Challenging Authority

Mark 1:21-28

Exorcism at the Synagogue in Capernaum, Unknown Artist 11th Century

A federal agent walked onto a ranch one day to execute a search warrant after receiving information that there were illegal drugs being grown on the rancher’s property. 

The rancher read the search warrant carefully as he flicked a corn stalk back and forth to the opposite corners of his mouth. 

After signing the search warrant and handing it back to the agent, he pushed up his broad brimmed hat and said, “I guess you can go wherever ya want, but don’t go rummaging in that field over yonder.”

The agent, offended by the rancher’s instructions thrust his finger into the the man’s chest and held up his badge in the other hand exclaiming,

“You see this badge here! This badge and this warrant say that I have the authority to go wherever and search whatever I want on this property! Do you understand me?!”

“Well… yes sir… but…”, replied the rancher.

“No, I don’t think you understand me…”, replied the agent, 

“…. this badge and this warrant say that I am the authority here right now, am I clear?”

The rancher plopped down into a rocking chair on his porch and folded his hands behind his head as he acknowledged the agent stating, “Crystal clear sir, you are the authority”.

As the rancher relaxed under the shade of his porch, rocking back and forth, he heard a blood curdling scream about five minutes later. 

He stood up on the porch and watched as that agent sprinted across the open field that he had asked the agent not to search.

He was being chased by a nearly 2,000 pound bull. 

The rancher ran to the agent’s aid, jumping up onto the fence and shouting, 

“Yer warrant and yer badge, show him, quick!”

Photo by zelle duda on Unsplash

Authority is a peculiar thing. 

Those who either avoid or are incapable of sitting in positions of authority, can usually avoid confrontation. 

In fact, many who do not find themselves in authoritative positions can lead relatively quiet or even unnoticed lives. 

Believe it or not, I am a much more introverted person than most of you may realize. 

I envy those who can live their lives unnoticed, avoiding confrontation. 

But in every walk of life, I have reluctantly found myself called to varying positions of authority.

Most often, many of those positions seemed a lot more ideal before they were awarded. 

And when I landed squarely in such a position, I was always immediately thrust into the spotlight, EXACTLY where I did not want to be. 

And when you live in a fishbowl, everyone sees your flaws and the challengers always come out of the woodwork. 

It is why I find the Gospel story from Mark so intriguing. 

Jesus has never struck me as a man seeking authority, power, or fame.

Yet, he finds himself in a position where he may not be seeking trouble, but trouble has found him. 

Because authority has been and always will be something that people are drawn to resent. 

The advantage held by those who do not seek to gain authority is that authority does not end up defining them. 

Those who find themselves called to positions of authority without seeking after it, are usually defined by who they are and the gifts that God has given them rather than the position that they find themselves in. 

This is just such a case with Jesus in our Gospel today. 

Jesus’ authority is not derived from the opinions and powers of man. He does not hold an authority that is rooted in the views of the majority or any other worldly precedent. 

Jesus’ authority is derived from the exact title the man names when confronting Jesus. 

He just IS the Holy One of God, pure and simple. 

He knows that this is who he is and what he is called to be, for better or for worse. 

That is what defines him, not the roles and titles of this world. 

Now, in Jesus’ day that was a peculiar thing to be defined by who you are, what God has called you to, first and foremost above and beyond all other things. 

For that matter, it is a peculiar thing for any day and age. 

After all, how many of us list child of God on our resumes?

Synagogue in Capernaum today
Photo by Phil Goodwin on Unsplash

Another theme we find in the Gospels, especially in Mark, is that Jesus is given many opportunities to get off the path he is on. 

He can avoid his own trial and crucifixion. He can avoid the fate that lies before him. 

This is a temptation that is presented time and again, but here we find it presented for the first time in Mark’s account. 

This man who challenges Jesus uses a Greek idiom that is found both here and in John 2:4.

In John’s gospel, it is Jesus’ response to his mother’s observation that the wedding banquet at Cana is running very low on wine. 

