Authority
I think I may have told before the story of two battleships out on manoeuvres in heavy weather for several days. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge of one of the ships keeping an eye on everything that was going on.
Shortly after dark, the lookout reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving ?" the captain called out.
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise them to change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."
The captain said, "Send this message: "I'm a captain, you change course twenty degrees.'"
"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."
By that time the captain was furious. He shouted, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse, you’d better change course twenty degrees."
Needless to say the battleship changed course.
This story emphasises that however powerful you may feel, there is always someone or something that it is better not to mess with ! In our gospel (Matthew 21:23-32)
Jesus has been teaching and healing, and the Temple authorities are a little bit fed up. Believing that they are coming from the more powerful and more righteous position they question him regarding what authority he has to act as he is.
It’s a powerful question, probably powerful enough to frighten many. A wrong answer at that time could immediately have led to Jesus being arrested or cast out completely… So Jesus doesn’t answer at all, but rather asks them a question about John the Baptist – ‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin’.
It was an answer that stopped their questions – if they said the baptism was from heaven, then Jesus could ask them why they didn’t believe him, but if they said it was of human origin then the crowds, big supporters of John, would be angry, and so they replied in the only way they really could, ‘We don’t know’…
And as they refused to answer the question of Jesus, so he refused to answer their question. He then went on to tell them this story of a man with 2 sons, who he tells to go out and work in his vineyard. The 1st son, refuses but later changes his mind and goes, the 2nd son agrees, but then decides not to go, and Jesus asks which of them is doing the will of God. It is obviously the one who does rather than the one who says they’re going to – actions do indeed speak louder than words.
Authority is a strange thing – some in school may be afraid of a teacher, children may be afraid of parents, clergy may well be afraid of their Bishops ! But exercised properly authority is a necessary thing to maintain any sort of order in society, and in many ways Jesus was actually making that point.
Authority for him though didn’t come in the form of any sort of licence, but rather in the manner of his work. In other words his authority came from being seen to do what he said he would do, being seen to do good ! Jesus had no licence to preach or teach, but he had the authority of doing right, doing good.
As Jesus spoke the implication was that they could judge him not on any licence or on any earthly permission given, but on his behaviour. In time of course he would be judged by jealous and bitter people, who saw their whole lifestyle challenged by Jesus’ teaching, but judged fairly all they could see was a man doing good. He healed, he encouraged, he welcomed people who couldn’t find a welcome anywhere, he spoke of people loving each other, caring for one another, supporting one another. On the basis of his actions, it was impossible to condemn Jesus for anything.
And today as his followers we too must allow ourselves to be judged by our actions – authority may come in many official forms, and it’s right that we should try and respect that authority, but the over riding principle, as Jesus showed us, must always be to do what is right.
But there perhaps we have another problem – what is right ??? Humility is something I of course possess in abundance so I wouldn’t dare to answer that question !!
However we can do no better than to follow the advice of Paul who wrote in his letter to the Philippians (Ch.2), ‘Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ Jesus’.
In other words we must seek to be more like him, to open ourselves up more and more to meet his ideals, to seek out his vision… And we do that by taking the form of a slave. Slavery was and is a dreadful reflection of the way humans sometimes treat each other, but slavery as Jesus talks about it, means having the privilege to serve both God and other people.
The slavery Jesus talks about isn’t the sort that will allow someone to push us around, or to shout their orders, but rather will allow us to really get our hands dirty in our care for others. Prayer is wonderful, charitable giving is wonderful, but the example of Jesus was also an example of doing. He didn’t rebel against authority – he didn’t call people to revolution, but he showed them how their lives could be different.
I joked earlier about humility, but it is a gift that we must all seek to do the work of Jesus. Over and over again, as we think of people of faith, we think of people who have gone out and done things – the great missionaries, people like Mother Theresa, and so many others, who have literally devoted everything they have to serving others.
Jesus was challenged because he was seen to be doing good. He was seen to be transforming lives, lives which otherwise were controlled by the religious authorities. He was dangerous, because he was challenging people to live outside the constraints of being dominated, he was challenging people to seek what was good in their lives, and go out and enjoy it, and tell others about it.
The Bible often uses the phraseology of freedom and being truly free only when we find Jesus. Last weeks collect echoed the words of Augustine who said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God… It seems an odd concept in many ways, as freedom was the last thing many of the early followers, and many since, would find from their service of Christ, but true freedom, true contentment, can only be known by doing what is right, and by knowing that in Christ, whatever may happen to us day by day, we have the victory… AMEN
Shortly after dark, the lookout reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving ?" the captain called out.
