Who gave you authority?
Sermon for Pentecost XVIII, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
Text: Matthew 21:23-32
The Gospel reading this morning reminds me of an Islamic parable of sorts that I first heard a long time ago. It involves Nasrudin, a Mullah or a learned leader in the Islamic faith. The story goes like this:
One day the people in a village thought they would play a joke on Nasrudin. As he was supposed to be a holy man of some indefinable sort, they went to him and asked him to preach a sermon in their mosque. He agreed. When the day came, Nasrudin mounted the pulpit and spoke:
“O people! Do you know what I am going to tell you?”
“No, we do not know,” they said.
“Until you know, I cannot tell you,” said the Mullah, overcome with indignation. He descended from the pulpit and went home.
Slightly chagrined, a deputation went to his house again, and asked him to preach the following Friday, the day of prayer. That day, Nasrudin started his sermon with the same question as before. This time the congregation answered in one voice:
“Yes, we know.”
“In that case,” said the Mullah, “there is no need for me to keep you any longer. You may go.” And he returned home.
Having been prevailed upon to preach for the third Friday in succession, Nasrudin started the address as before: “Do you know or do you not know what I am going to tell you?”
This time, the congregation was ready, and they said, “Some of us do and some of us do not!”
Excellent,” said Nasrudin, “then let those who know share their knowledge to those who do not.” And he went home.
“O people! Do you know what I am going to tell you?”
“No, we do not know,” they said.
“Until you know, I cannot tell you,” said the Mullah, overcome with indignation. He descended from the pulpit and went home.
Slightly chagrined, a deputation went to his house again, and asked him to preach the following Friday, the day of prayer. That day, Nasrudin started his sermon with the same question as before. This time the congregation answered in one voice:
“Yes, we know.”
“In that case,” said the Mullah, “there is no need for me to keep you any longer. You may go.” And he returned home.
Having been prevailed upon to preach for the third Friday in succession, Nasrudin started the address as before: “Do you know or do you not know what I am going to tell you?”
This time, the congregation was ready, and they said, “Some of us do and some of us do not!”
Excellent,” said Nasrudin, “then let those who know share their knowledge to those who do not.” And he went home.
Now, while the chief priests and elders did not fake ignorance or want to play a joke on Jesus, they were like the mosque’s congregation, seeking to trap the preacher in some way. In this morning’s Gospel, that preacher is Jesus. The difference between Jesus and Nasrudin is that the priests and elders were questioning the legitimacy of Jesus’ authority to teach and to know the things he taught, rather than oppose his authority the way that the people in the mosque did to Nasrudin.
The priests and elders assumed that Jesus’ authority came from the law and the prophets, meaning that authority came from Hebrew scripture that spelled out who could be such a leader in Israel. They were threatened by Jesus’ claim of authority because it didn’t come from scripture. Jesus’ response to their challenge came in two parts: the first was to say no, authority is not claimed, but given, and the second was to say that his authority was given to him by God. That authority was given to Jesus when he was baptized by John and God proclaimed him as his son, and it was reaffirmed when Peter declared that Jesus was the Son of God. It was affirmed yet a third time by God during the Transfiguration. People searched Jesus out to heal them because they recognized his ability to heal and to forgive their sins. No one had given that kind of recognition directly to the priests and elders. Their authority was granted indirectly by the people’s faith in scripture that described how leaders had been chosen. If Jesus’ authority had been established through scripture, he would have been just like the priests and elders, but because of his holiness as the Son of God, his authority emerged from being unique, from being set apart from the world. I imagine that the priests and elders were ready to throw a fit, and claim that it wasn’t fair that Jesus could exercise his divinely-given authority freely, while they had to enforce recognition of their authority with rules. They wanted the validation from God that Jesus had received and they wanted to be worthy of exercising authority over the faithful.
Authority is something we encounter every day, and something we have wrestled with over the past five or so years. During the pandemic, scientists who studied viruses for years had their authority taken away by people who were frightened or distrusting, and replaced with a self-proclaimed authority by those who spoke the loudest. The authority and integrity of elected officials has been questioned by voters who chose to take back the authority they had given through the election process. The authority of our Constitution and the laws derived from it have been questioned because of claims of authority based on inconvenience and a desire for power.
As these long-recognized pillars of truth and order have been weakened or torn down with some measure of disrespect, the first of the two sons of the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable begins to stand out when we hear about him. That son who initially said no to his father, but then goes out to the vineyard to work provides a model for us, where we may at first reject authority but then reconsider our rejection. As we question our rejection of authority, we have a chance to ask ourselves what kind of authority are we looking for, authority from wisdom, or reassurance for our fear of the unknown, or fear of losing power. Jesus’ challenge to the priests and elders leads us to another question of who do we want to be in this time and place, the angry and fearful chief priests and elders, or the wise Jesus? Do we want to question the authority that we previously accepted, or do we want to search for the wisdom that establishes authority?
