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By What Authority Do You Do These Things?This question, put to Jesus by the religious leaders, is reported in three Gospels, all of them reporting it virtually identically. That tells us something. Mainly, the importance of the instance must have been fairly well-known, easily remembered, and must also have been part of the stories of Jesus circulating by word of mouth, and doing so pretty extensively. Otherwise the Gospel writers might have felt free to tinker with the story a little, like they did on so many other occasions. Note also that Jesus answers the question by asking a question in return. This happens more than once in the stories of Jesus’ life and all of the reports indicate that the usual setting constituted a verbal trap; the leaders wanted to trip him up. He avoids it each time, and each time asks a question himself, in response, which turns the tables on his questioners. By what authority do you do these things (or some similar wording, depending on the translation)? There is no reference given for the question; in other words, the “things” Jesus was doing aren’t mentioned. We, of course, can fill in the blanks from our own reading. Things such as: breaking the religious laws, healing the sick, arguing for a different interpretation of Scripture – these would have upset the authorities of the period who were trying to hold the Jewish religion together while at the same time keeping peace with the Roman law, which was fast becoming a religion in itself. Eventually, the Roman ruler, a Caesar, would demand that the populace worship him instead of any other supposed deity, causing great anxiety for the religious citizen and non-citizen alike. The religious authorities could see all these factors in play (as the run-of-the-mill person could not) and so they were very careful not to rock the boat. Over time it became obvious that this strategy was not working, and so their counter-measures became increasingly harsh in order to compensate; that’s what caught Jesus up in the rush to have him eliminated. Crucifixion was just around the corner for him, and, given his activity, it was inevitable. Jesus didn’t care about any of that. What he cared about was a deep, intimate relationship with God, a passion that eventually produced parables, sayings, and teachings designed to help others achieve the same. Then came followers, interpreters, distortions, and flights of theological fancy that have gone on for some 2000 years, and all of it couched in sincere effort to understand this teacher, whom some called rabbi, and others called Lord. OK. That’s our setting. More recently, for about the last twenty years or so, scholars have tried to cut through all of that, to get back to the essential Jesus of Nazareth, this time with renewed vigor and scrupulous use of careful method. The results have been startling on occasion, but no one is surprised that they also have been disappointing. -Which brings us to a question that I want to raise myself: What is it, after all, that should hold our focus when trying to discern what Jesus was giving us? To be sure, it’s not the emphasis on the future, or reward, I believe, it’s what one does with life now that occupied Jesus’ main thrust. The relationship with God which he promotes is supposed to motivate a vastly better treatment of your fellow human beings, and in the present moment. For example, in Jesus’ teachings, justice is not enough – it should extend to compassion and generosity. Again, fairness is too weak- one is supposed to love instead, and not merely the ones that make it easy to do, you’ve got to include enemies in your loving as well. It’s that kind of teaching, that type of idea, that inspired a whole movement, not a reward and punishment religion (we already had enough of those). In short, Jesus wanted to change the world for the better, through a correspondingly better relationship with God. When it’s all added up and examined, Jesus was trying to change the only world that he knew, the world he interacted with daily, with its mix of religious and political systems that weren’t effective in bringing people together in mutual esteem. He wanted to change a broken world, a world he was convinced that God loves completely and without reservation or hierarchical consideration. And he attempted all this in the space of three years, without an education and without even the ability to read or write. Remarkable. And they asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” Beside the point, isn’t it? After all, when one seriously thinks about this, why should anyone need authority to know and follow God with one’s whole life and energy, and do it wherever that leads? Further, I’m convinced that Jesus’ amazing gift to the world, in his attempt to change it, is that he was able to relate to God better than anyone before or since, and, as a consequence, could make available to the rest of us the content (in its many and varied forms) of the wonderful love that God surrounds us with. That content, and its results, when used and lived continuously, would, naturally and logically, change the world, even ours today. That’s what I remember when I remember the Last Supper. That’s what I put together in my mind and heart when I hear the words; this is my body, or this is my blood. The sacrifice of Jesus is not just his death, it’s his whole life, his entire being, his closeness with the God who yearns to be just as close to every one of us as he was to Jesus. Even the meaning of the term, Kingdom of God, becomes almost self-evident when viewed from the perspective of relationship to God. It means the full realization of the ideal of perfect relationship with God and all whom God loves – in life – this life, yours and mine, everybody – every-body. Could it ever happen? Will Jesus realize his goal? Will he at last change the whole world? The answer is in our hands. At this time, in this place, let us be the hands and heart of Jesus Christ for the world (the whole world). Amen.
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