January 29, 2012, "Prophetic Authority"

Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
Mark 1: 20-28
A distinctive characteristic of Mark's Gospel is the drumbeat of the word “Immediately.” To improve grammar and readability, to heighten interest, translators routinely change this to “And Then,” or “Next,” but the evangelist intentionally repeated the word “immediately” matching our heartbeat with the Gospel's rhythm, to emphasize the Gospel is not theoretical philosophy, and the Gospel is not at our pace, when we are prepared and ready, but alive and active.

One of the first lessons we learn in any position, be that employment, volunteer, or relationship is the difference between responsibilities and authority. Responsibilities are all the many specific things we are accountable for, whether in a Job Description or that catch all of “Other duties as may arise.” Authority, is whether we have the right, whether we have been given credibility, to carry them out.
What I find especially striking this morning, is that regarding most aspects of our lives, there are responsibilities which we immediately take on, whereas authority comes over time and must be earned.

When I first came to this call, there was someone in the hospital. I went to visit them and introduced myself, and she opened her eyes and looked at me, and said “You are not Dr. Eastman.” And I said “No.” And she said, “And you are not Dr. Dobson, I loved him, but he's dead.” Unsure how to respond, I offered to take her hand and pray, and after only saying “Merciful God” she said “That'll do.” I thought this was her cue that I should leave, when suddenly the nurse came in and looking rather surprised said “She's gone, Father.”

As Deacons, we learn how to fill the candles, how to pass offering and communion plates, how to adjust the sound system, to care for the flowers and visit those who cannot attend worship. We bring our capability and our personality to bear, but feel intimidated when asked to pray for someone.When the Officiant proclaims the couple husband and wife, there are immediate responsibilities, some shared some delegated most renegotiated over time: Who will be responsible for banking, who will shop, who will cook, who does dishes, who takes out the garbage, which side of the bed we sleep on. When we become parents, we learn to feed them, and bathe them, pamper and hold, comfort and put to sleep. But being husband and wife to one another, being parents, and caring for our parents graciously, all must come with time. Yet in the Bible, Moses and Jesus, and those who come after, are given Authority to address the responsibilities they encounter.

In the Old Testament we have a variety of leaders. There are Priests who are Levites, who like Aaron lead the people through Prayer and Offerings and Sacrifices. There are Judges, like Samson, Gideon and Deborah, who are great warriors leading the people in battle. There are Kings, Saul, David, Solomon and all who would come after in the lineage of David, sitting upon the throne of Israel. Priests and Kings lead because they inherited the responsibility, because the Nation, the people needed to have a King, or a Priest to confess their sins and offer forgiveness. But Judges, Priests and Kings each became stuck in their institution. Prophets are a different kind of leaders. Prophets arise whenever needed. Prophets challenge the status quo. Prophets offer a different way of looking at life; rather than through our eyes, through the eyes of the marginalized, the poor, those most in need.

What is unique about the Prophets is their authority. The authority of a Prophet comes not from their office, not by blood, but from God and from compassion for those in need. “Authority” is not so much about power, as about recognizing one's self as being a vehicle through which the Spirit is able to speak and as a vehicle knowing we are not in control, not directing or determining where we are going. The wonderful part about prophets is that they address what the institution is least willing to see. The problem with prophets is that they are unreliable and cannot be counted upon to show up when you need.

According to Mark, Jesus had Authority, not as the Scribes, who parsed their words and justified everything they did. What is wonderful about this teaching, is that in demonstration of the authority of Jesus, a man comes into the synagogue, and the man is troubled by an evil spirit. In Modern times, we would prescribe that he needs Medication. In Medieval times they would have prescribed Magic, an incantation. But instead of either, Jesus provides a Miracle. Rather than a potion, or incantation, Jesus responds to the man who is suffering and has compassion on him.

Years ago, my brother got married in Florida. While ministers tend to have a file of wedding stories, often the stories from their own family are the worst. Everything about the occasion was a disaster. The best man missed his flight. Every member of the Bridal party except the Bride and Groom came down with the flu. While we had all travelled to Florida for the occasion, it rained the entire time. We ordered roses and champagne to be delivered to the Bride and Groom and the bellhop pocketed the money. During the evening's festivities instead of sitting and talking with the 97 year old grandmother, people got her one vodka tonic after another. Later that night, in their room, the grandmother fell and cut her arm. Smelling the alcohol on her, my aunt who had become a charismatic preacher began trying to exorcise the demons out of the grandmother. When the ambulance had taken them to the hospital, I went and spent the night holding the grandmother's hand as she waited to be stitched up. While her skin was paper thin, the cut was not deep or in any way dirty. While she had had far too much to drink, that too would pass. What she needed and wanted most was simply to hold the hand of someone who cared.

While we want to affirm that Jesus' authority comes from God, and that his authority is demonstrated in caring for the man, we cannot avoid what is identified in this story, that there is evil. We tend to dismiss such things today, but the presence of evil is real and destructive, especially to those who try the hardest and are most alone. What I have come to experience is not so much that one person is holy and another evil, as there are times when we allow ourselves to be conduits for one or the other. Times when it is not we who are speaking, as saying things we wish we had not, or that somehow we were in the right place at the right time to say what otherwise would not have been said. The only thing I know to have been different at those times, has been that when speaking evil, it often comes in the heat of the moment without thinking, and there is a feeling like watching yourself, hearing yourself say what you know you should not. And when speaking prophetically, often there has been a moment, just a moment when you try to collect yourself and all you can think is “Lord may the words of my mouth be acceptable to You.”

As often as we celebrate the Sacraments in the life of the Church, when in Baptism we come to the words of Institution, I am humbled and shudder at saying “All Authority is upon me and has been given that you should go forth and baptize.”
The question this morning, as we consider what responsibilities we each shall take on, how differently we might be led than the stayed institutions, is whether we have been given authority? And Immediately, what we will do.