Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32
Grace and Peace to you from God, our Creator, Savior and Spirit, Amen
“I fight authority, authority always wins… I fight authority, authority always wins… I’ve been doing it since I was a young kid, I’ve come out grinnin’... I fight authority and authority always wins” And so go the words to the 80’s song aptly named, “Authority Song” by John Mellencamp.
I was barely around in the 80’s, to the point that I was younger than Bridget is now, when the epic decade of the 90’s began. Yes, I’m that young. And to that point, I am as young as some of you were when your generation was fighting authority. It must be something about being in your 20s and 30s…
I’ve been watching the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick documentary, The Vietnam War on PBS. Actually, it’s been on the PBS App with my Chromecast, but you know… I am a Millennial. Talk about generations fighting authority… A man once told me that if someone remembers the 60s - then they weren’t really living it.
It’s good to be watching it now, I never learned much about the war or much around the state of the world during that time period. It’s this time in our nation when those of us who weren’t around then can look at it and say… “what were we thinking?!” But then look at the current world around us and say again… “what are we thinking??!”
I’m pretty sure this documentary series has been in the making for many years, but I almost wonder at how serendipitous it is for the series to be shown in this climate. A president put into office in extraordinary circumstances, who listens to all the wrong voices and then begins to only listen to his own voice… Who disregards actual poll numbers, with a changing of the staff, who swears and says inappropriate things off the cuff… Aaaand, the comparisons between presidents can stop there. But the climate - political unrest, seemingly divided beyond any measure, chaos in the streets, protests everywhere, endless wars both foreign and domestic… Increased militarization, racial tension, even a fight for voting rights and continued conversation about modern segregation and modern slavery… You wanna talk about authority… what authority?
What authority did Jesus have? The chief priests of the temple were asking Jesus how he could do and say the things he did. Did they come from God? Or was John the Baptizer just full of himself? What gave Jesus the right to barge into their reality and start messing things up? Taking a stand against their injustice, whether intentionally or not. What gave Jesus the right? He should feel privileged enough just to stand in a temple, to be in Jerusalem - let alone preach in the streets… let alone question their own authority… Jesus could heal and feed people in his own time, in the private spaces of their homes. He didn’t have to do it in front of people. He didn’t have to inspire others to… Go and do likewise… What gave Jesus the right?
What gave Jesus the right - to proclaim to the world that the way the Empire was doing things, how the authority of the land was actually no authority at all - and this would soon get him killed - that the only authority that anyone should observe is God’s authority.
This congregation held their own authority when you decided to call an openly lesbian pastor seven years before you’d actually be able to. When you decided to open your doors to the Togolese people, when you decided to donate your time and resources to community efforts to quell homelessness. When you decided to open your doors and hearts to a Transgender intern and their family, and many other openly queer leaders along the way… As a congregation, you fight against other authorities and hold your own authority. What gives you the right? What gives you the right to say that these out-of-the-ordinary realities are an integral part of this congregation’s vitality? On whose authority are you able to do this?
Whose authority? God’s authority. Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You are part of the largest Lutheran denomination in the country. You celebrate the memory and teach the teachings of a law-school dropout, who nearly 500 years ago questioned the Pope’s authority. And with it began the revolution that propelled many reformers to re-form the Church, throughout those 500 years. So many bold and powerful leaders to stand up and say in a loud voice, we are part of God’s Church, and you are all Saved by Grace through Faith.
The Gospel of Matthew isn’t really the Gospel where Jesus steps over all the authority, for that Gospel you’ll have to wait until Mark starts in Advent. But Matthew says enough. Earlier this week, I was in Okoboji, Iowa for the Southwest Minnesota Synod’s Fall Theological Conference. Also known as a few days where most of the pastors of the ELCA’s southwestern Minnesota congregations - gather for fellowship, learning, and maybe even some rest. Our first speaker was Dr. Karoline Lewis of Luther Seminary - my preaching professor once upon a time. Dr. Lewis talked about the differences in the Gospels, why the Gospel of John was her favorite, and when a text comes up in the lectionary - you have the authority to preach it. The measure of a “good” sermon for her - isn’t necessarily on how it sounds to people - but how faithful it is to the text and God’s message. That even when some texts appear in the lectionary that might be hard to preach on - that we as preachers have the authority to preach on it.
That was a good reminder for me, because I fear that I may not have the authority to tell anyone to do anything… Or suggest or implore or… what authority do I have? Many people my age, my generation of Millennials - may talk about upending authority, may even get something accomplished on that front - but when it comes down to it… Some of us feel like we don’t have our own authority. Who are we to talk to someone like this? To stand in front of you and proclaim the Gospel? To stand at someone’s bedside or baptize a child or offer forgiveness or preside over communion or even officiate at weddings… The inability to imagine ourselves as people of authority… is something called “Imposter Syndrome” - and it’s real.
When I first started in ministry, I had no idea what I was doing. I had the possibility of having some type of authority, and I didn’t know how to wield it, or even if it was truly there. And I struggled with that for many years. I still struggle with it. Who am I to be doing this?
And then I go back to the thought of generations questioning authority, and maybe we all do at some point… Maybe we all ask ourselves, why am I doing this? And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we all need a little check-in, to give us a little humility. Maybe that’s our midwestern humility, the “Minnesota Nice-ness” of us.
Because in the end, we know that many decisions just aren’t up to us. Many realities, many questions in our head about what goes where, who goes where, why things happen the way they do, why one-in-a-million possibilities happen at the wrong time to the wrong people… Aren’t up to anybody. Maybe there are realities that even God has no control over.
Jesus was being questioned as to who gave Jesus the right to do the things he did, say the things he did… and he gave a parable that is one of those head-scratchers… but ultimately knowing that if anybody had authority, it was God.
So when a nation upends over who should protest the country and who can’t, and why they can’t and how they can’t and where they can’t… When the country looks for a moral authority and that authority isn’t the one in charge… When landscapes are destroyed and help is hard to come by… Where is the authority?
Perhaps when we feel distraught, upended in our own lives, we just need a retreat of our own, even if it’s in our minds. Prayer is good for that. Prayer is there to help calm our minds when all else is failing, when our own authority is in question… We have to remember, and hold on to the promise that God’s got this, that God is the authority, that we are all saved from our own doubts, pain and sorrow by the one who overcame death and darkness for the life and light for us all.
Because John Mellencamp might have been right - when you fight authority, God’s authority - always wins.
Amen
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