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise them to change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."
The captain said, "Send this message: "I'm a captain, you change course twenty degrees.'"
"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."
By that time the captain was furious. He shouted, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse, you’d better change course twenty degrees."
Needless to say the battleship changed course.
This story emphasises that however powerful you may feel, there is always someone or something that it is better not to mess with ! In our gospel (Matthew 21:23-32)
Jesus has been teaching and healing, and the Temple authorities are a little bit fed up. Believing that they are coming from the more powerful and more righteous position they question him regarding what authority he has to act as he is.
It’s a powerful question, probably powerful enough to frighten many. A wrong answer at that time could immediately have led to Jesus being arrested or cast out completely… So Jesus doesn’t answer at all, but rather asks them a question about John the Baptist – ‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin’.
It was an answer that stopped their questions – if they said the baptism was from heaven, then Jesus could ask them why they didn’t believe him, but if they said it was of human origin then the crowds, big supporters of John, would be angry, and so they replied in the only way they really could, ‘We don’t know’…
And as they refused to answer the question of Jesus, so he refused to answer their question. He then went on to tell them this story of a man with 2 sons, who he tells to go out and work in his vineyard. The 1st son, refuses but later changes his mind and goes, the 2nd son agrees, but then decides not to go, and Jesus asks which of them is doing the will of God. It is obviously the one who does rather than the one who says they’re going to – actions do indeed speak louder than words.
Authority is a strange thing – some in school may be afraid of a teacher, children may be afraid of parents, clergy may well be afraid of their Bishops ! But exercised properly authority is a necessary thing to maintain any sort of order in society, and in many ways Jesus was actually making that point.
Authority for him though didn’t come in the form of any sort of licence, but rather in the manner of his work. In other words his authority came from being seen to do what he said he would do, being seen to do good ! Jesus had no licence to preach or teach, but he had the authority of doing right, doing good.
As Jesus spoke the implication was that they could judge him not on any licence or on any earthly permission given, but on his behaviour. In time of course he would be judged by jealous and bitter people, who saw their whole lifestyle challenged by Jesus’ teaching, but judged fairly all they could see was a man doing good. He healed, he encouraged, he welcomed people who couldn’t find a welcome anywhere, he spoke of people loving each other, caring for one another, supporting one another. On the basis of his actions, it was impossible to condemn Jesus for anything.
And today as his followers we too must allow ourselves to be judged by our actions – authority may come in many official forms, and it’s right that we should try and respect that authority, but the over riding principle, as Jesus showed us, must always be to do what is right.
But there perhaps we have another problem – what is right ??? Humility is something I of course possess in abundance so I wouldn’t dare to answer that question !!
However we can do no better than to follow the advice of Paul who wrote in his letter to the Philippians (Ch.2), ‘Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ Jesus’.
In other words we must seek to be more like him, to open ourselves up more and more to meet his ideals, to seek out his vision… And we do that by taking the form of a slave. Slavery was and is a dreadful reflection of the way humans sometimes treat each other, but slavery as Jesus talks about it, means having the privilege to serve both God and other people.
The slavery Jesus talks about isn’t the sort that will allow someone to push us around, or to shout their orders, but rather will allow us to really get our hands dirty in our care for others. Prayer is wonderful, charitable giving is wonderful, but the example of Jesus was also an example of doing. He didn’t rebel against authority – he didn’t call people to revolution, but he showed them how their lives could be different.
I joked earlier about humility, but it is a gift that we must all seek to do the work of Jesus. Over and over again, as we think of people of faith, we think of people who have gone out and done things – the great missionaries, people like Mother Theresa, and so many others, who have literally devoted everything they have to serving others.
Jesus was challenged because he was seen to be doing good. He was seen to be transforming lives, lives which otherwise were controlled by the religious authorities. He was dangerous, because he was challenging people to live outside the constraints of being dominated, he was challenging people to seek what was good in their lives, and go out and enjoy it, and tell others about it.
The Bible often uses the phraseology of freedom and being truly free only when we find Jesus. Last weeks collect echoed the words of Augustine who said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God… It seems an odd concept in many ways, as freedom was the last thing many of the early followers, and many since, would find from their service of Christ, but true freedom, true contentment, can only be known by doing what is right, and by knowing that in Christ, whatever may happen to us day by day, we have the victory… AMEN
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