The Luminous Space Podcast | Belief ＞ Judgment The Luminous Podcast

Belief > Judgment | The Rev. Chad E. JarnaginMatthew 21:23-32 (NRSV)23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.Pharisaism isn’t a term we use very often, but it is a thing. It means to make a value judgment on someone else based on one’s own assumed “secure” position.We are constantly doing this today. We signal our virtues and values... we judge one another doing the signaling... and in doing so signal our own... it is just exhausting. Here in this text of Matthew, Jesus is being judged again by religious leaders - This time on who’s authority he speaks, who’s authority is he doing these miracles... he’s making the religious leaders incredibly uneasy... and in return, beginning to make the empire uneasy. He is speaking implications of revolution... which could prompt a revolt against the leadership.Jesus eventually gets to the point of saying: “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.Jesus isn’t judging their value... he is however, stating that the belief of these prostitutes and tax collectors was enough to include them into his Kingdom... ahead of these religious leaders of the day.The hinge here is belief. Judgement and belief. Two different ways of living.To have bold position on the Way of Jesus is to have humility... and in that humility, have belief and awareness that our value is solely in Christ alone.
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