Jesus responds using this same phrase by asking her, “What’s this got to do with you and me?”

Now, there can be arguments for different translations and interpretations of all kinds of scripture but given the common use of this phrase, I find it hard to believe the threatening tone we all want to envision coming from some demon man. 

It is most certainly a challenge that is being made, but not necessarily a threatening challenge. 

It is a challenge to live a life away from the fishbowl, the criticisms, the confrontations. 

The proclamation being made is not just “What have you to do with us?”, but it is the challenge to abandon the authority Jesus has been called to, abandoning this role to teach, share, and call all people to God. 

It is a challenge to live the quiet life that is craved by those who avoid authoritative roles, a chance to “let sleeping dogs lie”.

Perhaps that American idiom could be used in place of the Greek idiom we heard today. 

There must certainly be a temptation to avoid the position of authority Jesus is called to, or to use it to his benefit. 

As humanity we have a tendency to gravitate to one of those two options.

But as we have already heard, Jesus is not just any man and he is not just any authority. He is God’s authority. 

Photo by Ruthson Zimmerman on Unsplash

Growing up, my father taught me a lot of things. 

One of the things my father taught me was how to tie a tie, how to wear a suit, iron a shirt, and shine a pair of shoes. 

He wanted to instill in me an understanding of what it meant to look like a professional and carry oneself as a gentleman. 

I recall the first time I ever wore a tuxedo. I couldn’t stop looking in the mirror, admiring myself. 

After about my fourth glance into the mirror, my father pulled me aside and informed me,  “You wear the suit, the suit doesn’t wear you.”

That little piece of advice stuck with me. 

It’s why I try to avoid telling my wife she looks good in anything, because no dress should ever make my wife look good. 

My wife can only make a nice dress look better!

The clothes we wear, the roles we play, the titles and authority we hold are not meant to be what define us. 

It is the gifts given by God and the roles God calls us to that define us, whether those gifts and roles are what we want for ourselves or not. 

If we live into the gifts God has given and seek the roles God has called us to, they become extensions of God’s will through our own lives, unlike the kind of authority we oftentimes seek for our own advantage or advancement. 

Authority that is often abused. 

Authority that is not a reflection of God’s will for this world. 

Authority that is so often hidden behind by demanding respect for the title, when the individual behind it does not have confidence in the gifts they’ve been given. 

That is the kind of authority we find most often awarded in this world, but that is why Jesus’ authority in our Gospel today is a model to us all. 

The clothes Jesus is wearing do not define him. 

The clothing of his flesh and blood in that human frame nor any earthly title, 

Rabbi, Messiah, King, Lord…

That isn’t what makes Jesus THE Holy One of God. 

It is just who he is, and it is an authority he follows because God called him to it. 

When God calls us to a role, we should answer that call. 

We should face the challenges and challengers it attracts.

Because true authority does not shy away from a challenge. 

True authority should always be confident and open to the scrutiny and questions of this world. 

Photo by Stefan Kunze on Unsplash

Each year, as our confirmands begin to study, we talk about the modern challenges to the Church. 

Challenges that are directed towards our beliefs on the grounds of science, reason, archeology.

Understandings of the world that do not contradict God's Church, but compliment the Church because they too, even when presented by those who challenge, are gifts from God that deepen our understanding and faith. 

The conversations are pretty uncomfortable for most, at least initially. 

But it is an exercise in exploring how confident we are in the authority God has handed us through God’s Word. 

It is also a challenge to seek out the synagogues and towns around our own Galilees, sharing our faith in places where they will be questioned and challenged. 

It is a challenge to keep our doors open to those unsure of the message we have been given, hearing it for the first time, or maybe just not quite sure how much of it they can fully “buy into.”

Because we are not called to hide behind the title of Church, we are called to be the Church. 

A Church that doesn’t shy away from the challengers who question the faith we find, but a Church that calls all people to know the God whose authority was not hidden from the world.

It was an authority displayed fully on that cross so all challengers could know the kind of love that authority has brought to us all. 

Amen.