01/31/21 - By Whose Authority? - Westminster Presbyterian Church Westminster Presbyterian Church | Serving God and others with open mind, hands and heart - 01/31/21

01/31/21 – By Whose Authority?

BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?

January 31, 2021
4^th Sunday in Epiphany
Deut. 18: 15-20; Ps. 111; 1 Cor. 8: 1-13; Mark 1: 21-28
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

Authority is defined as the power or right to make decisions and demand obedience. To whom we give authority is the question we human beings wrestle with our whole lives. We love freedom, but disorder frightens us. Parents observe this struggle in their children from the moment they are born. Every human society grapples with the issue of authority – who will be in charge, what will be the guiding principle of authority and how will authority be enforced to prevent disorder. The bible provides us with the model of authority, our Creator. God created order out of chaos and created a world that is good, that provides for the needs of every element of creation. The bible tells us God’s impetus for creating the world and humanity was love. God gave human beings free will so that we would obey God’s will out of love rather than force. God desires a relationship.

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden illustrates our basic struggle with authority and free will. The saga people of Israel demonstrate that same struggle within a community. When the people asked, God gave them a king. When kings failed to lead their people with God’s justice and mercy, God sent prophets with warnings of the consequences. For the people of Israel, Moses was the first and greatest of the prophets – the model by which people would recognize a prophetic voice and submit to God’s ultimate authority. By God’s nature, God’s authority is based on good, truth, wisdom, justice, mercy, compassion, and peace. Our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy establishes the criteria for a prophet’s authority.

God is the moral authority by which all human actions are judged. In the course of day-to-day lives, we also give a measure of authority to people whose wisdom and expertise we trust to guide us in matters pertaining to their knowledge. We trust they will use the power of that authority for good, and that they will speak the truth, as they know it. We grant authority to law enforcement, lawyers, and elected political representatives to abide by our country’s constitution for peace and justice. When God’s authority conflicts with human authority, we are faced with a choice that has eternal consequences.

Today our Old Testament reading is from Deuteronomy, which claims to be Moses’ final words to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. Called by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Moses was the authoritative voice that had guided the people for forty years. Moses was a model prophet, not because he was without human flaws, but because he listened to God’s voice and obeyed. Moses loved the people who God called him to lead, even when leading them was difficult. In our scripture passage for today, we read that the people feared what would become of them without God’s appointed leader. When Moses’ prophetic voice was silent, who could they trust to lead them? They were on the precipice of the Promised Land where they would face many challenges and the people feared what would happen when Moses’ prophetic voice was silent. Without Moses as their intermediary, the people feared they would lose their connection to God that had saved them repeatedly — often from their own foolish decisions. Moses assured the Israelites that God would deliver a prophet from among their own community to continue to lead them in the way God wanted them to go.

However, Moses warned of two potential dangers. The first is that the people may not listen and heed the words of God’s prophets. Throughout the history of ancient Israel, their relationship with God was tested when prophets called to lead the people away from the temptation to give authority to false gods and deliver them from evil. Moses warned the people that God would hold the people accountable if they did not listen to the prophets sent. God also declared the prophets would be held accountable for not delivering God’s message unaltered by their own devices and desires. False prophets would lead the people away from God with dire consequences. But how to discern a true prophet from a false one? This has continued to be our dilemma because God’s Word in scripture is short on details in this matter. Paul’s letters are filled with warnings about false prophets. So how do we recognize false prophets who claim to speak for God, but instead speak for themselves? We use what we know about God to discern truth from lies, good from evil, and wisdom from foolishness. When a person proclaims to speak for God, but the message lacks the love of neighbor, compassion for the vulnerable and those in need, or justice for those denied justice, then it does not come from God.

In our gospel reading, Mark also addresses the question of ultimate authority. Mark’s gospel begins, not with Jesus’ birth, but by establishing Jesus’ authority to speak in God’s name. We are still in chapter 1 and already, in just 20 verses, Jesus has been baptized, sent out into the desert for 40 days to wrestle with the chief of all demons, Satan, and called at least four disciples. In these next 8 verses we just heard, Jesus preaches his first sermon, confronts a chorus of demons, and performs his first healing miracle. Mark establishes, quickly and dramatically, that God has given Jesus divine authority. Later, in his calling of disciples, we are given the model of the authority Jesus gives the Church.