There was a sign over the door to the teacher’s lounge in my high school that read “Question Authority.” I suspect that it was placed there by John Hines, one of my teachers and the eventual rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in the Highlands, and I further suspect that it was inspired by this Gospel reading. That sign that the teachers saw when they came in and out of the lounge was doing the same thing as the chief priests and elders were doing, but with a different intent. In the Gospel, the challenge was to the legitimacy of Jesus’ authority, but for my high school teachers, it was asking what the source of authority was. It asked if their authority came from being the older and more educated teacher in a student-teacher relationship, or if their authority came from their student’s recognition of their wisdom. It challenged them to ask about and understand their student’s thoughts and perspective that formed their wisdom, rather than to tear them down with disrespect.
Jesus’ authority did not come from power, or fear, or privilege, or even from speaking over the voices of the priests and elders. It did not come from God’s vengeance or punishment of sin, or from some jealous desire for power and influence. It came from being visible through Jesus’ actions and words that embodied God’s love, compassion, and mercy for us. It came from Jesus’ patience and respect for his followers as a teacher. So it is for us to understand that the most authentic authority comes from wisdom and love, from us lifting each other up, building the kingdom of God together rather than tearing it down. We have been given authority to teach the world what it means to forgive through love, to build up what has been torn down, and to welcome all of God’s children into a life in Jesus. This authority has been given to us by God through our faith in Jesus, expressed in prayers and vows, and exercised with devotion. We don’t need to justify it to others who disagree with how we live our life in Christ. We just need to do it.
The priests and elders assumed that Jesus’ authority came from the law and the prophets, meaning that authority came from Hebrew scripture that spelled out who could be such a leader in Israel. They were threatened by Jesus’ claim of authority because it didn’t come from scripture. Jesus’ response to their challenge came in two parts: the first was to say no, authority is not claimed, but given, and the second was to say that his authority was given to him by God. That authority was given to Jesus when he was baptized by John and God proclaimed him as his son, and it was reaffirmed when Peter declared that Jesus was the Son of God. It was affirmed yet a third time by God during the Transfiguration. People searched Jesus out to heal them because they recognized his ability to heal and to forgive their sins. No one had given that kind of recognition directly to the priests and elders. Their authority was granted indirectly by the people’s faith in scripture that described how leaders had been chosen. If Jesus’ authority had been established through scripture, he would have been just like the priests and elders, but because of his holiness as the Son of God, his authority emerged from being unique, from being set apart from the world. I imagine that the priests and elders were ready to throw a fit, and claim that it wasn’t fair that Jesus could exercise his divinely-given authority freely, while they had to enforce recognition of their authority with rules. They wanted the validation from God that Jesus had received and they wanted to be worthy of exercising authority over the faithful.
Authority is something we encounter every day, and something we have wrestled with over the past five or so years. During the pandemic, scientists who studied viruses for years had their authority taken away by people who were frightened or distrusting, and replaced with a self-proclaimed authority by those who spoke the loudest. The authority and integrity of elected officials has been questioned by voters who chose to take back the authority they had given through the election process. The authority of our Constitution and the laws derived from it have been questioned because of claims of authority based on inconvenience and a desire for power.
As these long-recognized pillars of truth and order have been weakened or torn down with some measure of disrespect, the first of the two sons of the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable begins to stand out when we hear about him. That son who initially said no to his father, but then goes out to the vineyard to work provides a model for us, where we may at first reject authority but then reconsider our rejection. As we question our rejection of authority, we have a chance to ask ourselves what kind of authority are we looking for, authority from wisdom, or reassurance for our fear of the unknown, or fear of losing power. Jesus’ challenge to the priests and elders leads us to another question of who do we want to be in this time and place, the angry and fearful chief priests and elders, or the wise Jesus? Do we want to question the authority that we previously accepted, or do we want to search for the wisdom that establishes authority?
There was a sign over the door to the teacher’s lounge in my high school that read “Question Authority.” I suspect that it was placed there by John Hines, one of my teachers and the eventual rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in the Highlands, and I further suspect that it was inspired by this Gospel reading. That sign that the teachers saw when they came in and out of the lounge was doing the same thing as the chief priests and elders were doing, but with a different intent. In the Gospel, the challenge was to the legitimacy of Jesus’ authority, but for my high school teachers, it was asking what the source of authority was. It asked if their authority came from being the older and more educated teacher in a student-teacher relationship, or if their authority came from their student’s recognition of their wisdom. It challenged them to ask about and understand their student’s thoughts and perspective that formed their wisdom, rather than to tear them down with disrespect.
Jesus’ authority did not come from power, or fear, or privilege, or even from speaking over the voices of the priests and elders. It did not come from God’s vengeance or punishment of sin, or from some jealous desire for power and influence. It came from being visible through Jesus’ actions and words that embodied God’s love, compassion, and mercy for us. It came from Jesus’ patience and respect for his followers as a teacher. So it is for us to understand that the most authentic authority comes from wisdom and love, from us lifting each other up, building the kingdom of God together rather than tearing it down. We have been given authority to teach the world what it means to forgive through love, to build up what has been torn down, and to welcome all of God’s children into a life in Jesus. This authority has been given to us by God through our faith in Jesus, expressed in prayers and vows, and exercised with devotion. We don’t need to justify it to others who disagree with how we live our life in Christ. We just need to do it.
Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete