Sermons

September 27^th 2026 - Matthew 21:23-32

Pray

Who am I to be doing this? I was so nervous as I prepared to preach and lead services solo for the very first time. This was probably almost 15 years ago, before ordination, before seminary, a local Pastor had asked that I lead worship while they were on vacation. With no formal training I felt like I lacked any real authority to be standing before folks and so my insecurity drove me to reach for the cross. This one, I grabbed it off my bedroom wall and thought…I’ll add a chain and wear it. Not trusting myself or any God given gifts I leaned on an external symbol.

We live in a world that elevates external symbols of authority. Kings and Queens wear crowns. Police wear badges and Pastors wear stoles. Young nervous Jeremiah, struggling with imposter syndrome wanted to believe that clothes really made the man and grabbed a cross. Have you ever doubted your ability or worthiness?  

Jesus enters the temple when he is confronted not for what he is wearing, but confronted with a question of authority. Remember the temple is the center of the ancient Jewish faith, the place where God’s very presence was said to reside. Ancient Jews would have been required to make pilgrimages to the temple to offer sacrifices multiple times a year. This was a place of great importance and great power. The leaders of the temple, the chief priests and the scribes, they had authority and so when they ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, who gave it to you?” The subtext reads, because it wasn’t us.

Now I love the broadness of the question. “These things.” My middle school English teachers would have been unhappy with the chief priests and scribes. My teachers didn’t want us to use the word ‘thing.’ In class we were encouraged to be more specific and descriptive. Here though the broadness is intentional. Those in power could have said, “who gave you permission to make a mess!” Just the day prior Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, goes to the temple and flips over the money changers tables. The ones who were making exorbitant profits over folks exchanging their Roman coins for ones allowed in the temple. The next day he returns to the scene of the crime and so unsurprisingly is confronted.

Perhaps, this disruptive protest is the straw that broke the camel’s back, but notice those in power don’t specifically name any single action. They say, “these things” in reference to Jesus entire ministry. Who gave you authorization to heal the sick, cast out demons, eat with tax collectors and sex workers, call poor fishermen to follow you. Without saying the quiet part aloud, who told you it was ok to threaten our power?

Jesus returns their challenge with a question, did my cousin John’s baptism come from heaven, or human origin? John the Baptizer, was different, camel hair wearing, locust eating, fire and brimstone preacher not in the temple but out in the wilderness. John was also threat to the institutional power. Yet, he was popular. So as indignant as the priests and scribes may feel, they are more interested in self-preservation. Seeing no way forward they refuse to answer Jesus’ prompt. He does not let their hypocrisy go unacknowledged. Jesus offers a teaching story about two sons. One says no to his dad but then changes his mind and does what his dad asks. The other says of course I will clean my room but then never picks up a single sock. Sorry this story is a little triggering for some of us.

An interaction that seemingly started about authority and power ends in a lesson on faithfulness. An invitation to change one’s mind and follow true authority. As self-righteous as it might make us feel to name our perceived shortcomings of the ancients, Jesus words are in fact timeless. I wonder if we might reflect on our own hypocrisy.

What authorities are we really following? When we are scared or nervous what power do seek comfort in? Is it a government that spends a reported billion a day bombing Iran while making cuts to programs that feed and care for folks?

Do we seek the comfort of the almighty dollar choosing to chase the empty promises of a bigger pay check?

Do we place trust in influencers, algorithms, or even AI, believing whatever opinion is the one we already agree with?

We just may face a realization that we are not that different than the chief priests and the scribes… we are complicit in the brokenness. So maybe the question is are we merely wearing our faith or are we living it? Maybe living it starts by wearing a ladder…

(show 2-minute video of Craig Campenella freely replacing basketball nets)

What a model for discipleship in a world with overwhelming problems and questions of permission or ability might have us frozen in inaction. Doing what you can where you can with what God has given to you.

To those participating in today’s communion celebration; Genevieve, Lucy, Quinn, Hazel, Juniper, Sam, Elle, Eleanor, and Lyanna may you know this…

Not all the world’s problems are simple things that can be fixed. But we need not wait for any earthly authority to give us permission to live out the radical love of Jesus. No one needs to approve making a change in ourselves to be more in line with love. In those moments when we experience doubt or when we wonder, “who am I to be doing these things? Be it preaching, helping a neighbor, serving communion for the first time, or replacing a basketball net, may we remember each of us is already wearing a cross. For in the waters of Baptism God declared love, grace, and relationship with you forever. A Pastor made the sign of the cross proclaiming you to be a beloved child of the Creator. A follower of the one who flipped the money changers tables without permission and who changed everything when he went to the cross and rose out of the tomb defying even the authority of death. May we lean not on external symbols but on love that is eternal. Amen.