THE CHALLENGE OF AUTHORITY

September 25, 2011
Pentecost 15
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 18:21-35

(prayer)

The parable that Jesus tells to the Chief Priests and the Elders about the two sons, could be summed up by the ageless axiom: “Actions speak louder than words.”

They always do. Nothing threatens a person’s character or reputation as much as hypocrisy.

ranker.com has posted a top fifteen list of anti-gay activitsts who have been caught being gay: lots of social conservative politicians and evangelical clergy on that list (like Bishop Eddie Long [slide] and Rev Ted Haggard; former US senator, Larry Craig and former “friend” of congressional pages, Mark Foley). It’s no problem that these people are gay. It’s that the spent years preaching and legislating with an explicit anti-gay emphasis.

“Woe to the hypocrites” Jesus was know to have said.

Now, I am a pretty liberal guy, as you might have guessed. [slide] But I have to admit that I am so disappointed that the Obama administration’s inspiring words have been followed up with less-than-inspiring actions. Now I know that the US political gridlock has a lot to do with the split between congress and the Whitehouse and a very stubborn economic slowdown that is well-rooted in the pre-Barack years. But, still... the speeches were so good...

I have to laugh at the Daily Show with John Stewart, as he is sometimes forced to accept as possible future: [slide]

“OMG, Rick Perry is going

to be our next president”

Actions speak louder than words!

Most churches profess a desire to grow their congregations. [slide] It is part of our ethos as Christians. The gospel of Matthew ends with (what is called) Jesus’ Great Commission: 28:19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

It’s also part of our culture which admires and requires growth and expansion to be successful. It’s not enough for corporations to make a profit, they have to increase profits.

And, for a lot of churches, as one generation of active church folk age, new and younger congregants are seen as necessary to keep the church a going-concern into the future.

It is a common to hear places of worship describing themselves as “Open Door Churches”

Of course (too often) some of these open door churches really don’t want “them” unless they become like us. They profess an open door, but they want to control who comes through that door and what kind of influence they might be able to have once they come inside.

Churches are not safe from hypocrisy.

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That brings me to the topic for today – authority. Some authority is 'ex-officio' - by virtue of office. A person who achieves a certain position is given authority. Parents, police officers, teachers, bosses, ministers(?). Unless you are the kind of person who naturally challenges authority, you probably give these people a certain level of automatic respect and reverence. Ex-officio authority can quickly be destroyed if hypocrisy rears its ugly head. And the effect can be transferred to others with similar ex-officio authority who had nothing to do with the hypocrisy. For example, if your experience is with a police officer who breaks the law, you might not trust other police officers. Or a child who has been abused by a parent or teacher or minister, may not be able to trust others in those positions.

Even in honourable and honest circumstances, ex-officio authority can only take you so far.

True authority is known when people acknowledge and respect that authority. That kind of authority is earned. This can be added to some ex-officio authority or it may result in a person being respected as authoritative without the credentials.

//

In Jesus’ day, the ex-officio political authority lay with the soldiers and puppet leaders of the Roman Empire. The religious authority lay with the temple leaders: the priests, the scribes, the elders and members of the Sanhedrin Council.

Jesus was a non-land owning peasant from Galilee. He was trained as a carpenter, but even turned his back on that to hang around with fishermen. And yet...

Jesus was a revered leader to his followers: the priests and elders couldn't figure out why. ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’

This question is a mix of jealousy and outrage. Why do your followers listen to you more than us? And, wait a minute, who do you think you are, anyway? You are just a northern peasant!

To the priests and elders, there was no real place for “earned authority”: authority could be demanded from people; its part of the style of dictatorial leadership that was almost exclusively the case in the ancient world.

A respect for authority could be demanded and (what were seen as) false-claims of authority could be quashed: often violently.

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So, the temple authorities demanded answers about Jesus’ authority. Jesus (as he often did) did not answer the question directly: instead he answered the question with a question: Where did John the Baptist’s authority come from? The elders and priests did NOT seem interested in actually finding an honest answer to Jesus’ question; they tried to think of the politically correct answer – saying ‘from heaven’ might open the door for Jesus to say “mine too” and saying ‘from people’ might angrily incite the crowd who clearly held John in high esteem – proclaiming him to be a prophet of God. So, they said, ‘we don’t know’.

Jesus followed that up with a parable (a teaching story): [slide] a father has two sons and tells them both to go into the vineyard and work. One says ‘yes’ but doesn’t go; the other says no, but later changes his mind and goes. ‘Which one of these sons’, Jesus asked ‘did the will of the father?’ Of course, they answered that the one who actually went into the vineyard to work respected the authority of the father. Even in Jesus’ day actions speak louder than words.

Our reading from Matthew ended this morning with Jesus chastising the temple leaders for being witnesses to John’s work and not giving it the authority it deserved. 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.

The priests and elders were like the lazy son in the parable. And the ones who are shunned in society were like the obedient son: maybe even better than the son in the parable – some recognized John’s authority right away, without having to change their minds later.

The truth is that the Temple leaders were threatened by John, just as the were being threatened by Jesus. To change their minds would force them to call into question their own authority.

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That’s the Challenge of Authority – in reality, Authority can’t be claimed – it must be given.

It can’t be claimed, it must be given!

And we tend to give authority to those we believe have earned it.

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[slide]

To Jesus’ followers he was greatly authoritative. And that authority came from God and was witnessed in how Jesus lived his life.

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Philippi, we have one of the oldest Christian texts. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul seems to be quoting what appears to be words that he expects his audience to already know (perhaps an early Christian hymn):

6 Though [Jesus Christ] was in the form of God,

[he] did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8 he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.



Jesus’ authority was not lived out in political or religious domination. He did not cling to power with violence or intimidation. Jesus preached servant hood (‘the last shall be first’; the greatest among you must be servant of all’) and he lived out his servant hood – seen most clearly in the post-easter era as his humble acceptance of the cross. Jesus’ actions matched his words. That’s honest authority.

Jesus’ authority was authentic. Of course the words authority and authentic have the same root meaning: auto = self. To be authentic is to be true to oneself. It is the opposite to hypocrisy.

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The Challenge of Authority is to work hard at being authentic.

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That is how we can live out Jesus’ great commission – how do we spread the gospel; how do we grow the church? By living the gospel; by being the church. In our UCC Creed we say that “we are called to be the church: to celebrate God’s presence, to live in respect in creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen , or judge and our hope.”

To be an open-door church (one that welcomes in and reaches out), we must honestly welcome the blessings that others bring to our community: to let them change us because they carry their own divine spark that can ignite the faith of others. That’s authentic. That’s authority that makes a difference in the world.

Live the gospel.

Be the church.

Follow Christ Jesus. (END)

Let us pray:

Holy God, you empowered Jesus to show us your vision for this world. Guide us and encourage us to follow his example. Amen.



#154MV “Deep in Our Hearts”