Last week we explored a subversive story Jesus told about laborers in a vineyard, in which those hired last got paid the same as those who worked all day. After telling this tale, he healed two blind men. This was all a bit much for the religious leaders whom he was always skewering; they had to confront him.
“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” they ask him.
(This week's passage is here.)
Authority. We live by it. We order our lives by it. And sometimes we expend considerable energy flouting it. Often, the less of it we have, the more we want to be sure other people know it – observe some maîtres d or train conductors as they wield their very limited power over others.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day held authority by virtue of their positions in the temple, or were given it for their reputation as teachers. But their authority was very limited. The occupying Romans allowed a nominal Jewish king and religious life to continue to exercise power, but only under their close and watchful eye. Any affront to the temple council’s position as leaders of Jewish life threatened to undermine the whole system. That is one reason they were so antagonistic toward Jesus and his followers. Their question really was: “Who said you could come in here to our temple, teach and preach and flout our Sabbath laws and heal people right and left? Who do you think you are?”
Jesus doesn’t answer them directly in this instance, but usually his answer came down to one thing: My authority is from God. Which is fine, if you believe Jesus is intimately connected to God, and not so fine if you believe he’s a deluded fool, at best, and a master manipulator at worst. What Jesus cited as evidence for his claim was his works, his very miracles. In John 10:36-38, he says to the leaders,
“Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
Who's in charge of your life? Does God have authority for you? How do you feel it? In the evidence you’ve experienced of God’s activity? In the Bible? The sacraments? In your personal relationship with God in prayer? In the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in you, in your church? Take some time to reflect on this – it helps when we’re talking to others about our spiritual life to know where our faith is grounded.
I confess I cannot imagine a relationship with God in which we see ourselves on equal footing – the whole revelation Jesus unfolded, and which we’ve been unpacking ever since, assumes that we honor God’s authority over us, over life itself. How does that sit with you? Is it a relief or a burden?
We no longer live in an age when something is considered true just because the church says so, even for church-goers. But Christ-followers were never meant to promote a set of ideas – we are invited to make known a risen Jesus who said he was Truth, Truth made personal, Truth made knowable. As we keep getting to know him and making him known, we will find just how free we can be under authority.
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