hear what happens next....

 Read:  Luke 20: 1 - 19

 Earlier in his ministry Jesus has had confrontations with religious leaders. He argued points of law and tradition with the Pharisees. But here his is faced with the priests and their associates, and they will argue with him about those same issues, but they will also add the matter of “turf”. You see, the temple was the place where the priests exercised their authority. The temple is not a synagogue, which would invite laypersons to speak to the assembly. Those who speak in the temple are either priests themselves, or appointed by the priests.

The questions that the priests ask of Jesus IS an appropriate question, “By whose authority do you speak and act here?” Presbyterians understand the concern of those priests. We don’t let just anyone come into our churches to speak and administer the sacraments. We insist on proper training and authorization for such things.

Jesus doesn’t answer the priests’ question right away. He asks them a question; perhaps to see whether or not they are open to hearing the truth from him. He asks them whether they think John the Baptist was acting on authority from God, or on his own. So the priests circle up in a huddle and confer with one another. “If we say, ‘from God’, then Jesus will ask us why, then, did we not welcome him. If we say, ‘he had no authority from God’, then all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that the Baptist came from God.” What will we do?

 There is no good answer for us. okay, it ‘s settled, we’ll avoid the question and say simply, ‘We don’t know.” The priests then turn their attention back to Jesus, and their spokesman says, “We don’t know where his authority came from.”

Jesus asked them a question, “Where did John the Baptist’s authority come from?” But the priests didn’t even try to answer that question, did they? It’s not recorded that they even discussed the question of whether John the Baptist was sent by God. Instead they discussed the best way to respond in order to maximize damage control. Jesus understood full well their intentions in putting forth their chosen answer. The priest said, “We don’t know the answer.” But Jesus’ response to them was to say, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Now Jesus turns his attention back to the people to whom he had been speaking when the priests interrupted him with their question about authority. He tells the people a parable. He is no longer speaking directly to the priests, but they hear him as he speaks again to the people. The parable is a story which warns of the dangers of power-hungry leaders. Hear how it sounds when we read the story as an allegory.

The vineyard was a familiar image used to speak of God’s heavy investment of time, attention, work, care and patience with his people, an image that further indicated the anticipation of a fruitful return. The vineyard in Jesus’ story had been in the hands of the tenants for a long time. The servants who came with God’s demand for a return on the investment are the prophets, including John the Baptist. And the beloved son is, of course, Jesus. The tenants are the religious leaders who not only forget that the vineyard belongs to God, but who deceive themselves in thinking that they might actually be able to take over as owners of the vineyard themselves. In their foolishness they kill the vineyard owner’s son.

But the wicked tenants do not determine the outcome of the story, contrary to what they had assumed. They cannot secure the vineyard for themselves by killing the heir because the vineyard belongs to the owner.

The story Jesus tells invites the hearers to consider the question which Jesus actually posed aloud, “What will the vineyard owner do to those wicked tenants?” And so the priests and scribes were set to wondering what God might do with them for their failed stewardship over Israel.

Luke tells us that perceiving the story was against them, the chief priests and the scribes wanted to lay hands on Jesus at that very hour. How very like the chief priests and the scribes are we! This story is not merely an allegory of the history of Israel. It is also a mirror which reflects our own rejections of God’s grace and God’s claim on our life. How often are we made aware of our own shortcomings, our own failure to follow God’s plan, only to make excuses for our behavior, or attempt to mock and discredit the one who gave us the clear and true picture of ourselves?

The story of the tenants is the story of human beings in general. We are prone to alternately overreach or underachieve what God intends us to be.

God’s claim on our lives reminds us that privilege and responsibility are inextricably linked to one another, as are grace and stewardship. God never places responsibilities on us without giving us the strength and gifts to carry out those responsibilities. But demanding those gifts, those privileges without accepting the accompanying responsibility is a sign of immaturity and selfishness.

This parable anticipates the movement of the gospel from the Jews to the Gentiles. If, in Luke’s day or in ours, tenants of God’s vineyard deceive themselves with grand thoughts of power and prestige, there are always others to whom God can give over the trust. In fact, perhaps the examination of this parable brings to mind the places which were once the struggling missionary fields of the church in Europe and America--places like Africa and Korea--places where now the church is lively and strong. What do these vital and healthy churches have to teach the struggling churches of the Western world which planted them?

It would be easy for us to think that the mistake of the religious leaders was in confronting Jesus and questioning his authority. But I would suggest that the real mistake was in being more concerned with their position and their public image than they were about discerning God’s work in their midst. Jesus spoke often about people having “eyes to see” and “ears to hear”. Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear what God is doing in our own community, in our nation, in our church, and in our own lives?

May God’s Spirit touch each one of us, and give us a keen insight and sense of direction, so that we can respond actively, positively, and faithfully to the work of God’s kingdom, wherever we see it, in whatever form it might take. Amen.