Characteristic of good leadership, according to Leadership for Dummies (which, I think we can all agree, is about my speed), is a commitment to leading by example. That seems like a pretty safe thing to say.

Leaders have to know how to tell people what to do, but the really good ones know that showing people you’re willing to do it yourself is even more important.

I mean, how willing are we to follow a leader who sits sipping lemonade on the veranda, preparing for a late morning tee time, telling everyone else what to do—and then criticizes them when they don’t do it quite right? All while everybody else is breaking their backs trying to get the job done? That’s just poor leadership.

So, when folks know how to talk the talk, but can’t be bothered to walk the walk, we call them what?

Phonies? Pretenders? Hypocrites?

There aren’t too many things we like less than all-talk-and-no-show. Admittedly, not all phonies pay a price for their hypocrisy—some get to stay in the U.S. Congress.

Look, I’m in the telling business. I tell people stuff for a living. Here’s how you’re supposed to live. Here’s what you’re supposed to do. Here’s the kind of person you should want to be.

I’ve been to school to learn how to tell people stuff. I’ve even been told on occasion, “Hey, you’re pretty good at telling people stuff.” And I do that kind of “aw shucks” thing. But I know that after all these years I’m not half bad at telling people how they’re supposed to live. In fact, I have a vocational interest in letting people think there’s a big secret that only the initiated have the answer to.

It’s not true that I know “all the stuff,” and I presume to dole it out a little bit each week. But there are a lot of people out there who think something like that.

And maybe there are times when it’s true that I know some stuff. Things are complicated, and a little knowledge sometimes helps tease out a way forward.

Most of the time, though, it’s not a whole lot more complicated than: Show up. Be honest. Try hard. You know what I’m saying?

But sometimes it strikes me that I’m not only in the telling business. I’m also in the showing business. And that’s when I start worrying, because it’s not always easy to know what to do, or how to do it.

And I’ll be honest with you. The showing business is a lot more difficult than the telling business. Any preacher worth their salt knows it’s true. Of necessity, you have to preach better than you are. If I had to wait to master something before I could preach on it, it’d be a pretty short service every Sunday.

Even so, it’s difficult to admit that sometimes your words are the best thing about you… that your ability to put them into action always seems to lag behind.

Jesus, of course, knew that. In today's Gospel, Jesus takes on that very issue.

This passage from Matthew doesn’t do us many favors. It starts in the middle of the scene. “When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’”

What are they talking about? I mean, why are they sniping at Jesus right off the bat? He’s not even done getting his caramel macchiato in the new coffee-bar-and-gift-shop-in-the-narthex when the bigwigs start hectoring him.

“Where’d you get the authority to do these things, and who gave it to you?”

Now, as a diligent reader, your first question is probably, "Authority to do what, exactly?

Well, here’s where a little detective work pays off. If you go back to the beginning of chapter 21, you’ll see just where we are in the larger story of Jesus. As the chapter opens up, we’re thrust right into the middle of Palm Sunday. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem—the seat of political power in Palestine.