# Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 03, 2023 - [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog) *By Courtney Godwin Interim Minister The Memorial Church of Harvard University* *(The following is a transcript of the service audio, Oct. 1, 2023)* Will you pray with me? May the words of my mouth and the meditations on all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, oh, God, and may they serve to magnify your love and justice in this world, amen. A few weeks ago, I was ushering the morning prayer service when a gentleman came into the sanctuary just as the service was starting. I welcomed him and pointed him into the chapel, but he started chatting, which surprised me. He was clearly here for the service, which he was completely missing to talk to me. After I introduced myself, "I'm Courtney. I'm the interim minister here." He asked me, "Who is in charge around here?" This is not a question I normally get. Does he mean the church, this service? I thought about making a God joke. Every time I think I know what's going on or I think I know who's in charge, God swoops in and reminds me that I'm very wrong. But as the clergy who schedules and oversees morning prayers and as well as the only staff person in the sanctuary that morning, I realized the answer to his question was me. "I'm the person in charge around here," and wow, can I tell you that I did not like that answer. I questioned myself the way the chief priests and elders questions Jesus. "But by whose authority do you do these things?" Obviously there's been some mistake. If I question my belonging in the church generally, how could I possibly be in a leadership position here? This question of, "Who is in charge here," like the one Jesus poses the leaders of the temple, is an impossible question. "Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?" It's a classic Catch 22. If the elders answer that John had divine authority, they'll betray their own hypocrisy. "But if you believe that, why did you not follow him?" But to answer that John's authority of human origin is to betray the people that they're supposedly in charge of. I say supposedly because the chief priests and elders were constantly having their authority called into question. No one elected them, no one chose them, no one asked them to lead. They're clearly not put into power by the people of whom they are so afraid that they cannot answer this question without risking the loss of their power. The ascription elders of the people in this passage is ironic. They are not for the people, and their authority is neither divine nor of human origin. In the gospel lesson for today, read so beautifully just a minute ago by Rohan, the chief priests and elders question Jesus and Jesus offers the parable of the two sons. This is already a lot to unpack in just 12 minutes, let alone include the other passage from Philippians. But the chapter that our lesson comes from, this 21st chapter of Matthew holds even more than these two pieces. It begins with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, a passage we celebrate each Palm Sunday with shouts of, "Hosanna," and waving or palm branches, or maybe trying to poke each other in the eye with them if you have siblings. We also get one of my favorite gospel stories in which Jesus becomes angry at the money lenders in the temple and flips their tables and then offers healing to all who come to him. Who among us has not wanted to upturn a table or two in our time? It also contains one of the gospel stories that most confuses me and calls into doubt my understanding of Jesus when he curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit. All of this to say there is a lot going on here. –– Embed [Harvard Memorial Church](https://soundcloud.com/memorial-church "Harvard Memorial Church") · [Courtney Godwin - Oct. 1, 2023 | Sunday Sermon](https://soundcloud.com/memorial-church/courtney-godwin-oct-1-2023-sunday-sermon "Courtney Godwin - Oct. 1, 2023 | Sunday Sermon") –– This gospel lesson is the first in a series of five challenges against Jesus' authority in Matthew. Each one of these is a zero-sum game. There is one winner, only one winner, and that winner takes all. If Jesus were to lose any of these challenges against the leaders of the temple, he would be expelled from the temple. His radical messages would be put to an end. The people in power would stay in power and there would be no reason to crucify Jesus. In short, the existence of our entire religion and the reason for us all being here this morning hinges on Jesus proving his influence to the people and authority in these power plays, but no pressure. This question from the elders is only the first challenge. "By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?" Again, Jesus is doing a lot of things here. Did they mean healing the sick, cursing the fig tree, flipping over tables, quoting the scriptures at them? I don't know, but I think they mean challenging their authority, and what do they mean by authority? The Greek word here is exousia, and while it's usually translated into English as authority, it also pops up as power, control, liberty, right, or jurisdiction. The elders are asking Jesus, "Who gave you the right to do these things?" They have political and economic power, and this question pulls this power imbalance front and center. "Who gave you the right?" Exousia also carries a connotation of moral authority and influence. In the New Testaments, specifically, it often refers to the authority that God bestows upon saints, authorizing them to act to the extent to which they are guided by faith. When the priest asks by what authority, they're asking Jesus, "Who gave you the right to do these things?" But there's another way to read this question made possible when Jesus invokes John the Baptist. "Was John's baptism from heaven or was it of human origin?" This question is a smokescreen. Jesus isn't asking about John or John's authority at all, but about the priests themselves. Jesus literally just turned the tables. He's now figuratively turning the tables, asking the same questions of the priests, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you that authority?" But when Jesus asks, it is with a different connotation. The real question he's asking here is, "How are you and your actions guided by faith?" In the second part of this passage, Jesus tells the parable of the two sons, one son who says he will obey his father and then doesn't, and one son who says he will not obey his father, but then does. Jesus asks the elders and the priests, "Which of these does the will of his father?" Clearly, the one who follows the father's wishes, not the one who says he will and then comes back on his commitment. Both sons are given the authority to work in the field. They have the right to do so and have been asked to do so, but only one is guided by faith, knowing that helping his father is the right thing to do. Likewise, if we serve God through our words alone, we are not serving God at all. We have the right to serve God through our actions, and we have been asked to do so guided by our faith. Jesus' challengers know this answer and in affirming it fall into the very trap Jesus has set for them. They no longer hold the power in this scenario. Authority doesn't mean an official position in leadership. You can lead without authority as Jesus does, and like the elders, you can be in a position of authority without leading at all. Authority asks, "Who gives you the right?" But leadership asks, "How are you working towards justice, liberation, and love? How are you working towards the person God wants you to be and towards the world God wants us to build?" God will not ask us, "Who gave you the right?" God will ask us, "How are your actions guided by faith?" As we celebrate the historic inauguration of President Claudine Gay this week, leadership is on the forefront of many of our minds. This marks a new era for Harvard and offers us a chance to reflect on the community, on the Harvard that we are and the Harvard that we want to build. If that gentleman from morning prayers, who I found out later was a dean, asked me who is in charge now after I've meditated and worked with this passage, I'd have a different answer. The church is not a source of authority, nor does the church create and bestow authority onto individuals. The church is a community, a place where we lead one another towards love in our work, in our words and our actions. Though that fear and imposter syndrome will linger maybe for the rest of my life, I'm reminded this week that to call and to question my belonging in this church and this pulpit expresses just as much doubt of God and just as much doubt of this community here at Memorial Church that I love so deeply as it expresses doubt of myself. The next time I find myself asking if I belong, I hope that I'll flip the script like Jesus does. I hope I don't wonder if I'm allowed to be here, if I have the right to take up space. I hope when I wonder if I belong somewhere, it is because I'm making sure that my presence, my time, and my being are guided by faith and by my commitment to follow God's call. See also:- [ Sermon ](/archive/sermons) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)