The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. Year B

Speaking with Authority

Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

During the season of Epiphany, we have explored the many ways and times that God calls us, not only on a personal level, but also as a Church, and as a nation. The readings this week continue the theme of call, as they explore how God speaks to us through other people. They speak to us of authority. How do we determine God’s truth? How do we determine who is speaking with integrity?

I came to a new realization about what authority meant a number of years ago when I participated in a healing circle. I was the only non-aboriginal person in the group. We sat in the circle and when we wished to speak we picked up a stone from the centre of the circle and as long as we held the stone we could speak. Many people spoke of their past hurts and anger. I picked up the stone and found myself talking about my experience teaching in a residential school, about my sincerity and sense of mission in going to the north, and at my hurt and confusion and anger at the injustice of it all. I said that I expected that they would feel nothing but contempt and anger for me. I put the stone back. The Elder, an old woman, picked it up. She went back and sat in silence for some time. Then she let out a whoop and returned the stone to its place. Another woman began to speak. She told me that the Elder spoke for all of them. They could hear the authenticity of what I spoke, that it came from the heart, and that I was their sister. It was an ‘aha’ moment for me as I realized that in that one rather primal yell they had recognized her authority.

The question of authority was critical for the people of Israel. Prophets and priests claimed to speak and act in accordance with God’s will, and yet conflicts and disputes arose. They grappled with how God speaks us. They settled on certain criteria. The prophet needed to be an Israelite. He was called to speak as God commanded, and then what was spoken had to be realized in the events that ensued. It needed to be confirmed.

We sometimes have the wrong idea about prophecy. We think that it is about foretelling the future. But it is far from that. The word prophecy comes from the Greek, προφετεσ, "one who speaks before others." It is a translation from Hebrew meaning “one called to speak aloud". The prophets were called to speak aloud, to speak what had been discerned through the closeness of their walk with God. A prophet was one who listened to God. Their call was to speak with authority. The root of the word, authority, is literally “to make to grow”. What they said should help people grow in the way in which God intended.

Perhaps a look at the prophets of our age can give us some insight. In my first parish was such a person. He worked in a much-maligned occupation. He was a meteorologist who worked at predicting the weather. I recall an interesting story that he once told me.

It seems that when the Pope was planning his trip to Los Angeles he wanted to know what the weather would be like. A weather consultant was hired by the Vatican to make some recommendations. He looked at the last thirty years of weather in Los Angeles at the same time of year as the Pope's visit was to take place. He came back and said to the Pope, "At the time of your visit it is likely to be very hot and dry." The Pope made his plans accordingly and the trip went off as expected.

Farmers' Almanacs work on the same premise. They look back about thirty years and make a prediction based on reasonable expectations. Of course, with Global warming bringing with it violent storms and unpredictable weather, it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict with any degree of certainty.

Parents do exactly the same thing. Your child comes to you asking permission to do something. Based on your own experience you know what will happen. You say no and give a reasonable explanation about why. There are the usual arguments. And if you do give in and the outcome is as you predicted, with any luck your child will come to you and say: "How did you know?" However, it will more likely be twenty years later when they are dealing with their own children.

Scripture too looks at past history. So often the story begins with God recounting to a prophet all that God has accomplished for God's people in the past. "Wasn't I with you at the Red Sea? Did I not provide you with manna in the desert? Now go and tell my people...” and the prophet is able to speak with authority. "Thus says the Lord:” The prophet is able to challenge the people on a moral level. He is able to speak what needs to be heard in the light of past experience.

Authority on ethical decisions comes about in a similar way. For example, the people of Corinth, including the Christian community bought groceries in the little shops in the market. Much of the meat was the produce of the local temples. The sacrificial animals and birds were sold. That presented an ethical dilemma for the Christians. Should they eat meat that had been dedicated to a pagan God? They tried to reason. Idols are not real. Nothing has happened to the meat. Just eat it! What difference could it possibly make? Paul gives them a reason to reconsider. If it is a stumbling block to someone, then your decision is a bad one. Ethical decisions should result in doing the loving thing. If your action causes someone to feel a sense of guilt, then you need to reconsider so that the person is not hurt by your decision. A good example might be in the use of alcohol. If I am with someone who is an alcoholic and I drink, then I may be contributing to that person’s problem. I would be better to refrain from drinking. Even though what I am doing is perfectly reasonable, I should limit my freedom for the better good. I should do the loving thing.

