For Sunday
Proper 21A
Collect
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
The conflict in this week’s gospel feels like an iconic debate. On the one hand, we have Jesus, our central figure of authority. And on the other are the official authorities, whose job is to maintain the rules of the faith. So we make it rebels versus the establishment. Or purpose of the law versus the letter of the law.
Of course, this is the junk we all bring to the moment. It isn’t entirely reflective of it.
Jesus really is trying to alter the public’s understanding of the Law. And his appeal to authority is not coming from within the given system, but from outside it. It is pretty safe to say that most Christians today would reject such a move now. We do love our tradition.
The question of authority we explore today is one the church has wrestled with for two thousand years. How much trust do we place in the Holy Spirit and how much in earthly systems? Both options have been heavily exploited by sinful people and yield grave injustices. I don’t think methodology is the point.
What we see in this confrontation, and the parable Jesus tells in response, is not a treatise on the nature of authority, but how we treat God and one another.
Do we recognize how God is present in our lives? Do we actually listen or merely trust that our tradition has it all figured out?
Is there room in our relationship with God for an actual relationship with God? Or is it more of a hypothetical thing?
Because sometimes, in the pursuit of certainty and an understanding of what to do in a certain situation, we forget that the fundamental posture is one of relationship.
The same applies to our relationships with the people around us. Do we listen? Share authority with them? Allow ourselves to be changed? Hear God speaking through our neighbors? Do we love them? All of them?