The Scandal of Grace!

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matthew 21:31)

Of all the confronting things Jesus ever said, this may be the most scandalous. It is not just the content. It’s the audience. Jesus is speaking directly to “the chief priests and the elders of the people” (Matthew 21:23).

These were the spiritual authorities, their ordained leaders, the guardians of Israel’s religious life. These were men of discipline, learning, and piety, yet Jesus says that the tax collectors and the prostitutes — the very people they despised — were entering the Kingdom of God ahead of them!

It is shocking enough that Jesus names these two groups, but it is even more shocking that He lumps them together as, apart from the fact that Jesus accepted both groups, they really had nothing in common.

First century Jewish tax-collectors were wealthy collaborators. They were people who had responded to the Roman occupation by saying “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. They worked for the foreign occupying power – taking your money and giving it to the enemy (after taking a healthy cut for themselves). They were traitors and they were understandably reviled. They were sinners by choice.

People who worked in the first century sex industry, on the other hand, were almost certainly not there by choice. Most would have been slaves. They could be violated by their owners at any time or loaned or rented out by their master or mistresses to others for sexual services. These people did not own their own bodies!

Mind you, when I worked with people in the sex industry back in the mid 1980’s, their situation wasn’t a lot better. I was then with the Anglican church in Kings Cross – the red-light capital of Sydney – and I worked with young people on “the wall” on Darlinghurst Road which was where these boys and girls lined up to ply their trade.

I ran a Friday-night coffee shop outreach in the church grounds that targeted ‘the wall’, and all those I engaged with were under 18. I remember one girl telling me how she’d been on the street since she was 12. I’ve never forgotten her story as to why she left home, but I will not repeat it here. Suffice it to say that the sex industry was not a chosen career path for any of them. It was where life had spat them out.

“Tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you”,

These two groups, in a sense, cover the full spectrum of human brokenness – the powerful and the powerless, the exploiter and the exploited, and we see something of their spiritual condition in the parable Jesus gives us immediately before this pronouncement – namely, the parable of the two sons:

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today. He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28-31)

If you’ve had teenage children, this parable probably strikes a familiar chord.

“Can you please clean you room?”, you ask wearily. “Sure thing! No problem! I’ll get right to it” is the enthusiastic reply, so you leave it be for a couple of hours, for a couple of days, for a couple of weeks … nothing.

Jesus contrasts this boy with his brother who, when you ask him to do his chores just stares back at you with attitude, though he does later relent and comply.

Which sort of teenager do you have? Which sort of teenager were you? Which brother did Jesus see in the chief priests, elders, tax-collectors and sex-workers?

In truth, neither of these sons is anything to write home about. The chief priests and elders say the son who does what he’s told is the better of the two but, personally, I prefer to get the response of enthusiastic compliance rather than ‘talk to the hand’.

I think the key here is to recognise that both kids in this story are their father’s sons, and at the end of the story they are still their father’s sons.

The father doesn’t have any perfect sons or daughters. All His children are difficult in their own way. Some are lazy and recalcitrant and some make a better job of it and are first in line when everybody gets to go home but, in the end, everyone does go home. Jesus isn’t saying that there isn’t room for His religious antagonists in the Kingdom of God. They’re just further back in the line behind the people they despise.

“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.” (Matthew 21:32)

That’s the final puzzling statement from Jesus in this passage – puzzling because I’m not sure what repentance looked like in the case of tax-collectors and prostitutes.

Yes, we do see two examples of tax-collectors repenting in the Gospels. Matthew, the tax-collector, walks away from his job (Matthew 9:9) while Zacchaeus, a more senior tax-collector, shows his repentance by making restitution to anyone he has defrauded and by giving away half his wealth (Luke 19:1–10). In the case of first century sex-workers though, repentance may not have been quite so clear cut.

If you were a sex-worker because you were a slave, no amount of repentance would find you another job, and even if you weren’t a slave, if you were living in a small farming community and were known by your trade, you couldn’t just decide one day to go get a job at the bank. Your options were very limited.