Jesus was known as one who could speak with authority. Hearing him speak in the temple gave people an understanding of their potential, of the possibilities. He did not talk down to them. He treated them as friends and equals. He taught them to be realistic about themselves. He helped them to know that God had called them to greater things than they could imagine. His authority made them do what all authority should do. It helped them grow.

Sometimes the person who bears authority is misunderstood. It was so with Jesus. A demented heckler shrieked at Jesus at the top of his voice. Jesus confronted the situation. He healed the person.

This scene is not as foreign to us as it seems. It is played out in our modern world. Jesus was saying something new. New things are often exciting, but at the same time they can seem threatening. Those who bear the prophetic word, those who advocate change, are often rejected or even attacked for their beliefs. The attack on such people can become quite personal. A spirit of open communication is essential in living out our life as a church community.

So what does it mean to this parish as you say goodbye to your priest? What is the prophetic word that you need to hear and share? What disappointments and brokenness does this parish face? What fears need to be assuaged? Our lives are filled with such times. God does not stay away from us because of our challenges and shortcomings. God uses them to come closer to us, to draw us closer. So let us look outward at the brokenness we see in our families, in our friends, and most of all in our congregation. Let us ask ourselves how God might be choosing us to work through us to bring new life into the situation. God continues to use us to further God’s kingdom. Thanks be to God!

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Beyond Call

Readings: Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 51; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12

During the season of Epiphany the readings focus on God’s call to us. It is a call that goes beyond giving gifts to God. It is a call to give of our deepest selves. That is very much reflected in the readings for this particular Sunday.

The Old Testament reading begins with a courtroom scene; God is the prosecutor and the mountains are the judges. God is upset that despite all of God’s generosity and grace, the people of Israel have turned away. Micah reminds the people of how blessed they have been by God’s grace. And then he asks them a question. “What does the Lord require of you?” Not waiting for their answer, he follows it with a very succinct and poignant response. “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.” It is the call of the people of Israel. It is the call of the Christian, yet it goes far beyond even the Christian call. It touches our deepest humanity. It is a call to social responsibility, to the kind of personal behaviour and interior spirituality that epitomizes ethical living. What God requires goes beyond the norms of everyday living, of society. God requires people to turn their lives around, to live their lives differently.

Micah has so much to say to us today. He reminds us that, although it is a sign of spiritual awareness, it is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to have the outward trappings of religion. Our lives must reflect our relationship to God. If we truly want to worship God it must show in our daily lives, not simply in our practice of worship. Our lives must reflect that desire to live justly, to do the loving thing.

Furthermore, for Micah it has nothing to do with religious rituals. No animal sacrifice could begin to make a difference. It has to do with a sacrifice of the heart and the spirit. It has to do with the way we live our lives. It has to do with the change that takes place in our lives when we decide to follow God.

The Gospel also reflects that need to change the way we live our lives. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaims a new way of living, a new character of faith. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says knowing that the poor in spirit already belong in the kingdom of God. They are the ones who know that the kingdom of God is not yet fully realized here on earth. They know that society leaves out too many people. There are too many who suffer, who starve and who are abused.

The poor in spirit are the ones who want to change all that. They want a world where justice reigns. They want to put an end to injustice. They want a world that is free of weeping and arrogance, of homelessness, injustice, darkness and war. They look out on our world and weep. They weep for those who will go hungry this day. They weep for those who languish unjustly in prison. They weep for those shot down on our city streets. They weep for the child abused by a parent. They weep for the family in turmoil. They weep for the denuding of our forests and the polluting of our waters. They weep for those who are excluded because of the perceptions of those around them.

