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Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Mark 1:21-28 Today’s lessons are all about authority and so keep this definition of authority this morning. Authority can mean either the right or the power to do something. Authority can also mean both of these put together. Two short examples. One of my earliest childhood memories is from the time I was about 3 years old. I was shopping with my parents at Sears, and being a 3 year-old little boy, I was not having fun shopping. I began to look around for something to do. As I wandered around the store, I spotted what looked like to my eyes a little jungle gym. In reality, what I had spotted and headed for was one of those heavy duty dollies, that they use to move large appliances and boxes. Looked like a jungle gym to me so I started to climb on. One of the Sears workers realized my plan and told me that I’d better not touch that because I could get hurt. My typical 3 year-old response was, “You’re not the boss of me!” and I reached for the highest handle I could reach. As soon as my little hand grabbed the bar and my weight left the ground, the dolly toppled over and fell right on top of my hands. I vividly remember the drive to the hospital and bleeding all over my dad’s windbreaker. For some reason, it was both of my ring fingers that were crushed and bore the weight of the dolly and to this day, both of my ring fingers bear the scars of that incident. Although he wasn’t my parents, the Sears’ guy certainly had the right to say something to me, he had the authority to do something. The problem was that I totally ignored his authority over me and now I have a lifelong reminder of it. Take a look at this Calvin & Hobbes cartoon to see a perfect example of someone who has both the right and the power to do something.
Calvin is upset because he recognizes that his mom has both the right and the power to not let him drive. She has the authority and there is nothing he can do about it, so he pouts. Without a doubt, authority is much stronger when you have both the right and the power to do something. We, as Christians, hopefully recognize that God has the ultimate authority in our lives. God has both the right and the power to do whatever he wants. That’s what comes with the job title and responsibilities of being God. From our OT lesson however, we learn that God is willing to bestow that authority on human beings. God is willing to give ordinary human beings both the right and the power to pronounce and to do God’s will. These people who God would be lifting up were to be called prophets, they would have the authority of God on their side and they would have both the right and the power to proclaim the very will of God. And anyone who claimed to be a prophet of God, but was not would be subject to the death penalty. The OT is filled with fascinating stories of these prophets and those who listened to the prophets and those who didn’t listen to the prophets. One of my favorite stories displaying the most serious nature of claiming to be a prophet of God is in Jeremiah 28. This story tells of a prophetic duel between Jeremiah and a guy named Hananiah. God told Jeremiah to walk around with a big yoke on his back to symbolize that Israel was supposed to serve the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar because God had turned the world over to him for a period of time. Hananiah didn’t like this message because he felt Jeremiah’s message was too negative and bringing people’s spirits down. So he prophesied that God would release the people from Nebuchadnezzar and that the people would be free. And as his symbol that this would happen, he broke the yoke off of Jeremiah’s back. Jeremiah was like, “You shouldn’t have done that! And you shouldn’t have lied to the people.” And sure enough, Hananiah had no authority to proclaim the word and will of God and the Bible says that he was dead within a year. Our gospel lesson takes place in a synagogue where the people are familiar with these marvelous stories of prophets and false prophets. These people, perhaps like people today, were hungering and thirsting for a word from God, someone to tell them exactly what God is thinking and what God wants them to do. And right away, as Jesus begins speaking, for whatever reason, they recognize that one of God’s prophets is in their midst. They are amazed at his message and they marvel at his authority – both his right and his power to proclaim the will of God. And as is often the case, the guiltiest one in the room starts feeling the most uncomfortable and the unclean spirit shouts out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” If someone in that room was having problems recognizing Jesus’ authority before this incident they had no problems after Jesus shouted back, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Everyone in that room was able to recognize that Jesus was special and that Jesus was indeed the Holy One of God. This story should cause each one of us to ask ourselves at least two questions. The first is this, how do we recognize the authority that Jesus has in our lives? Where do we turn to learn of God’s will for our lives? Where are the prophets in today’s world? We don’t have Jesus standing up here preaching and exorcising demons in front of our very eyes, but we can recognize Jesus’ authority in different ways. Jesus’ words come to us through the reading of Scripture, through worship, through listening and talking with church leaders and members, through silent prayer and meditation, and sometimes even through strangers. Three weeks ago, on the first Sunday in Epiphany, when we started talking about baptism, we learned that God calls each one of us through those blessed waters. There is no doubt that God has plans for your life. God has an agenda he would like to see you achieve and the only way to discern God’s will for your life is to begin paying attention and be open to his call. Two weeks ago, Pastor John talked about the difficulty of discerning God’s call in our lives when he talked about Samuel’s call. Sometimes God’s purposes are abundantly clear, but more often they are hidden and need us to pay close attention to discover what they are. And last week, Pastor John talked about what happens if we discover God’s purposes, but we don’t like them or they seem too difficult. What happens when we’re riding that tractor and have a hard time keeping our eye on that white flag and staying on course? Today we learn how God’s call is related to the God’s authority. The second question this story makes us ask is this, now that we are called, how do we respond to Jesus’ authority in our lives? Do we ignore this greater authority, like I did at Sears? Do we pout and storm away from this greater authority, like Calvin did to his mother? Or do we obey this authority and seek to understand it more deeply, like Jeremiah, even though it might be awkward or painful? By virtue of your baptism, God has a purpose for you in his kingdom, and when we submit to God’s purposes, on some level, this means that each one of us is called to be a prophet in the world. In our own ways and using the gifts that we have been given, each one of us is granted the right and the power to do God’s will in the world. Each of us has been given the authority, each of us has been given God’s authority to bring about his will in the world. And by affirming our baptisms, which we did at the beginning of Epiphany and will do again at the end of Epiphany, each of us has signed on to do the following things: to live among God’s faithful people, to hear God’s word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following Jesus’ example, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Recognizing and obeying Jesus’ authority leads us to do these things. These are the things that prophets do, these are the things that Christians do, and because of God’s baptismal call, you now have the right, the power, the authority and one might even say, the responsibility to do these things. You have the authority to be a prophet in a world that needs God’s will revealed to it. This evening, 30 of our congregation members will be returning from a weekend-long retreat. They have spent this entire time in prayer and discussion, trying to be prophets and discern the will of God for Hope Lutheran Church. They will be coming back with a full slate of programs, projects, and activities that they envision Hope participating in in the future. Yet, despite their hard work and many hours of prayer, this is only the beginning of the process. God will continue to reveal his will to us and recognizing Jesus’ authority over our lives, we will continue to listen and to obey. Following Christ, we can discern and perform the will of God – God has given us both the right and the power to do just that – and like the people of the synagogue, I expect we will be both astounded and amazed at what Jesus can do through us. |