My guess is that many of those whom Jesus saw as leading the march into the Kingdom of God were tax-collectors who were still working for the enemy, and sex-workers who were still plying their trade – persons who were being renewed inwardly and spiritually but whose external circumstances may never have caught up.

In the end we are all God’s children – that, I think, is what Jesus is reminding us of here. None of us are perfect sons or daughters, and those who lead the way spiritually are often the very ones we overlook or deliberately look away from.

And that is the scandal of grace!

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Eucharist last Sunday, and this despite the usual plethora of technical issues. I’m genuinely unsure as to whether we are being interfered with by unseen forces or whether it’s just bad luck. I lean towards the former explanation as it just seems too bizarre to all be coincidental.

I have one of my computers set aside purely for the broadcasts so as to be confident that it’s free from viruses and spyware. I’ve also tried connecting through a variety of different browsers and different Internet providers. It seems though that whatever combination I start with fails. This time I started with the dedicated machine and an NBN Wi-Fi connection but ended up switching back to my regular laptop, using my phone for the Internet. That worked fine this time, whereas the same combination has failed completely at other times.

It seems that we’re still under attack, whether that be from spiritual entities or from more fleshly political opponents (or both) I’m unsure. Either way, a big thank you to Andrew Madry and Doug Pyeatt for joining me on the panel, and a big thank you to everyone who stuck with us to the end. We went way over time, even without any input from AI Saint Paul.

I’ve posted below our discussion on Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, chapter one. In truth, we didn’t stay focused on the intricacies of the text but more on how the letter reflects the mellowing of Paul’s character that seemed to take place during his time in prison. I was reminded of my recently departed friend, Bob, and how his character softened as he approached death. We also discussed my possible return to Syria and whether that might lead to me being imprisoned there. It was a frank and heartfelt discussion.

You’ll find the Philippians discussion at the end of today’s newsletter. Immediately below are the most popular shorts from last week. Of course, you can find more shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page and all our videos, long and short, on Rumble.com.

This Sunday I’m very much hoping to have Jake Pyeatt and Rev. John Queripel with me on the panel, though I haven’t heard back from Jake at time of writing. We’ll be starting at midday on Sunday nonetheless (Sydney time). Join us via Rumble, Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia and StreamYard.

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What’s On?

Sunday, September 27th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, StreamYard and Rumble.
Tuesday, September 29th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
Thurs, October 1st – Bible Study @www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible from noon.
Friday, October 2nd – Boxing at Brofit Gym in Bankstown from 6.30 pm
Saturday, September 3rd – Boxing at the Legends Gym in Kensington – 3 pm

It’s been another big week for me – another week of highs and lows.

The highs included my son’s buck’s night which was a beautifully tame and dignified affair by buck’s night standards. It was also the week of my darling daughter, Fran’s, graduation from High School. That’s the last of my kids having finished school. It does make me feel rather old but also extremely thankful. ❤️

The major low for me happened late last night. There was an incident at Binacrombi. Someone got hit. The police and ambulance were called. There was an arrest. It’s all been very painful. I won’t go into the details. Please be in prayer for the work there.

Times of testing like this always come when we’re on the verge of a breakthrough. The ministry there has been growing. We’ve been trying work with our friend Bryn in nearby Taralga who is developing a ministry to young men in the area that combines spiritual input and vigorous training – just what we are best at.

Please say a prayer for Binacrombi – for the work, for the team, and perhaps most especially for our dear brother, Scott, who is heading out there for a one-month stint on Monday. I believe his presence will bring much-needed stability.

As to Syria, everything is still up in the air. I’ve been in dialogue with a lawyer in Damascus and thought we were making progress. Even so, threats and corruption abound and nothing is settled. Meanwhile, our dear brother, Dr Hassoun, languishes in terrible prison conditions. Please keep praying for him, for his family for Syria, and for clarity for me. Will I be able to travel there to be with him? I still have no idea.

Well … as I often say, “if you’re not getting shot at, you’re not in the front line”. I do feel like I’m dodging demonic bullets at the moment but I know too that I’m not alone. You are all in this battle with me! And beyond our human comrades we have our three great friends with us all the time – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Yours in the Good Fight,