We read in the Mark passage that Jesus astounded the people gathered in the synagogue with his teaching. The people exclaimed that he taught with authority unlike that of the scribes. Jesus then performed a healing miracle by exorcising demons from a man. The demons recognized Jesus’ authority and fled from the man’s body. Mark accentuates the message that Jesus heals. His demonstrations of authority over evil is the most powerful teaching tool Jesus displays. The demons Jesus exorcised represent the evil forces to whom we fall prey – greed, vanity, jealousy, hatred, and vengeance are some of their names. Yet, we must also take care that Christian triumphalism and self-service does not lead us to demonize others based on our own misguided judgment. Throughout history, the Christian church has demonized the Jews and others of different faiths. Today we see the vulnerable and needy demonized. People with a different skin tone are demonized. People whose political views are not the same as ours are demonized.

Mark sets up the confrontation between Jesus and worldly authorities from the beginning. First, Jesus’ messenger, John the Baptist, is executed by King Herod. Today the stage is set for Jesus’ continued conflict with religious authorities — the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. The bible tells us it is always the ones with power – political, economic, military, religious – that are most threatened by prophets. Maintaining their control of the people requires forcing their authority. Yet, in the battle for sovereignty, God always wins.

It seems today that the false prophets abound with no accountability. We have reached a point where blatant lies are disseminated, through the myriad of communication instruments available, for personal power, wealth, domination, and vengeance. No lie is too shameless if the results are advantageous to the guilty parties. The situation has become so untenable, prophetic voices seem to have been silenced or shouted down. The bible tells us that being a prophet is a thankless job. Moses gave up the power and prestige of being royalty in Egypt to lead his people out of slavery, through the wilderness, and into The Promised Land. The people whined and complained, resisted his authority, and even threatened his life. Each of the prophetic books of the Old Testament presents a similar story of scorn heaped upon the prophet. Rev. Jeremiah Wright observed: “There are no prophets leading mega-churches.” By the very nature of their vocation, prophets are unpopular.

The most disturbing result of our current socio-political climate is the damage to the Christian faith. I recently read an article in the Atlantic in which an Illinois Republican congressman, who is a white, evangelical Christian, lamented the further disillusionment among young people for the Christian faith. Rep. Adam Kinzinger has been accused being possessed by demons because he voted to impeach former President Trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol. Demon possession has become a hateful epithet used by people who claim to be Christians toward people of differing political views. Kinzinger admitted he supported Trump’s policies, “but unlike other members of the GOP, he was unwilling to keep fighting for Trump after it was clear that he had lost the election. He chose to uphold his vow to defend the constitution as the authority for his political action. But even more important to him, he vows, is God’s authority. In his interview, Kinzinger stated his Christian vocation supersedes his political job. When you look at “the reputation of Christianity today versus five years ago, he states: “I feel very comfortable saying it’s a lot worse,” he said. “Boy, I think we have lost a lot of moral authority.” (1)

In our society today, we have experienced a crisis of authority. Our trust in authority, of any kind, has been broken by lies and abuses of power by people to whom we have looked for truth and guidance. We have allowed unjust systems to have authority over us and/or our sisters and brothers. When the rules do not give the advantage leaders in politics and finance crave, they change the rules or ignore them. This week we saw the phenomenon of individual investors beating the system hedge fund operators exploited to make maximum profits. Investors bought Game Stop shares, which the hedge funders had shorted. The Wall Street professionals lost money and the amateur investors made money. What was Wall Street’s response? Change the rules so that individual investors are not allowed to trade stocks in Game Stock or other companies that had been shorted. The rich get richer and the poor struggle to keep from falling further down the economic chain.

God’s authority is not variable or self-serving. God has demonstrated steadfast love and the desire for all people to share in God’s abundant blessings. God has called us to listen to prophetic voices and to be prophetic voices in places worldly authorities have strayed from God’s will. Jesus commissioned his disciples, the Church, to be the prophetic voice doing prophetic deeds in the broken places and broken people in our world. If we silence all voices but his, we will hear the message and accept, with humility, our Christian vocation.

Amen. May it be so.

Emma Green, “Betraying Your Church—And Your Party. The Atlantic, Jan. 28, 2021

My Story

“Throughout the week, there are many worldly things pulling me away from my commitment to God. I come to church on Sunday at Westminster to reconnect and renew my relationship with Him. Part of my worship is to ask him for forgiveness for my lack of faithfulness. I leave, reminded that he loves me, forgives me, and walks beside me every day. What a profound blessing that is!”