“He changed his mind and went.”
Philippians 2: 1 – 13; Matthew 21: 23 – 32.
Living our faith is more important than right doctrine. Yet living our faith must be in accordance with what is right. This tension between right belief and right living is universal. This is the tension between conservatism and liberalism; tradition and progress; and, Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. They held that certain practices were essential such as not working on the Sabbath and being ritually clean. One finds it hard to disagree until work is so meticulously defined that it becomes counter productive. Ritual cleanliness is so defined that it is life-denying. Jesus often fell foul of these rules. He touched lepers and that made him ritually unclean. He healed on the Sabbath and that was seen as work. All a bit ridiculous we might add. Anyway we aren’t like that! Really! It is interesting what matters to people regarding worship and music in congregations.
I want to emphasise what I believe both Jesus and Paul are telling us about our unity, our fellowship, our ministry and our witness in this world. I am going to take a particular incident and offer an analysis that I hope shows that our unity and strength lies not in legalism but in love. And we may see a little of the muddiness of Christ’s way.
The media reported this September the action of a minister who decided not to conduct the wedding of a young couple because the bride had affirmed same-sex marriage on her Facebook page. I think it was two weeks out from the marriage date. What we have is a minister who feels so strongly about something that he refuses to go through with a ceremony. Now I agree with this minister that he has a right to marry whom he wishes. I have refused to marry one or two couples because they would not meet my criteria. My criteria for conducting a wedding are: that it is a Christian wedding; that the couple take a short course to help them understand the complexity of the relationship they are entering into and that they meet the legal requirements of the land. But this is sorted long before any wedding date is finalised. We Christian shouldn’t tolerate anything. I argued that point last Sunday. But there are essential and non-essential beliefs. This minister obviously thinks same-sex marriage is so important that he would refuse to marry a couple once he had learned this fact. There are a number of issues here. If the minister requires the groom and bride to hold to certain beliefs and values before conducting the marriage he should have made that explicit at the first interview. Now I would stand with this minister if the bride had stated on her Facebook page her disbelief in Christ Jesus. I would have called that into question. Sometimes you have to make a stand at the last minute. I recall the groom who turned up to the rehearsal smelling of alcohol. I told them both, quietly, that if he turned up the next day smelling of alcohol I would refuse to conduct the marriage as I believe that marriage should be soberly entered into. My point was both ethical and legal. He complied.
The other thing, and the thing that really concerns me, is how long is this minister’s list, or anyone else’s list, of core non-negotiable beliefs and values. The point I want to make is that when we define faith in legalistic terms we risk destroying what it most valuable. Legalism has the capacity to become life-denying. I just don’t think this minister’s refusal to marry the couple achieved anything really worthwhile.
Another interesting point is comment by the Australian Christian Lobby’s director, Lyle Shelton, who said “clergy should always reserve the right not to marry people if they are concerned that they may not understand the true nature of marriage”. I agree, but then I have never met a couple who fully understood the true nature of marriage. Did you when you were married? I’m not sure I did when I got married. I think we only understand what marriage is when we have travelled down the road a good few years. There’s wisdom in Scripture. There’s wisdom at the heart of Scripture.
Jesus sailed very close to the wind when it came to tradition. He attended a wedding, but we don’t know if this was the groom’s first or third wife he was marrying. We just assume it was his first and only wife he would ever have, unless death intervened. Jesus evidently accepted that, in his day, a man might have more than one wife. He never spoke against it. And Jesus did not follow the ritual cleansing practices of the day. He broke with traditions that were not life-giving.
Paul in his letters to the Philippians stresses the importance of love and faith rather than legalistic beliefs and rules. Listen again to Paul and hear how doctrine and morality are delicately balanced. If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. [Phil 2:1-4]
Paul knew, as Jesus did, that if we have a long list of non-negotiable rules and beliefs you end up painting yourselves into a corner. Legalism leads to exclusivism.
More important to Paul is the unity of God’s people. In saying this I am immediately reminded of Jesus’ prayer recorded in John 17 where he prays for the unity of the Church and that they all may be one. Our focus passage from Philippians today is all about unity. For Paul the practice of encouragement, comfort, fellowship in the Spirit and compassion for others was the essence of the faith and the source of unity. In particular he stresses acting in humility, not out of self-interest. Unity relies on humility.
This passage, so beautiful in its essence and expression, does call into question how the Church can sustain such unity. Look at us! The Church has its theological differences, differing traditions cemented in history, variations in styles of worship, arguments about windows, pews, and music. Personality differences, smoldering resentments concerning former offences and cultural and political differences all war against our unity. How can we sustain unity? Our unity will always be fragile because we are incomplete in ourselves. We’re always struggling against things and others.
Unity is sustained by a common focus. Unity can only be sustained if we all share commitment to something or someone. Unity can only be maintained if one humbles oneself and does not think that they are better than another.
Biblical scholarship points to the first Christians being quite diverse, but what held them together was the understanding that Jesus was the Christ and that God had raised him from the dead. When everything has the same importance then one will find oneself boxed in. When everything is held with equal strength the really important is reduced to the level of the common. Not only that but the person who makes so much non-negotiable like this minister will end up hurting others. Love, humility and discernment are important. Jesus mirrored that and Paul encouraged love, humility and discernment. Humility was so important because Jesus through his obedient humility destroyed the power of sin. Research has shown that the valu,ing of humility comes from the self-giving love of Christ Jesus. The songwriter, Fred Pratt Green, expresses Jesus’ humble loving service for us:
“And did not Jesus sing a Psalm that night when utmost evil strove against the Light? Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight: Alleluia!”
Finally we return to our Gospel reading and find Jesus in contention with the religious leaders. They wanted to know by what authority he was conducting his ministry. That’s the type of question that comes from those who want to have control over things. Jesus’ reply is smart. Basically he says, ‘I will tell you if you tell me the source of John the Baptist’s authority.’ The religious leaders are in a bind for if they say from a human source, they will be against the people. If they say from God, they will have to explain why they opposed John. So, they don’t answer.
Jesus then gives them a parable. A father has two sons. One is vocally unwilling to help; the other is vocally willing to help the father. The first son changes his mind and turns to do what his father asks of him. The second decides not to do what the father asks of him. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” Jesus asks. Obviously the first son, who said he would not but turned to do it! The point of the parable is simple. The so-called sinners – tax collectors and prostitutes – are more likely to do the will of God than the so-called righteous. It is telling that Jesus uses the Samaritan as an example of neighbourliness rather than a religious leader. One might say that Jesus is more concerned with loving relationships than right relationships. Jesus is certainly not encouraging a legalism or a false righteousness.
Which ‘son’ are you like? The one who “changed his mind and went”?
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 01/10/2017
pgwhitaker@tpg.com.au
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au