“Blessed are the meek,” Jesus says. Doesn’t that contradict everything that the world stands for? To the world the meek are the ones that get walked all over. It challenges the world’s moral values. The very ones the world dismisses as unrealistic and naïve become the radical subversives who can change the world into a place of peace and justice. They are the advocates for the poor and for those in need. In terms of Christian faith a seeming defeat emerges to be the great moral victory of history, inspiring and calling people in every age to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Our Christian faith searches for the paradox at the heart of everything. The unimportant becomes important. The marginal becomes central. Think of the blessing that the Martin Luther King’s of this world bring to society. The course of action of the meek is often the most courageous. It is often the most effective as well. While God will use those with gifts, the powerful and influential, the bright and talented, it is often the rejected, the despised, the imprisoned, the martyred who become real instruments of God’s peace in the world.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”, Jesus says. And I wonder, do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness or do I find excuses and simply look the other way? Do I assume that it is not up to me, that someone else will look after things, make certain that justice is served? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness, or am I indifferent to the suffering I see around me? Do I avoid becoming too caught up in it? Do I keep silent when I see injustice so that I do not offend those around me?

The message of the beatitudes is not for the past. It is not for some distant future. It is relevant to the present moment. We are called to trust in God in difficult circumstances. They are unavoidable in our lives. There will always be times of difficulty, for it is part of the human condition. The beatitudes help us, not simply to endure life’s difficult times, but to accept and live a sustaining relationship with God throughout our whole lives. This was never more true than at this moment. In Africa, in Asia and the Middle East millions of our fellow human beings suffer disease, privation and the effects of war and natural disasters we have never experienced, let alone imagine. Many of our First Nations People live in poverty in the midst of our plenty.

That call to give of our deepest selves is reflected in our Baptismal covenant. Can you hear Micah’s powerful words reflected as we make this promise? “Will you strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being?” What a challenge that presents to us!

We know that to live as Micah proclaims is to live as God would have us live. We know in our hearts that what Jesus is saying calls us to change our lives. It calls us to the sense of joy that comes with serving God. It calls us to see our sacrifice of love as the way in which we serve God and bring about God’s kingdom of peace. And there lies the challenge! For to even come close to living our lives that way we will have to make changes. We will have to make a commitment to follow God and live our lives in a way that reflects God’s love. We will see it in the face of Jesus. We will want it in our own lives.

Sunday by Sunday we gather at the table. We break bread. We share the cup of salvation. As we do so we see foreshadowed the gathering of the hungry, the poor, the marginalized in the kingdom of God. As we come forward to receive the body and blood of Christ, we are responding to the altar call. We are committing ourselves to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” Amen

The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Speaking with Authority

Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

During the season of Epiphany, we have been exploring the many ways and times that God calls us, not only on a personal level, but also as a Church, and as a nation. The readings this week continue the theme of call as they explore how God speaks to us through other people. They explore the whole concept of authority. How do we determine God’s truth? How do we determine who is speaking with integrity?

The question of authority was critical for the Hebrew people. Prophets and priests claimed to speak and act in accordance with God’s will, and yet conflicts and disputes arose. They grappled with how God speaks to us. Moses wanted the people to know that God did not speak through magic, but through discernment. They settled on three criteria. First of all, the prophet needed to be an Israelite. Secondly, he was called to speak as God commanded, and finally what was spoken had to be realized in the events that ensued. It needed to be confirmed. That is an important distinction when it comes to discerning authority. Prophecy is not about foretelling the future; it is about having insights, discernment into how God leads us.

I came to a new realization about what authority meant a number of years ago when I participated in a healing circle. I was the only non-aboriginal person in the group. We sat in the circle and when we wished to speak we picked up a stone from the centre of the circle and as long as we held the stone we could speak. Many people spoke of their past hurts and anger. I picked up the stone and found myself talking about my experience teaching in a residential school, about my sincerity and sense of mission in going to the north, and at my hurt and confusion and anger at the injustice of it all. I said that I expected that they would feel nothing but contempt and anger for me. I put the stone back. The Elder, an old woman, a survivor of the Residential School system, picked it up. She went back and sat in silence for some time. Then she let out a whoop and returned the stone to its place. Another woman picked up the stone and began to speak. She told me that the Elder spoke for all of them. They could hear the authenticity of what I spoke, that it came from the heart, and that I was their sister. It was an ‘aha’ moment for me as I realized that in that one rather primal yell they had recognized her authority.

