Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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Proper 21
Pentecost 19
Ordinary Time 26
9. Two Sons
Matthew 21:23-32
When he 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?"
24Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one
question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by
what authority I do these things.
25Did the baptism of John come
from heaven, or was it of human origin?"
And they argued with
one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why
then did you not believe him?' 26But if we say, 'Of human
origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a
prophet."
27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know."
And he
said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am
doing these things.
28"What do you think?
A man had two sons; he went to the
first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29He
answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went.
30The father went to the second and said the same; and he
answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go.
31Which of the two did
the will of his father?"
They said, "The first."
Jesus said to
them, "Truly, I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes
are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
32For 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."
123
In the current vernacular people speak of those who "talk
the talk" in contrast to those who "walk the walk."
Those who
"talk the talk" are persons who recognize a problem and analyze
the situation.
They may rant and rave about the difficulties and
the need for change.
They make accusations against those whom
they believe to be responsible for the situation.
But they do
not move to action to do anything about it nor do they assume
responsibility themselves for the existence of the problem when
they may be somewhat responsible for it.
Persons who "walk the walk" identify with the people who are
in need.
They do not simply talk about the situation.
They join
with the people in need to take action and do something to meet
the needs and change the circumstances which create the problem.
They assume responsibility and proceed to act.
The parable we deal with today puts into story form a
somewhat similar distinction.
The son in the parable who said
yes to the request of the father to work in the vineyard but did
not do it "talked the talk" but did not "walk the walk."
The son
who refused the father's request but later changed his mind and
went to work in the vineyard "walked the walk."
Context
Context of the Church Year
We are in a series that would afford an opportunity to do
five parables in succession if one so chose to do it.
This is
the third of the parables, with two more to follow.
This parable
and the next use the imagery of workers in the vineyard, as did
the parable for the previous Sunday.
Context of the Gospel
The parables for today and for next Sunday are in Matthew
21.
They follow an increasing crisis of conflict between Jesus
and the religious leaders.
They raise questions about his source
of authority.
He counters with a question about what they think
about
124
the authority of John the Baptist.
They knew that if they said
it was on his own authority, they would alienate the common
people among whom John was very popular.
If they granted him to
have authority from heaven for his message, they could not very
well deny Jesus the same authority.
The parables speak to the question of authority and call
into question those who have the position of formal authority but
do not necessarily carry it out in practice.
Others may not have
an office, but they perform the function which should be
appropriate to the office.
The First Lesson.
(Exodus 17:1-7) The people quarreled at
Rephidim because they had no water to drink.
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