Real Authority
This week’s scripture reading finds Jesus teaching with authority in the synagogue and casting out an unclean spirit. I remember those years when the kids played community sports. There is the season I got roped into coaching a team, even though I knew I was not well suited to the task. I was right. I remember the many other seasons of sitting in “the stands,” encouraging our children and our team. I remember the sometimes confused faces of players when their parents' instructions contradicted those of the coach. It would cause distraction that detracted from the teams performance. The kids would eventually respond to the coach. The coach was the real authority here, and the team is the community I am responsible to here. Kids understand, whether they could explain it or not.
It’s not a bad analogy for our relationship to Jesus. It’s not a bad analogy for our relationship to the church. But there is more to “coaching,” more to “learning the game,” than any one particular moment or play. Coaching includes things like teaching and reinforcing the rules, developing a style or philosophy of game play that fits the skills and personality of the team, and setting priorities that extend beyond a single game or practice. Are we here the develop our skills? To have fun? To learn teamwork? To win? Well, all of them, but what is our overarching, guiding priority for gathering and playing together?
In theology, we call that overarching, guiding priority(s) a hermeneutic. I often find myself reaching in my back pocket for a hermeneutic in exciting moments like the one in today’s scripture. That hermeneutic will help me keep my head in the game in those moments of excitement or distraction, whether positive or negative. You have heard my hermeneutic more than once: Our God is a God of infinite love, healing grace and radical hospitality. That is the kind of people are called to be in God’s world.
Take a moment this week, and think about your own hermeneutic.
Personally, what does it mean to be a Christian? What kind of person does your faith call you to be?
As a congregation, what does it mean to be Christian? What kind of community are we called to be? Regularly reflecting on these questions, will help us recognize and respond to the real authority of Jesus, in moments exciting and mundane alike.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan