Proper 21 (26) – Year A
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 27, 2026
Gospel Lectionary Text
Matthew 21:23-32
21:23 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?"
21:24 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.
21:25 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?'
21:26 But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet."
21:27 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.
21:28 "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
21:29 He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went.
21:30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go.
21:31 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.
21:32 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.
Context
Welcome to the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost. In this week’s Gospel, the religious leaders confront Jesus with a question: “By what authority are you doing these things?” It’s a fair question. Jesus has entered Jerusalem, disrupted the Temple, and acted in ways that suggest something enormous is happening. If God is truly at work, how would we know?
Jesus answers the question by pointing to John the Baptist, who wasn’t authorized by anyone in the religious establishment. Jesus then tells a parable about two sons. One says “no” to his father but later goes and does what was asked. The other says “yes” but never follows through. The point seems obvious. Actions speak louder than words.
Jesus pushes even further. He says, “The tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.” In other words, those who have no authority in the eyes of the religious establishment bear the mark of God's blessing (see the Beatitudes). Those who bear this blessing have all the authority they need.
Question
Who or what gives you your deepest sense of identity, worth, and belonging? How does that authority shape the way you treat those who stand outside your circle?
Reflections
“Says Who?”
By Rev. Sarah Wiles |
Our passage leaves out exactly what unauthorized things Jesus has been doing. If we back up, we see that this inquisition takes place the morning after Jesus has entered Jerusalem cheered on by a crowd.
Entering the Building
By Tali Hairston |
Recently, our church community gathered in the parking lot of the campus. Together, like many other congregations, we are reflecting deeply about what it means to enter the building again. There are some Christians in the U.S who argue that entering the church building is a countercultural message to the world’s persecution of their faith. …
Authority Remixed
By Joel Van Dyke |
At Street Psalms we embrace a particular perspective that invites us into a grace to see from below. We do theology from below, celebrating the opportunity to read the Bible with the excluded and ostracized. We practice spirituality from below, together learning to see and celebrate good news in hard places. We share a spirituality…
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Excerpt from Letters to a Young Poet
by Rainer Maria Rilke
"...be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
Prayer
This week, the call to prayer comes from the Street Psalms Prayer of Vocation:
Let us pray.
Jesus, like the disciples who were blind to your real presence until they dined with you in the resurrection, we too are blind until you dine with us. You are the stranger among us, revealed as the Loving Host and Forgiving Victim of the meal of reconciliation. Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see and celebrate you at work in the world, especially in the hard places, creating, sustaining, and uniting all of creation in love. In the same way, you took the bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to your disciples, and said, “This is my body, broken for you.” May we too be taken in love, blessed in love, broken in love, and given in love, that we might become the spoken word of your love in a hurting world, and find ourselves part of the ever-expanding Body of Christ. May we become what we receive.
Amen.
