26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“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?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.”
~Matthew 21:25-26
 
 
The stakes are sky high for Jesus and for the temple leaders in this seemingly esoteric Matthew confrontation scene. Indeed, step back a little and it seems everything is on the line including the very foundations of the religious and political détente with Rome that keeps chaos at bay. Remember not two generations later it does break. An unsettled Jewish contingent resists. Rome flexes its muscle. The temple is destroyed (70ce) and the historic underpinnings of Jewish identity are fundamentally reshaped, its religious life centered no longer around the temple, but the synagogue. And a new religion called Christianity is birthed.
 
Much of the dramatic movement of the gospels is centered on the temple. In Mark 11:11 there is this obscure scene in which Jesus enters Jerusalem, goes straight to the temple, and looks around, but does nothing else. This tidbit isn’t in the Matthew narrative, but the scene still has the feeling of a choreographed sequence of action. Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) observed that every world religion knows that Jesus taught nonviolence, lived nonviolently, and died a nonviolent death except one: Christianity! Could it be Jesus is doing, in other words, what Gandhi did in the Salt March and King at Pettus Bridge? Was he designing a moment that would reveal a deep and transformative truth that would shake the world out of its self-destructive slumber?
 
If so, to what end? Perhaps to the end of our destructive rivalries. Perhaps that’s a key in understanding the strange parable of these two brothers who can’t seem to get their words in line with their actions. Perhaps there is something to learn here for the working out of our own peace.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Exodus 17:1-7 † Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 † Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32† Psalm 25:1-9 † Philippians 2:1-13 † Matthew 21:23-32
 
About the Art: Why Do I Have To Change The World?, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/57602 [retrieved September 14, 2026]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinaleggio/14902888760/ - Tina Leggio/.

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