Evidence of the Word

Sermon by Season Lahr

Matthew 21:23-32

LET US PRAY: Father, thank you for the gift of your Word. Open our ears to hear, our mouths to speak, and our hearts to feel Your love and truth.

I had every intention today of sharing a story about my school experience. It was centered around my understanding of how math works, the evidence being in the answer. And at some point I had a clear connection to our gospel reading. But along the line of working through what to share with you, that connection dissolved and flitted away.

Perhaps, that is the power of a sacred text that we hold as living. Each breath carries the potential of a new revelation, a new understanding.

It puts me in mind, a bit, of relationships and the push and pull of the revelation of personalities, values, and interests. There is an attempt to understand each other in each new day, each new encounter. We must evaluate not only what is being said by whom in what circumstance, but also our own particular mindset in that moment.

Evidence. Maybe that’s my connection. And the need to evaluate it for ourselves. The evidence presented to us and by us.

In our gospel reading Jesus shares an example of two brothers. They are both asked by their father to go work in the fields. One says no, but then reflects and changes his mind. The other says yes but never follows through.

My daddy might say he didn’t walk the talk.

The evidence is clear in Jesus’ story. One brother has turned and done what is right, much like the man we see in Ezekiel: “if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness. . . and does what is just and right, he will save his life.” (NIV). The second has not, reflecting the other man in Ezekiel: “if a righteous man turns from his righteousness. . . he will die for it.” (NIV)

Jesus tells this story because the high priests have questioned his authority (we should admit that it is within their rights to do so as leaders of the religious community). But in turn, Jesus asks them to explain what they think about John’s ministry? He is asking for an evaluation of evidence. The people John baptized and communed with exhibited changed lives. The Word John shared with the tax collectors and harlots and sick and poor brought about a new community, one that should have spoken of the power and authority of heaven to the priests. However, the leaders rejected this evidence; Jesus proved with his parable that they are capable of evaluating the evidence and reaching a conclusion. But when asked plainly by Jesus, they continue to deny any understanding of what they had witnessed through John’s ministry. Further, they rejected Jesus’ embracing and continuation of this ministry.

If changed lives existed from what John and Jesus did and said, as we can see in the Ezekiel passages and in the parable Jesus shares, then the authority was from heaven. Jesus didn’t need to answer the leaders’ question. The evidence around Him did that. Jesus was unable to add new information to what was before them. The Word John and Jesus brought, led to new lives. It was there for them to see.

You don’t need acknowledgement from a high priest or a person in a pulpit to know that the Word changes lives. Paul tells us in our New Testament reading that it is up to each of us to work out our salvation. This is not to say that we work FOR our salvation. That is the gift of God’s goodness. Working out our salvation is to evaluate the evidence of how we continue to grow and transform and turn towards the love and justice of God.

I remind us of those relationships I mentioned at the beginning. The conversations with the spouse, the child, the friend, the acquaintance. We attempt in those relationships to evaluate, to grow and transform from the encounters we have with those we hold dear and perhaps even more so with those who challenge us. And let us not forget those on the periphery of our everyday lives, where we are given only a moment to offer evidence of the Word.

Each conversation is an opportunity to evaluate the evidence of the Word we present to them. Each encounter, further, is an opportunity to consider how we may change from the words we shared and from those shared with us. New evidence can exist because we interact with the living Word. We allow it to form and shape and work out our understanding of the God of love and our relationship with Him. We are continuously being filled by this Word through the Holy Spirit and must strenuously evaluate how it impacts not only ourselves, but also those around us.

God’s Word lives within us. So, I ask of us today,

What evidence do we show of the Word at work in our lives?

AMEN