There is an old story about a man hanging by his fingernails to the edge of a cliff. He prays fervently to God for rescue, and is convinced, in his heart, that God will indeed do so. Just then a passerby stops to offer assistance. “No” says the man, “God will save me!” Then a boat pulls up below, and the crew offer its help, and receives a similar response. Finally, a helicopter arrives, and attempts to winch the man to safety, but he refuses its help. “God will save me!” declares the man, one more time, just before he falls to his death. Upon meeting God in heaven, the man angrily asks why God did nothing to help, but instead allowed him to die. “I reached out to help you several times!” God tells the distraught man; “I sent you a passerby, a boat and crew, and a rescue helicopter!”
On the one hand this wee story tells of the human condition. That, convinced that all things are merely coincidental – happenstance if you will – we resolutely refuse to see the hand of God at work in the world and in our lives. Now, it is true that there is some randomness to life, but not everything is random. Part of the spiritual development of the Christian is that of discernment. In this instance, growth comes when the presence of God can be seen in the everyday. God ceases to be remote (transcendent) and can be discerned up-close (immanent). With a discerning heart, the person of faith can separate randomness from
providence, and can recognize what at SAKLC is called ‘God winks’ (the subtle hand of God at work in our lives). In this, the mundane becomes sacred.
Jesus’ critique of the chief priests and elders is based upon their lack of recognition not of God winks, but of God’s people – the ones sent by God. This is not a new phenomenon, limited only to the time of Jesus’ incarnate ministry – it predates that ministry by centuries and millennia. As Jesus will later lament, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matthew 23:37.) These same religious leaders did not recognize John the Baptist as a man sent from God, hence their reluctance to answer Jesus’ straight-forward question (verses 25-27). And they clearly do not recognize Jesus’ true identity. So, they behave like the son in Jesus’ parable, saying to God “I go sir,” yet failing miserably to do the task to which they are called as laborers (ministers/priests) in the vineyard
(Israel). Yet, ironically, the tax collectors and prostitutes (the epitome of sinners) have said ‘no’ to God (in their sin) yet in their repentance (“changed minds” vs. 29) have begun to “do the will of the father” (vs. 31).
Then, what of us, as disciples of Jesus, in our time? Recognizing God’s winks is one thing. However, in Matthew’s Gospel the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the blueprint for a life lived consistent with one’s call to discipleship. And so, as one scholar points out, “To receive Jesus requires doing the sermon on the Mount. To believe John and Jesus is to walk in the way of righteousness in both words and deeds.”
