Authority.
It’s a word that is supposed to bring us comfort and assurance. But in a world with increasing insecurity, authority can seem to be an invasion of our privacy which is what it’s actually supposed to be protecting us from. If you have any sort of online account – bank account – mygov account – or even one of your private interests – their attempt to protect you can cause major frustrations. You logon to your account and you have to find your phone because of what they term – 2 factor authorisation – and enter the code they sent you. A Password is no longer enough authorisation.
Or maybe you’ve been asked to update your password because it’s not considered strong enough and you have to include at least 8 characters including a number, a capital and lower case letter and a special character. And they are so hard to remember. I face a similar issue when I wanted a particular password that I can remember but the organisation says NO – you must do this – even though it’s MY account. In fact I read a funny comment this week that most people can remember their very first phone number from childhood but not the password they created yesterday. The uneasiness comes when someone uses their authority to keep us safe which seems to take away our rights. These were some of the complaints during the pandemic. These are many of the issues we face after terrorist attacks such as September 11 where our rights are removed for OUR safety as authority takes over.
And I think this is what we are seeing in our Gospel reading today with a sense of uneasiness when the people in the synagogue saw a new and different type of teaching from Jesus – They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes and previous teachers. What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him – (disciples – who is this that the wind and waves obey him?
That might sound like a good thing but it frightens them like the time Jesus removed a legion of demons from the man in the tombs and they begged Jesus to leave. And we know that down the track that this authority of Jesus will challenge them and they will begin to reject him when it infringes on their lifestyles. They challenge his right to have this authority. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get this authority?” Who does he think he is? And they took offense at him.
Sadly the word authority is easily misused such as when James and John wanted the place of honour next to Jesus over against their fellow disciples. Or when they wanted to call down fire and brimstone on the Samaritans for having the audacity to not recognise their authority. Jesus explains to them – “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, but among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Which is what Jesus did when he emptied himself of his heavenly authority to become a servant: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
At times the church has been seen to misuse its authority. Now, let’s understand – the church DOES have authority.
Before his Ascension Jesus says to his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The authority Jesus speaks about is what we call The Gospel which Jesus explains in several places;
In Matthew’s Gospel he says:
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In Lukes Gospel he says:
He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And in John’s Gospel he says:
Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
That’s the authority Jesus has give to you – to Christians and to the Church – to bring comfort and peace to people through the forgiveness of sins – through the Gospel – to reconcile people with God. That’s it!
Yes, in some instances we have to warn of unforgiveness where there is refusal to repent. But still, that is encased in love as Jesus says in Matthew 18: If they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And let us remember how Jesus treated pagans and tax collectors. He ate with them – he walked among them and assured them of God’s love for which he was regularly criticised by the supposedly righteous Pharisees.
But Paul warns Christians against using the authority we have to harm others. And it’s in ways that we don’t always realise that we’re doing it. He uses the example of food sacrificed to idols. His argument is that since we know an idol is nothing we have freedom to eat whatever we wish without worry if the food was sacrificed to an idol – which was a common practice.
But, he says, there may be a fellow Christian who has a different view to us and would be offended if they saw us eating food sacrificed to an idol.
So we have the situation that I could argue – I can eat whatever I want because of my faith – so why can’t I? BUT – is that the only scenario. What if we offend someone by our freedom? Paul sums it up by saying – if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall. The principle of this goes to every aspect of our faith – not just eating particular foods. We can extend this example to anything that sets ourselves apart from others giving the impression that we are superior to them.
But let us understand what this is not saying. It doesn’t mean we have to accept matters that are against the Word of God so we don’t cause offence. Sadly that is happening in the church today as it tries to fit in with the world rather than the world fitting in with God. No, Moses makes that quite clear in our Old Testament reading: But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.
What it does mean is that we love our neighbour in all situations – even when we are in disagreement with them. As Jesus says – love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Our thought should be for our neighbours faith since we are certain of our freedom in Christ. We are not to use our freedom and authority to build ourselves up which is always the temptation. Paul says – Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. We have seen the damage that the church and Christians can do when they lord it over people. When people feel harassed rather than loved. Jesus exampled that servant approach to authority when he washed his disciples’ feet – when he let a woman of ill-repute wash his feet – when he ate with Zacchaeus – when he freed a woman caught in adultery but warned her to flee from sin that had entrapped her.
We have an amazing Gospel that has freed us and we have been given authority by Jesus to assure others of that same freedom. No one else has the keys to the kingdom of heaven so let us use those keys to open the door to heaven so people can experience what we have – the peace of God that goes beyond all understanding.
