“When (Jesus) entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23)
So what’s all this about authority ?I have to confess I sometimes
act like the chief priests and elders in the gospel reading assigned for
Pentecost 18, Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary (Matthew 21:23-32) when
the subject of ecclesiastical authority comes up. In a way, I sympathize with
these guys. When some yokel shows up out of nowhere and claims to speak for God
the same way I claim to do, I want to see some credentials. You know what
really gets my Fruit of the Looms in a bunch? Universal Life Church so-called
“ordinations.” Okay. I’m usually a pretty mellow old guy—usually—but a sly, sardonic, and somewhat un-Christian smirk may
begin to creep across my face when someone tells me they are an ordained
minister of that specious denomination. The ULC has no official doctrine, no
structure, and no actual congregations. They have, however, popped out
“ordinations” like a Pez dispenser. With a few mouse clicks on the ULC website
any bozo can claim to be an ordained clergyperson. It’s estimated there are
over 18 million ULC “clergy” worldwide since the organization started cranking
out ordinations in 1962.[i]
I have to ask by what authority are these individuals
ministers? I can tell you by what authority I
can call myself a minister: I hold a Masters of Divinity degree from a state
accredited seminary, I’ve been approved by a national church body affiliated
with a 500-year-old internationally recognized denomination, and I’ve been
called by the good folks of Faith Lutheran of Philadelphia to serve as their
pastor. I guess I could say my authority comes from the Lutheran Church and
from the people of God. But, really, the authority of any Christian only comes
from Jesus Christ.[ii]
I’ve got to be honest
here. I don’t actually have any more ecclesiastical authority than the next guy.
All the baptized in Christ have his authority to forgive, to pray, to love and
welcome, and to offer up their quotidian tasks in service to God. I just get
the fun job of keeping church order and talking about Jesus on Sunday mornings.
Jesus is a pretty clever
guy. He knows that when his authority is questioned by folks who think only they have authority, any answer he gives
is going to get shot in the butt. I mean, you just can’t argue with people who’ve
already decided you’re wrong. What’s he going to say? “My authority comes from
being the only begotten Son of God?” That answer is going to go over like a bad
smell. So will saying, “My authority comes from the fact that I’m right and you
dudes aren’t.” That might be true, but it won’t sit any better with the high
muckety-mucks. Jesus can only prove his authority by showing his deeds have an effect. He’s the one
healing the sick. He’s the one inviting the lost and the outcast. He’s the one
forgiving the sinners. He’s the one feeding the hungry. He’s the one bringing
hope. Wisely, Jesus throws the question of authority back on his inquisitors
and gives them yet another splendid opportunity to reveal their ignorance and
arrogance.
But back to that issue of
authority. If my authority as a pastor comes from the Church, where does the
Church’s authority come from? I’ll bet a lot of young folks would ask that
question today. It isn’t enough to have “sound doctrine.” That doctrine has to
accomplish something. That’s why Jesus follows up his verbal fencing with the
priests and elders by telling them the parable of the two sons and asking which
does the will of the father—the one who says
the right thing or the one who does
the right thing? The epistle of James puts it very nicely:
What
good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have
works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily
food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your
fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So
faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have
faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works
will show you my faith.[iii]
Authority
is revealed by its actions. When Matthew wrote his gospel the Church was under some
nasty, violent persecution. To survive, those who trusted in the authority of
Jesus had to put that trust to work. I think we’re in pretty much the same boat
today in America. No one is going to send Christians into the arena or burn us
at the stake, but our churches are bleeding out like a ruptured artery. Once
upon a time we sat at the center of American culture. Not anymore. People will
not respect our authority unless they see it do some good.
Personally,
I think being on the margins might be doing us
some good. Our new position forces us all into a deeper commitment to
Christ and an excited willingness to act on his authority. I grant not all of us
are about to start new and ground-breaking social ministry organization, nor
will we begin marching in the streets demanding justice for all God’s
creatures. We might, if we’ve reached a “certain age,” consider a life
well-lived in obedience to the gospel has granted us the ability to speak
authoritatively to our grandchildren about matters of spirituality and faith. I
would hope we are able to say in all blessed humility, “I am who I am because
He is who He is.”
God’s
peace be with you, my friend. Please stop by again.
[i] I
got his figure from Wikipedia (Where else?). They cite an article by Lauren
Bishop in the Cincinnati Inquirer
from April 14, 2007 entitled “Ordained for the Occasion”.
[ii] I
guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the ULC, but I have to draw a line somewhere. I’ve
done cooperative worship services and events with many Christian denominations
as well as Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists. I’m an ecumenist, but not a
Universalist. If you say you believe in everything,
you probably don’t practice anything.
We all should find our path and walk it with discipline and integrity.
[iii]
James 2:14-18
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