What happens when someone questions a decision we made? We feel angry, challenged, or even disrespected. We start thinking, “Do they trust me? Do they think I don’t know what I’m doing?” And almost immediately, we feel the need to explain or defend ourselves.
There is nothing wrong with explaining a decision. The deeper question is what happens inside us when our authority is challenged. Can we listen before we defend ourselves? Can we listen long enough to discern whether God might be using an uncomfortable question to show us something we need to see?
That is part of what is happening in today’s Gospel.
Jesus is in Jerusalem during the final days before his crucifixion. The temple was at the center of Jewish religious life, and the chief priests and elders were recognized leaders with authority and responsibility. Jesus has entered the temple, cleansed it, healed people, and taught there. The crowds have seen what he is doing, and now the religious leaders want to know who gave him the right to do it.
So when they ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things?” they are not simply asking where his teaching comes from. They are challenging his right to act and speak as he does. They want Jesus to account for himself. Who gave you permission? Who authorized you?
Their question is about authority, position, and who has the right to speak and act.
Jesus responds by asking them about John the Baptist. Was John’s baptism from heaven, or was it of human origin?
They realize they are trapped. If they say John’s authority came from heaven, Jesus will ask why they did not believe him. If they say it was merely human, they are afraid of the crowds because the people believed John was a prophet.
So they refuse to answer.
Jesus does not give them the answer they are demanding. Instead, he tells them a story.
A father asks his two sons to go and work in the vineyard. The first son says no, but later changes his mind and goes. The second son says yes, but never goes. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
The answer is obvious. The one who went.
Jesus moves the conversation from the question of who has authority to the question of how people respond to God. Jesus is exposing whether these religious leaders are willing to recognize and respond to what God is doing through John.
The chief priests and elders had heard John’s call to repentance, but they did not believe him. Even when they saw others respond to John’s message, they still refused to change their minds and believe.
It is easy for us to focus on titles, positions, experience, or who has the right to make a decision. We can become so concerned about who has authority that we forget to ask a more important question: What does faithfulness to God look like in the way we respond?
That gives us something important to think about in our own lives and as a church. When our authority is questioned, our first reaction may be to defend ourselves. Jesus invites us to look deeper.
Are we listening to God? Are we willing to change our minds and admit that we may not have the whole picture? Are our actions showing the faith we say we have?
And that is uncomfortable because most of us can recognize ourselves in both sons.
There are times when God asks something of us and our first response is no.
“No, I am too tired. Someone else can do it. I do not want to forgive. I do not want to change. I do not want to have that difficult conversation. I do not want to make room for someone who sees things differently than I do.”
And sometimes, by God’s grace, we change our minds. We take another step. We apologize. We forgive. We serve. We welcome someone. We say yes with our lives even though our first words were no.
That is repentance. Repentance is turning back toward God. It is responding to God’s call and allowing God’s grace to change the direction of our lives. Repentance is more than feeling sorry or simply changing our minds. It turns us toward a different way of living.
In the waters of Baptism, God’s grace comes first. Before we can show that we are faithful, God names and claims us as beloved children and joins us to Christ. God’s grace is given to us, and from that grace our life of repentance and faith grows.
We turn back toward God because God continues to call us, even when we have said no, even when we have wandered, and even when we have not done what we said we would do.
The first son said no, but he did not remain there. He changed his response and went. His story reminds us that what matters is not that we have always gotten it right. God continues to call us, and by God’s grace, we can turn and respond.
And Jesus makes clear that God’s kingdom includes people whom others have already judged. The tax collectors and prostitutes whom the religious leaders looked down on heard John’s call to repentance and believed him. Jesus says that they are entering the kingdom of God ahead of those who refused to believe John.
That would have been deeply uncomfortable for the people listening to Jesus, and it should make us uncomfortable too.
Because we can easily decide who looks faithful to us. We can look at someone’s past, their mistakes, their family, their language, or their culture and decide that we already know what kind of person they are.
Jesus reminds us that we are not the ones who determine who is beyond God’s call. John called people to repentance, and Jesus shows that even people whom others had judged were able to hear that call, believe, and change their response.
Then there is the second son. He says yes. He sounds obedient. He says exactly what the father wants to hear. But he does not go.
Jesus reminds us that religious words are not enough. We can sing the hymns, know the prayers, come to church every Sunday, and have strong opinions about what Christians should believe. And still Jesus asks us to look at our lives.
Are we loving our neighbor? Are we making room for people? Are we caring for those who are struggling? Are we willing to change when God shows us that we are wrong?
Are our lives responding to the God we say we believe in?
The parable brings us back to a simple question: Are our lives saying yes to God?
That question can be uncomfortable because none of us can answer it perfectly.
We have all said yes with our words and then failed to follow through. We have all said no when God was calling us to something difficult. We have all needed to turn around and start again.
That is why repentance is good news. Repentance means that our first response does not have to be our final response. God’s grace gives us the freedom to turn around and begin again.
We do not repent because we have to prove that we are good enough for God. We repent because God continues to call us back.
That is why we come to the Lord’s Table. We do not come because we have perfectly lived out everything Jesus teaches.
We come because we need Christ. We come because we need forgiveness. We come because we need the grace of God that meets us where we are. Christ invites us to this table and gives himself to us. We do not earn our place here by having the right answers or by proving that we are faithful enough. Christ is the one who welcomes us and feeds us.
And then we leave the table and return to the vineyard.
The meal does not send us out to earn God’s love. It sends us out having already received Christ’s grace, ready to live that grace in the world.
We go back to our families, our workplaces, our community, and our church. We go back to the places where someone may question us. We go back to the places where we may be tempted to defend ourselves. We go back to the places where God may be asking us to listen, to change, to forgive, to serve, or to speak.
We do not go because we have everything figured out. We go because Christ has called us, forgiven us, and given us his grace.
So let us not spend all our energy defending our authority, our opinions, or our place. Let us listen for God’s voice. Let us be willing to change when God calls us to turn around. Let our actions speak alongside our words.
We have received Christ’s grace.
Now we go into God’s vineyard to live that grace in the world.
Amen.
