“Authority Issues”

                                    First Congregational United Church of Christ

                                                          September 25, 2011

                                                           Pastor Dan Wilkie

 

                        Scripture Readings:  Matthew 21: 23-32; Philippians 2: 1-13

 

I am guessing that if you drove by the church during the week and saw the sign out front, or picked up the bulletin this morning and saw the title for the message “Authority Issues” being the enlightened consumers of pop psychology most of us are, you understood exactly what that title meant.

After all who of us hasn’t been at the mall and heard a three year old telling an older sibling, or perhaps one of our own children say to someone else “you can’t make me do that, you’re not the boss of me”. 

Or perhaps we received a rather distressed phone call from one of our children or a friend who called us to tell us they lost their job.  When we ask what happened they tell us how their supervisor asked them to report to work at some early hour like 7:30 am, or give up a day off, or make a delivery some distance away and they would be late getting home…they would then ask can you believe that?… he really can’t make us do that can he? 

Many of us may have also seen recent films like Black Swan and the Last King of Scotland in which much of the plot revolves around authority issues.  All of these things raising the questions who is the boss and who can “make” who else do what?

It is often easy to see to recognize authority issues in others, but if we’re honest most of us can admit that we have some issues with authority ourselves.

Most of us have some individual - or group - or profession – or even objects – maybe a teacher, or police officer, or political figure, or stop-sign that pushes our own “you’re not the boss of me” buttons. 

In fact some have suggested that our denomination, the United Church of Christ has authority issues.  Some of this is based on our earliest church history when our church ancestors fled England after the persecutions of King Henry VIII because we resisted forced membership in the Church of England and many of the laws in existence at the time with regard to what constituted proper worship and celebration of holidays.

It is still alive today in our church polity – a system of governance called “congregational” polity that leaves authority in the hands of each individual congregation rather than in the hands of some overriding ecclesiastical authority, rule-book, or bishop.

While many of us see this resistance to authority as perfectly normal, it is amazing to me that we will then grant authority to others like movie stars, or sports figures, radio personalities, or politicians and friends, or other professionals simply because they belong to the same clubs we belong to, or have the same beliefs we have, or listen to the same people we listen to, even when what we are hearing is not true, biased, incomplete, or otherwise flawed or incorrect. Believe me we put great faith in authority figures, especially people with certain degrees, or who claim great expertise in their fields and in most cases we are right doing so, but sometimes we make mistakes.

For instance several years ago the Discovery Channel did a wonderful documentary on the benefits of and influence by expert witnesses in court trials. In this piece the interviewers staged several different scenarios where the “experts” had to do some research in their fields to “solve the crime”.  Of course the interviewers knew the real answers, and had the actual information of what happened so when the experts made their determinations of what had happened the interviewers could compare the results of their findings with the actual knowledge of the facts.  What was amazing was that only one of the “experts” actually got it right, because he spent the time to truly analyze the data, look at all the possibilities and rule out those inconsistent with the facts.  Sadly the others made incomplete, and therefore inaccurate reports.  When confronted with the evidence of their errors the others admitted that based on what they had seen in the past “they just knew” what the facts were, and what the answers were.

In the scripture passage we heard from Matthew’s Gospel we hear the Chief Priests and Scribes doing exactly what we might have done based on our present behavior, they were questioning Jesus about his authority, wanting to see his credentials.  Or perhaps they were like the experts in the Discovery Documentary who really didn’t do their jobs instead they just assumed that based on what they knew, they felt they were right regardless of what others might say. While many scholars think they were trying to trap Jesus, perhaps they really did want to know, after all Jesus was challenging everything they knew to be true, Jesus was challenging their authority, their understandings, their teachings, the very things that made them who they were.  Even in Jesus answering with another question he confronted their lack of belief.  When they answered in the way they did, and Jesus did not answer them back, the message was clear, “I am not going to respond to accusations and innuendo”.

Yet the parable that followed about the brothers in the vineyard was unmistakable: Those who are obedient to God, even if they don’t get it right away are much better off than those who know the answers, say they will do the work, then never show up.

This then raises the questions for each of us, who then will we grant authority over us?  The Sports figure, the politician, the police officer acting in the legal scope of their authority, ministers, friends….and where does Jesus fit into this list? Are we willing to grant Jesus teachings authority?

And by what criteria shall we use to grant them authority over us?  What they believe, how they believe, the clubs they belong to, their political opinions, the religious group they belong to, their faith, how they study the Bible? Or do we look at their openness to what Christ was teaching, to new interpretations of scripture, or perhaps how they work on what is good for all versus one group or another?

And maybe just as important is the question of when we should truly resist authority?  Because there are times when it may truly be right to resist authority?

All important questions, but none of them easy questions, because every one of them challenges our own biases, our fears, our traditions, what we hold to be true, our upbringing, the friendships we have, our relationships, even our places in our families. They also challenge issues of justice, or might, even our vary faith. 

Yet I think that many o the answers to these questions can be found in Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi in his words: “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete; be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”  The Christ who was obedient to God, even unto death, the Christ who took the form of a slave, the Christ who through his actions was exalted and to which every tongue should confess Jesus is Lord.

The following story from William Willimon a Methodist Bishop in Alabama pretty much says it all:  “On one of my worst days, a grueling eight-hour marathon of appointments, I was about ready to go home when I was informed I had one more appointment.  Two older women walked into my office.  One said, “We’ve come to Burmingham from Cullman to tell you about our ministry.  Gladys’s grandson was busted DUI.  We went over to the youth prison camp to visit him.  Sad to say, we had never been there before.  We were appalled by the conditions…those young men packed in there like animals.  We got to know them.  Are you aware that only ten percent of them can read?  An Illiterate nineteen year-old and we wonder why he’s in prison!

The other one said, “Well, we began reading classes.  Sarah taught school before she retired.  Then that led to a Bible study group in the evening.  We’re up to three bible study groups a week.  Two friends of ours who can’t get out bake cookies for the boys.  We’ve also enlisted two wonderful nurses who help with the VD.  Some of them said those cookies are the first gift they’ve ever received.

I asked with bureaucratic indifference, “And you want the conference to take responsibility for this ministry?  Sara responded, “No, we don’t want to mess it up.”  So you need me to come up with some money for you?

“We don’t need any money.  If we need something, we get it from our little church.”

I asked, “then why have you come down here to tell me about this?

“Well, we know that being a bishop must be one of the most depressing jobs in the church-too many things that we are not doing that Jesus expects to do.  So Gladys thought it would be nice if we came down here to tell you to take heart.  Something’s going right, that is up in Cullman.”[i]

So perhaps as we think about our Authority Issues, and whom and what we grant Authority over us, and about what Jesus was trying to say to us, maybe it is not about authority at all, but rather about simply serving God and doing good.  And, perhaps if we gave up some of the authority we give to others that take us away from those goals, our world would be a much better place.

 

Amen!