Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78: 1-4,12-16; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32
“For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think it can be hard to do the right thing. Inside we know what is right, we know the right thing to do, but somehow it doesn’t follow on in our actions: our thoughts and words and deeds. Through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault we make mistakes, do things that we regret. It is, of course, only human. Oh, if only there was something we could do to stop this. Oh, if only there was something to remind us, to be there to nudge us into the right way. Oh, and here I turn to the Disney films of my childhood, for a Jiminy Cricket to sit on our shoulders and guide us. Although, really, thinking about it, Jiminy was rather too easy to be ignored – Pinocchio didn’t always listen to him, and when he didn’t listen, he did end up in some quite horrible situations. And so do we, when we go against our “conscience”, what we know to be right. We say and do, the wrong things. Sometimes this is inadvertent, sometimes deliberate sometimes deliberately in anger, and sometimes because we are afraid. We think too carefully before we act: what will happen if I say that, do that? If I speak out to defend the woman being harassed, the man being abused for his nationality – will I get attacked, abused, too? So, in fear we say nothing, or worse, join in. Through negligence through weakness; deliberately. Oh, for something to hold us to our conscience.
But, of course, we have something, we know how to behave, because we have been not only told but shown how to live in kindness, in honesty, free of selfish ambition or conceit, in humility, looking to the interests of others. “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” That is, God works within us to show us how to do the right thing.
The chief priests and elders of the people, despite what they ended up saying, actually knew what was right, they just couldn’t bring themselves to say or do it, possibly through selfish ambition or conceit, possibly through fear. They knew John was a prophet, that his authority came from heaven, and because they knew that they also knew the answer to their own question, that Jesus’ authority came from heaven, but they just couldn’t admit it: “We do not know”. Yeah, right! Of course. If they had answered Jesus’ question honestly, they knew that they would have had to admit that Jesus was also sent from God and his words and actions had divine authority, were examples of how to live Godly lives. They would then have had to reassess their own attitudes towards both Jesus and John, ,their response to Jesus’ own words and actions and face the possibility of changing their views and values in the light of his words and work. And so instead, to protect themselves, their power and privilege, they say nothing: we do not know! We do not want to admit it. Their conscience pushed aside in self-preservation. Jesus offers them a chance to change, to be transformed, to begin the journey of life in faith through him, and they turn away. We do not know.
And, of course, we also know. We know who Jesus is through his missions and ministry, his life, death and resurrection. A life in which he showed us how to live: in humility, kindness, honestly, without ambition or conceit. Because this is also how Jesus lived: He, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited.” Jesus emptied himself, coming as one to serve not to be served and asking us to do the same. To turn to God’s children everywhere and say: Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you. To be as Christ: humble, obedient, serving and loving God’s children, and letting God be “at work in us, enabling us both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure”. God in Christ, God made human, shows us how to live, how to do the right thing, is our conscience. Jesus is the one in whom God is well pleased: the Son, the Beloved. The one who came down that we and all people may have love, joy, peace, hope and salvation, and courage to stand up for truth, honesty and each other, all others.
This is our conscience, the God who is at work in us enabling us to both will and work for God’s pleasure. We know how to live because, unlike the elders and chief priests, we do recognise Christ and know where his authority is from: we have seen the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14). And if we know who Christ is and by who’s authority he acts and commands us to act, then, in the words of Paul to the Philippians, we need to “let the same mind be in (us) that was in Christ Jesus.” That is follow Christ’s example and command, to listen to him and allow him to be our conscience. And by doing this we will recognise God working within us enabling us to both will and work to fulfil God’s will: to believe and seek to be as Christ in the world, willing and working for God’s good pleasure by loving as God loves, sharing in the Spirit with all people, having compassion, sympathy, doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility to see all others as worthy, as valued, “as better than yourselves”, as Paul puts it. With God at work in us we will look to the interests of others, put others before us and live as Christ showed us to, in loving service to each other and all others. Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you. And if we do this then our consciences will be clear and we will be in the same minds as Christ.
So, if we, unlike the chief priests and elders, listen to that inner voice of God, of the Spirit and acknowledge that it is by God’s authority that Christ acts, and then allow this to guide us, inform our will and work, strengthen us to follow his example and obey his command, then we will be: letting the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus: the mind to love God with our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbour as ourself – more than ourself. And we must allow God to be at work in us, enabling us to will and to work for God’s pleasure, to fulfil God’s will – doing what God wants us to do, serving others, loving others as Christ loves us, working for the kingdom here and into eternity if we are to live Godly, righteous lives. Our conscience, our guide to right behaviour is having Christ’s mind in us and letting it lead us into truth and hope and love, and letting God be at work within us. Then we will not be led astray, like Pinocchio, but will be redeemed, met in the Son and brought home. When, we acknowledge Christ, turn to him, listen to him, follow him, serve him through our service to all God’s children, to all living things, becoming of one mind with Christ, then God will be at work in us, enabling us to both to will and to work to God’s honour and glory and serving others as Christ served and continues to serve us.
Amen.
Revd Jackie Sellin