Thought for Today
Genesis 41:35 Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
Mark 6:7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
Mark 11:27 . . . As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?"
Yesterday during worship, we looked at Mark 1:21-28. As I prepared my sermon, I was struck by one particular word in that passage, authority. I took that word as the theme for my sermon, and I am still thinking about authority this morning.
Greta and I have been streaming the series The Crown recently on television. If you are not familiar with it, it is about the British royal family. During yesterday’s sermon, I noted that 2024 is an election year in the U.S.A. As we watched The Crown yesterday, it occurred to me that the British and Americans have very different authority structures. There is a famous quotation, variously attributed to Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde or George Bernard Shaw, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” Irrespective of who first said it, there is much truth in the phrase. We are also two countries separated by differing ways of practicing democracy and authority.
Even within our own country, since its inception, we have vigorously debated the nature and exercise of authority. The Hamiltonians and the Jeffersonians contended with each other . . . and still do today. Much of the political debate currently in progress finds its roots in the earlier contest. Where is the ultimate seat of authority in our country, with the people or the government, with the states or the federal authorities?
We hear and will hear even more this year about America as a democracy. Britannica.com tells me, “Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population . . . but generally understood since the mid-20th century to include all (or nearly all) adult citizens.”
I was taught in my primary education that we are in truth a Representative Republic. “A republic, based on the Latin phrase res publica ("public affair"), is a state in which political power rests with the public through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Representation in a republic may or may not be freely elected by the general citizenry.” (Wikipedia). Great Brittan is a Constitutional Monarchy.
Politics aside, where does the ultimate authority reside in our lives? Christendom is divided into 3 primary segments: the Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism. They all 3 agree on where the ultimate authority resides; it resides with God. All 3 are trinitarian, recognizing God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Like England and America, they are separated by that common belief, based in part on the issue of where earthly authority resides. In very broad terms, Orthodox churches recognize a Metropolitan as head of their church, with the Metropolitan of Constantinople acknowledged as the primary Metropolitan (apologies to all Orthodox churches for the oversimplification). The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the authority of the Pope in Rome.
Protestant churches present a wealth of variations in structure of governance and earthy authority. The 2 denominations I serve recognize primary earthly authority to reside with the congregation, although the PCUSA also recognizes the authority of its Constitution.
But, for all Christendom, Christians everywhere always have recognized the ultimate authority to rest with Jesus, the Christ. In John’s gospel, Jesus said, “5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27 and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” Our authority resides in the One who died on the cross for us.
Stay safe, believe in Christ, trust God,
Pastor Ray