We are in the area around the Temple in Jerusalem the day after Jesus had cleared the courtyard, overturned the tables of money-changers and benches of those selling doves and driven those selling and buying out of the area. The Temple was a major source of income for those providing pilgrims coming to the city with sacrificial victims and necessities for worship. Roman and Greek (pagan) money could not be used for such purposes and thus had to be changed for Jewish or Tyrian coins. The attack could be viewed as an attack on worship and sacrifice. The chief priests and elders were those most involved with the Temple and they demand to know by what authority Jesus did this. Jesus asks them about John the Baptist’s authority: they refuse to answer and are reduced to silence.

He tells them another parable about the vineyard, to which Israel is often compared in the Old Testament. Then he asks them what is a deceptively simple question: ‘Which one did the father’s will?’

Tax collectors and prostitutes were regarded as public sinners, tax collectors cheated and prostitutes committed sexual sins. As well as that they were seen as working closely with the occupying Romans, tax collectors gave Jewish money to the alien power and prostitutes often sold their services to Roman soldiers. They are like the son who said “no”, but they were converted. The opponents of Jesus are less responsive to Jesus and to John than are the lowest in Jewish society.

As leaders the chief priests and elders had to work alongside Roman authority to maintain peace and security. Their concern was for the Temple, which was not important in John’s preaching. They saw John then as a threat, both religious and political, and ignored him. They are like the son who said “yes” but did not follow through. Tax collectors and prostitutes saw themselves as sinners and were more ready to open up to John and Jesus, knowing they needed help. The chief priests and elders think they have it all worked out. They are self-sufficient and do not know to open up. These are the opponents who will seek Jesus’ death.

They also serve as a challenge to us to consider the sincerity of the relationship between what we claim to believe and what we practice. As well as that, all of us have authority at some level.

• It would seem to be more difficult to follow Christ if I do not recognise that I am a sinner. Yet I am supposed to try to avoid serious sin. Is there not a contradiction in there somewhere?

• “Lord, make me holy. But not yet.” Is that my prayer, maybe?

• The chief priests were anxious to protect the system, to make sure the Temple practice went smoothly, to keep Roman authority from interfering with people as much as possible, but they forgot what lay at the centre of Jewish life, their relationship with God. In looking after my family and in my work do I sometimes forget what may be more essential in the long run?

• How do I speak about those whom I choose to regard as sinners, sinners from a moral, religious or maybe even from a political point of view?

• The Jewish authorities did not want things to change for they had the system worked out. How comfortable am I with new ways of looking at practice of the faith? On the other hand, do I care one way or the other?

• Who is influenced by my example?