It
was April 30, 1992. I left my home in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los
Angeles very early that morning because one of the worst civil disturbances in
American history had broken out in the city the night before. The school where
I was teaching was all the way down in the Harbor area, and I’d been advised to
circumnavigate around my usual commuter route and avoid the parts of the city
where the violence had broken out. Traffic was light, and I arrived in Harbor City
so early I found I had time for a quick breakfast at a Denny’s. I brought with
me the latest Book of the Month Club selection, Hitler: The Path to Power
by Charles Bracelen Flood[i].
As
I was in line at the register to pay my bill, the elderly gentleman standing
behind me noticed der Fuhrer’s picture on the dust jacket of the book
and said to me in his slight German accent, “I see you’ve brought the right
book for this morning.” The old fellow explained to me that he had been born in
Germany and had fled the country when the Nazis came to power. He told me there
were many in his native land who were uncomfortable with a republic-style
government and actually wanted a dictator to sort out the chaos.
In times of confusion and unrest, such as we in L.A. were experiencing that
morning, people don’t want to think for themselves. They’re much more
comfortable being told what to do by someone with authority.
The
question of authority is central in the gospel lesson for Pentecost 19, Year A
in the RCL (Matthew 21:23-32). The elders of the people ask Jesus where his
authority comes from. He might have just as easily asked them where their
authority came from. Like the Germans the old gentleman at the Denny’s told me
about, some people want the Church to have authority. They want everything to
be black or white, good or bad. Just tell us what’s right and what’s wrong,
they say. Denominations with strict rules are always popular. No drinking, no
gambling, no smoking, no dancing, no pre-marital sex, no abortion, no
same-gender relationships, no Halloween costumes, no reading Harry Potter
books, etc. You get the idea. Religion is easy when the Church lays down the
rules and tells you how to think.
But
a curious thing about Jesus is he rarely uses his authority so directly. He
rarely gives a straight answer when questioned. He often turns the question
back on the questioner and makes them figure it out for themselves. He answers
what appear to be simple questions with clever stories. He confuses Nicodemus
and the woman at the well. When John the Baptist’s disciples ask him point
blank if he’s the Messiah, he doesn’t say yes or no. He tells them to report
what they’ve seen him do, and then do the math[ii]. He certainly has no
intention of discussing his authority with the elders in Matthew 21. They
wouldn’t believe him anyway.
I
would say the Church’s authority comes from the Scriptures, and the Scriptures’
authority comes from what they tell us about Jesus Christ. And his
authority comes not from what he says (profound as it is), but from what he
does. Jesus welcomes the stranger. He pardons the sinner. He gives food to
the hungry. He heals the sick. He defends the vulnerable. He is the embodiment
of sacrificial love and gives up his life on the cross. And, by defeating
death, he inspires us to hope and charity.
If
the Church is to have any authority, it must come from doing the work of Jesus.
I may have all the right answers to the theological questions, but I so often
find myself asking at the end of the day, “Did I serve the Lord today? Did I do
the works of God?”
I’m
a Baby Boomer. I grew up in a time when we all wanted to challenge authority. I
guess the first son in Jesus’ parable is like that too. He doesn’t want a
dictator. If the Old Man tells him to go to work in the vineyard, he’s not
about to grab his tools and head outside without thinking about it first. Yet, somehow,
he changed his mind. I guess he realized the grapes needed to be tended, and
that pruning the vines would be in everyone’s best interest. His decision didn’t
come from an outside authority, but from the promptings of his heart.
Many of my generation (and almost all of
subsequent generations) weren’t about to blindly accept Christianity just
because our parents told us to. But, in our own time, some of us changed our
minds and found our way back into the Church. We found faith, not dogma. Jesus
wouldn’t want us to be blind, mindless followers. He’d want us to have the
fulness of faith—a faith which comes from questioning, doubting, and ultimately
doing.
Let’s
just keep doing the work Jesus taught us: forgiving, healing, feeding, caring,
and loving. That’s where the true authority lies.
Thanks
so much for visiting my blog this week. I hope these thoughts were meaningful
to you. Please let me know if there’s something you’d like me to write about.
God bless you this week!
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