Christ As A Study in Authority and Power

18 Pentecost, a p 21, October 1, 2023
Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32

Lectionary Link

The Christian presentation of God is ironically about the voluntary weakness of God.  And this might seem oxymoronic since the definitional essence of God would mean that God has no rival in power and authority.

Our common notion of power and authority involve persons or entities which are able to dominate, suppress, oppress, intervene anywhere at will and enforce their willful desires upon anyone.  This means our common notion of power means being able to be an individual or a corporate tyrant.

Certainly Machiavelli tried to dress up the ugliness of a tyrant's power with appearances of power diplomacy but the common political meaning of power, is how to get one's power goals by any means possible.

God in Christ in the presentation of his life is a very counter notion of power and authority.

The Gospel interlocutors asked Jesus by what authority he was doing what he did, in his teaching and in his healing, and in his new presentation of what God wants of us.  How Jesus answered was by implying that the authority healing is in effect upon the person healed and the authority of teaching in the enlightening effect upon the learners life.  He did this by asking them about the authority of John the Baptist.  The ministry of John the Baptist had gained a crowd and the success of baptism and repentance in the lives of people was a legitimizing authority and it was so significant that the interlocutors of Jesus did not want to question the authority of John's success.

Where then does authority come from?  It comes from doing the will of God.  Not saying that we will do the right things, but actually doing what is right.  The parable of Jesus indicates that there were people who could not get their words and deeds to line up.  Some said that they would do right but didn't, others initially said they would not do what is right, but then became converted to do what was right.  There is an authority which comes in doing what is right.

The location of where authority is found is in will to act.  What is the crucial feature of authority?  The freedom to act.

And this brings us to the ironic authority and power of God in Christ as it is expressed the famous hymn found in the letter to the Philippians.   The authority of the divine is seen in being emptied into the experience of the human person Jesus.  This bespeaks the voluntary weakness of God in being submitted to the free conditions of living within an incredible field of probabilities.  And one probability was the God-human being completely emptied into the experience of death, the seeming state of having no authority, no power, in the state of lifelessness.  The weakness of God is the power of a totally free Being, God, sharing a degree of freedom with everyone and everything and submitting to those very conditions of freedom.  This is what accounts for moral significance, the honoring of the true conditions of freedom in this life.  This is what makes human choices truly worth something.

And now we are called to the same ironic power of God in Christ.  Where we have power, knowledge, and wealth, we are not suppose to grasp equality with these symbols of power as our identity; rather we are to empty the power, knowledge, and wealth into service on behalf of those who don't have enough.  The witness of Christ to power is to equalize the spread of dignity among the people of the world through knowledge, sharing of wealth, and the empowerment of the value of their lives for the well being of the community.

Just as the power of Christ seemed to be nothing compared with the Caesar and the agents of the Roman Empire, today we have the same situation for those who advocate Christly power.  The tyrants and the hoarding greedy wealthy and fame hounds seem to define what power and authority mean today.  Meanwhile in myriads of ways countless numbers of people are using their power to empower other people through plain everyday ordinary service.  It may not be flashy or noticed but every child who gets tended to exemplifies the kind of power of the humility of Christ who always, everywhere inspires sacrificial service.

We live in this weakness of God, which is known as the sacrificial power of service to others to equalize the spread of manifold gifts which are present within this world.  This sacrificial power is known and manifested in the freedom to do the will God, which is the promotion of love and justice in this world.  Let us discover this emptying grace which gives us the power over selfishness and impels us to serve those in need.  Amen.