Water of God's Presence

September 27, 2026

Matthew 21:23-32; Exodus 17:1-7

          In our story from Exodus… the Israelites are complaining again in the wilderness.  Listen as God continues to speak through the scriptures.

          READ

          Two important questions are asked from our two passages this morning.  “Is the Lord among us or not?”  And… “By whose authority?”  I have to admit, on the surface I’m more drawn to the first question.  But if you think about for a minute… in a way… they are really the same question.  The Israelites ask the question out of their fear of the wilderness.  They do not yet trust the God who has brought them here.  The chief priests and elders of the people ask their question about authority from an over-inflated sense of pride or self-importance.  But both questions reveal a people who cannot recognize God’s presence… even when God is right in front of them. 

          In the Exodus story, remember that it still hasn’t been that long since leaving bondage in Egypt and entering into the wilderness.  So far, this has been a group of people who have done nothing but complain… without any sense of gratitude or awe at what has happened to them… without any sense of vision moving forward.  Like I said, without any sense of trust because both gratitude and vision require some trust for grounding.  So, early on here… the Israelites keep conveniently forgetting the plagues that recently freed them from slavery… the escape through the Red Sea… the water that was given earlier when they complained… the quail and the manna being provided by God after still more complaining.  Complaint works only to  undermine their trust… and it keeps them trapped in bondage.

          Admittedly, the wilderness is not an easy place to be, but comparatively… when looking back at their time in slavery in Egypt… the wilderness is a better place.  As hard as the wilderness is, at least there is hope in the wilderness… at least there is a horizon to move towards in the wilderness.  The wilderness is about moving toward life… the life that comes when we trust God is among us.  But the Israelites don’t see it that way… yet. 

          It’s into this complaint-filled spiritual mistrust that authority… the type of authority in our Matthew story… likes to step.  Authority steps in and declares that I… in my authority… I am the sureness of God’s presence among you.  You can trust me.  We speak for God.  We embody God.  We reveal God to you.  Trust us… and doubt the others who might make the same claim.

          The chief priests and the elders come at Jesus with all the authority they can muster.  This is their house… their rules.  I can see them so well in my imagination, coming up to Jesus… so full of their own importance and self-righteousness… discounting any of the regular social niceties… interrupting Jesus in mid-sentence as he sits there among the crowd, teaching.  “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 

          But the thing is… the crowds around Jesus… the crowds around Jesus are not asking him the authority question.  They want to know if the Lord is among them or not.  These are people who… under the proper authority… have been led back into a spiritual bondage… and now are pining for the wilderness and the hope of the horizon.  Their desire to trust God seems now to be greater than their fear.  At least at this point in the story.  Their fear will soon get the better of them as they cry for crucifixion.

           Now… I have to confess that I like this Jesus in this Matthew passage.  I have always liked this Jesus… the cool rebel… the Jesus that challenges the wannabe self-important authorities with intelligence and confidence… the Jesus who is not only able to go toe to toe with the chief priests and elders but can coolly and effectively take their egos down a notch or two.  This is the Jesus I wish I could be… but know that I am not.  Here he is fresh from pulling the rug out from under the authority of the Temple merchants, those who would peddle God for a buck.  Jesus takes the whole Temple system and the business of worship… and breaks it wide open.  Shows it for what it had become… a den of thieves and not a house of prayer.  I like this Jesus so full of righteous daring and simple faith.  He makes me want to go out and do likewise.

           Jesus reveals the lack of authority of the chief priests and elders to speak for God by first not giving into the fear that this illusion of authority tries to use against us.  Illusionary authority likes to threaten and bully… if you challenge me you are asking for more trouble than you can handle.  The fearful move is to just follow along without question.  Avoid the conflict.  Instead, Jesus brilliantly asks a question of his own.  He puts into question whether the authority of the chief priests and elders is merely title and social position or whether there is some real integrity behind their authority.  Authority without integrity is nothing.  Integrity reveals God’s presence.  Integrity… like freeing slaves from bondage or providing food and water in the wilderness… opens the way to growth and becoming the people of God. 

            Now, Jesus gives a chance for these leaders at the Temple to grab hold of some integrity… the question Jesus asks isn’t the complete trap they turn it into.  They could give an answer and stand firmly behind it.  But instead, they start to squirm.  They need to give the correct answer… not the true answer… but the correct answer…  the answer which they believe will satisfy best the ears of the crowd and build them up in their eyes.  The answer that will not endanger or reveal the thinness of their authority.

           Before Jesus came to Jerusalem, his followers had found an integrity in him that was lacking in the other religious authorities of their day.  They had come to believe in his authority through the integrity of his actions… through what they had witnessed.  They looked at him and they saw God incarnate.  The Lord was among them.  And just what was it that they saw him do that showed God to them?  Those tax collectors and prostitutes, instead of shunning them, ate with them and talked with them and welcomed them into his fellowship.  His presence with them spoke more of God than the quick condemnations of their religious authorities.  Tax collectors and prostitutes began to live into the kingdom of heaven better than those in authority… in ways that were real and so different to appear almost miraculous.  The sick that were brought to Jesus… he healed.  The hungry were fed.  The lost were found.  The children were welcomed.  The leper found a hand extended to him in grace.  “By whose authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?”  Before Jesus even spoke a word in response, the crowd already knew about Jesus’ authority… because he did what the chief priests and the elders in their generations of authority had failed to do.

            Saints, this morning I had the wonderful privilege of baptizing another child of this church through the authority given me by the church. That authority is meant for order and discipline… the service of the office… not as a claim that I make God present or that God is uniquely present in me. The water is just tap water. The liturgy points to God, but the words themselves do not summon God. Baptism is an act of trust: trust that God is already with us, already claiming this child in grace before the water ever touched her head. And today we made the same promise we make at every baptism… “Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ promise to guide and nurture… by word and deed, with love and prayer?  Will you encourage her to know and follow Christ and to be faithful members of his church?  That’s the promise that binds us to one another in love, mercy, and hope. It will be through our keeping of that promise that our integrity will be revealed.

          Maybe that’s why baptism matters so much today. Because when we gather at the font, we are not claiming authority over God… or one another. We are simply doing what Moses did in the wilderness… pointing and proclaiming. Pointing toward the God who is already among us. Pointing toward the grace that has already gone ahead of us. And the only way we can answer the question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” is with our own integrity… in the vows we keep, in the promises we live, in the way we walk with one another in the same integrity Jesus showed. The church’s authority to baptize is functional; the presence of God is eternal. And when we keep faith with our vows, when we live them with courage and compassion, the water in this font becomes more than a symbol. It becomes a sign that the Lord is, indeed, among us. Amen.