Turning The Tables: Wither or Grow?
“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” It’s a fair question. The chief priests and elders have every right to ask Jesus who has authorized him to “do these things.” (Matthew 21:23-32) Disembodied as this question is from its greater context, it helps to know just what these things are, and just why those who have long been entrusted and authorized to protect the traditions and The Jerusalem Temple would be concerned.
There are three things he has done, which some have suggested are mirrored by the three parables that follow - of which we have the first of those parables before us about two adolescent brothers. What Jesus had done, in the eyes of his questioners and his equally perplexed disciples is: to storm the royal city with as rag-a-tag a group of followers imaginable cheering him on; he storms into the Temple precinct overturning the tables of commerce that make it possible for all people, including foreigners, ie gentiles, to properly worship the One God of the Covenant; then he curses and withers a fig tree for bearing no fruit, despite it not being the proper season for fruit to appear. (Matthew 21:1-22)
In short, he has appeared to do nothing but cause one ruckus after another during Jerusalem’s busiest time of the year, The Feast of the Passover - commemorating the foundational event that forged a disparate band of refugees into a people - a people that God loves and entrusts with God’s own wishes and deepest desires for life on this fragile Earth, our island home. These chief priests and elders, protectors of the traditions, believe they know what they are doing and are obviously aghast at what Jesus has been doing in the very House of the Lord they have been tending for generations.
Like any good rabbi, Jesus answers their question with a question of his own: “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. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They begin to argue with one another. Already the disrupter has caused a fourth ruckus! There is no good answer for them. If we say “heaven” he’ll ask us why we did not believe John and follow him; if we say “human origin” this crowd gathered for Passover who believed John was a prophet will turn on us. “We don’t know,” they meekly reply.
See what Jesus does there? He turns the tables on them! He validates John’s call for everyone, even the chief priests and elders, to repent and return to the very principles of the Covenant: to love God and love all neighbors. Which is what Jesus has been announcing as well. And again, like any good rabbi, to illustrate, he tells them a story. Three stories really, of which we have the first. Stories which are meant to act as a mirror into which we are to see ourselves - to really see our true selves, and whether or not we are ready to repent and live in the very ways God has asked us to live, especially to love and care for others - all others, no questions asked.
The story is one about two brothers whose father (hint-hint) needs their help and cooperation. The first one is deep into playing Call of Duty on his X-Box and says, “No way, dude!” But later, he relents/repents, and heads out into the vineyard to help. The second is in the middle of a virtual reality tennis match against Novak Djokovic and says, “Sure, sure. I’ll be right there.” But he is just starting the fifth set and is still playing at his console to this day! “Which one, “ asks Jesus, “is doing the will of his father (hint-hint).” Finally, a question the chief priests and elders can answer. “The first!” they cry out triumphantly. Not so fast, says Jesus. Tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners will get into the kingdom of God of my Father ahead of you, because they heeded John’s call to repent and you still have not!
What isn’t said, but is implied by reading the whole of chapter 21, is that like the fig tree, there is still time to get with the program. When the disciples saw the withered fig tree they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” Understand, as long as your prayers are aligned with the principles of God’s Covenant Kingdom. The challenge of the fig tree is just this: Wither, or Grow?
The parable of the brothers calls us all to set aside the distractions of techno-life and political strife and whatever other nonsense takes up all of our time and begin bearing the fruit of God’s kingdom - which in chapter 25 Matthew’s Jesus lays out in no uncertain terms at all: feed the hungry, assuage people’s thirst, welcome strangers, care for widows, orphans and resident aliens so that we all can enjoy the fruits of this astonishingly beautiful and abundant creation spinning through the vacuum of an otherwise cold and hostile universe. If only we work together and love one another the way God my Father loves and cares for us. Which means being merciful, which Kurt Vonnegut once said is the one good idea we have been given so far.
Imagine this for just a moment. Jesus enters our hearts and minds, not Jerusalem. We witness his actions and look into the mirror of his parables. What do we see? A withered fig tree? Or do we see fruit on our tree? Do we see someone who allows Jesus to turn the tables on us so we might break free from all our assumptions and beliefs and be made new? Do we see ourselves taking off our cloaks, laying them on the roadway into our hearts, and welcome the Father’s Son into our hearts to change us? To free us from ourselves? To make us One with God, One with creation, and One with one another? Do we see ourselves out in the vineyard to work for the kingdom of heaven on Earth? “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”
Or, do we continue to dabble in virtual reality, take endless selfies, ignore the needs of a planet and its people while Antarctica melts away and the Siberian tundra burns? While millions beg for just a drop of water? While millions more beg for just a crust of bread? Do we continue to play Church and protect the traditions of our elders, while the very Earth stands on tip-toe and groans awaiting all of us, some of us, just one of us to stop what we are doing, repent, turn our lives around, turn the life of our Father’s world right-side up again, so that there really is justice and peace and mercy for all people and all creatures great and small?
This is what Jesus is asking the chief priests and elders.
That’s who we are. This is what he is asking all of us. To look into the
mirror. What do we see? Someone who will let him turn our sacred tables over
and follow him?
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