I do not wish to oversimplify it, but we Anglicans rest our authority on a tripod of Scripture, tradition and reason. Our religious experience is described in Scripture. It is defined in our creeds and in theological study, but most importantly it is lived out in our lives. I have always held dear the idea that to hold Christian faith does not mean parking my brains at the door, but rather using all the tools of my faith to make a reasonable decision.

That becomes helpful when we look at ethical dilemmas such as the one faced by the Christians at Corinth. The people of Corinth, including the Christian community bought groceries in the little shops in the marketplace. Much of the meat was the produce of the local temples. The sacrificial animals and birds were sold. That presented an ethical dilemma for the Christians. Should they eat meat that had been dedicated to a pagan God? They tried to reason. Idols are not real. Nothing has happened to the meat. Just eat it! What difference could it possibly make? Paul gives them a reason to reconsider. If it is a stumbling block to someone, then your decision is a bad one. Ethical decisions should result in doing the loving thing. If your action causes someone to feel a sense of guilt, then you need to reconsider so that the person is not hurt by your decision. A good example might be in the use of alcohol. If I am with someone who is an alcoholic and I drink, then I may be contributing to that person’s problem. I would be better to refrain from drinking. Even though what I am doing is perfectly reasonable, I should limit my freedom for the better good. I should do the loving thing.

That reasoned faith becomes helpful as well with some of the ethical dilemmas that face us today, such things as gay marriage that have the potential of causing rifts in our communion. Our authority when it comes to ethical decisions must come from within. We cannot use Scripture as a proof text. That can be ambiguous because it means that our standards are determined in each situation by what we understand to be the most loving thing to do. It means we must be open to the promptings of the Spirit and the guidance of God. Our Church is learning to do that while being cognizant that other parts of the Communion may not be in the same place that we are.

Jesus was known as one who could speak with authority. Hearing him speak in the temple gave people an understanding of their potential, of the possibilities. He did not talk down to them. He treated them as friends and equals. He taught them to be realistic about themselves. He helped them to know that God had called them to greater things than they could imagine. His authority made them do what all authority should do. It helped them grow.

Sometimes the person who bears authority is misunderstood. It was so with Jesus. A demented heckler shrieked at Jesus at the top of his voice. Jesus confronted the situation. He healed the person.

This scene is not as foreign to us as it seems. It is played out in our modern world. Jesus was saying something new. New things are often exciting, but at the same time they can seem threatening. Those who bear the prophetic word, those who advocate change, are often rejected or even attacked for their beliefs. The person who embodies the new can be regarded as the enemy to be defeated at all costs. The attack on such people can become quite personal. It happened to Moses. It happened to Jesus. It happens in parishes when the congregation becomes convinced that the bringer of new things is out to destroy the life of the parish. Such attitudes need to be challenged, gently, kindly, but challenged just the same. A spirit of open communication is essential in living out our life as a church community.

Perhaps the most challenging and transforming call of Christ when it comes to authority is that we must learn to give up our own freedom and power for the sake of others. We church folk tend to hold on to power. We do not want things to change. After all, we are the ones who have supported the church with our wealth. Don’t we deserve to have the same liturgies that have sustained us through our own lives? We want the same hymns. We want to hear the same comfortable words. If they come to our church we want children to be seen but not heard. We want newcomers, but we want them to be just like us, upholding the traditions that we hold dear.

If we are truly following Christ and are committed to the Mission of the Church, if we wish to bear the prophetic word, if we wish to answer God’s call to bring healing, then we must be follow the authority of our Saviour who was the servant of all.