Who is Our Authority?
Preacher: Marcia C. Wilkinson

July 30, 2006

Mark 6:45-52

This week I received an e-mail with a reference to a web site that led me to this title:  The Authoritative Voice for Believers in Exile.   The authoritative voice refers to an author who offers “enlightened reading for a people who no longer believe in the God of Sunday School and are looking for something else to give their lives meaning” (San Francisco Chronicles).
From this article came the conclusion that truly intelligent, sophisticated people, those enlightened are falling away from their childhood roots, while at the same time, many of us are still pathetically hanging on to a myth that should have been replaced a long time ago.

 Something else came to mind as I read. That is, in our tradition the practice of spirituality and rituals may be a substitute for not really being deeply involved in a personal faith in Christ.  Fleming Rutledge says, one can demonstrate an “intellectual superiority and still get to participate in the attenuated comforts of the modernized Anglican tradition, its celebrated tolerance and latitude overlaid with just a touch of mystery, a hint of transcendence, without any embarrassment of having to really commit oneself to such outmoded notions”  (Rutledge, Help My Unbelief, p.176).

Her words have a definite bite to them, but they also ring true.  I do not intend to refute the authoritative voice from the web site.  Just the opposite!  As Christians we claim or at least profess that Holy Scripture is the authoritative word of God.  I would hope that we would always approach Scripture with good critical thinking, and ask God probing questions.  God is really able to handle what we ask, our doubts, our conflicts.  In fact, God wants us to wrestle with those things that don’t seem to gel.

Such a practice that uses our minds and the Holy Spirit engages us with God’s word, and makes it relevant to us, more meaningful and therefore more personal.  However, The authority is God’s not ours, not the educated, more enlightened, no matter how much we would want to give them authority.  Al, Ted and I and other teachers and preachers are only vessels, and must submit to and be under the one who has called us to this role.  It is sometimes a fine line between one’s personal agenda and God’s.  So it is always wise to test what is heard- against Scripture, against our tradition passed down, and the universal Church practice throughout history.

This morning, before we look into the gospel lesson I want us to keep in mind an approach used by Mark, what scholars have termed the “Messianic Secret”.  When the disciples don’t get who Jesus is, nor fully understand that he is trying to teach and show them his full humanity and divinity, it is because there really is no way to understand Jesus as Messiah until his death, and resurrection.  So the gospel is written to reiterate the truth of history and give an eyewitness report of those who experienced Jesus and followed him to the cross- who know Him intimately.

In our text Jesus takes leave to have quiet prayer after being with the crowds and feeding them.  The disciples are back on the water, in the boat, when a terrible storm comes.  Jesus sees them struggling with their oars, and goes out to them.  He meant to pass by, possibly meaning -“it is I don’t be afraid.  But instead of being comforted, the disciples were terrified because he appeared as a ghost.  He was supernatural all right, but the disciples obviously didn’t connect this ‘ghost’ like experience to what had transpired earlier with the feeding of the 5,000.  In fact, Mark says, they were hard hearted, which translates that they were mentally dull or insensitive.  They didn’t get it.  They couldn’t make the bridge between the two events (miracles) because Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one of God, had not yet been fully revealed.  That would come.

Augustine said that the thought of the ghost or spirit passing by evoked a crisis of despair that made the disciples all the more ready to cry out for help.  Their lives were at risk, and because of their own need at a desperate time they would learn that it was Jesus whom they could trust.  Of course they were astonished that Jesus calmed the sea.  And, they were astonished that he was not a ghost, but Jesus himself. 

I believe the story conveys our human struggle to believe.  When we are in crisis we too are more ready to cry out for help.  It is then that we are more able to admit that there is a supernatural power beyond ourselves, beyond our control, beyond our means to make things right.  And, when we turn to the power of God, we are astonished when God does something extraordinary and personal for us to comfort and soften the difficulty, the pain. 

This week as I listened to a mother in the hospital standing vigil by her young daughter’s bedside, who has suffered with cancer since she was 3 years old, she shared that as the doctors were performing emergency procedures, she wanted so much to have control; to make sure that everything was being done that could be done.  She could feel her anxiety start to build.  This woman has a deep faith and prays constantly, but she, like we who believe, because of anxiety, needed reassurance.  In her grief for her daughter she was silently crying out.  God knew and responded and without her asking, a calm, quiet warmth and comfort came over her.  At that moment she was astonished by God’s care.  Her faith was bolstered by God’s gentle reminder- God was there.  And, the mother was renewed.

I believe the external or physical shape of a miracle of God’s intervention is not the main emphasis. Rather it is the epiphany, the ‘aha’ connection with God that comes during the miracle.  And, when one looks back at the situation and sees that God’s hand was completely over the situation, we know that God was indeed with and for us.  So it was with the disciples.  After the cross the disciples got it, and that was why they would be able to live their lives for Him, to withstand persecution, and finally to be martyred for their conviction.  Jesus never gave up on them for their lack of faith and understanding because he knew that eventually the pieces would come together for them, and they would recognize him as their Lord.

You and I sit in a position today of hearing the full gospel.  Jesus has come, has participated completely in our human situation in a fully human and fully divine presence.  He completed his mission and passion for us at Calvary and the empty tomb.  We have the entire story, but have we incorporated it as our authority and the Word of God for us?  Or, is it just a comforting idea that we rely on when times are rough, we are desperate, and we need something, someone beyond ourselves?  And, then when we receive what we need, we are awed, astonished for a moment before we drift back to our lives and business as usual.

Our gospel lesson has double meaning.  There is the natural, physical fear that comes when there is crisis and God comes to our aid. And, there is the fear of the Lord that comes because we have been touched by God who is completely other.  We are no longer just astonished by singular events and times of his meeting us, but we are awed and humbled by his profound love and grace consistently covering our lives.

I know that speaking of a holy fear sounds like an oxymoron.  When we receive Christ as Savior we no longer have to be afraid because God is with us in all things.  However, holy fear is something else.  Holy fear rules out ordinary fear to arouse the fear of One who redeems and has authority to cast evil into hell.  We must take seriously divine judgment, but not fear what happens after death.  Those born of God have nothing to fear, yet we should fear defilement.  Holy fear means there is a reverence due Christ that accepts his admonition and demand for a pure heart and attitude of humility.

A holy fear brings us to obedience, not just to follow the rules we believe God asks of us, but to an awareness that all good gifts come from God.  Such a realization causes us to respond with grateful hearts that God has entrusted them to us.  The created order, every molecule in a single raindrop, every piece of human anatomy and physiology is finally integrated by God’s hand.  A holy fear of God allows us to look to God’s providence, God’s provision, and to lean on his understanding before our own, and be confident in the One whom we put our trust.   It is this kind of holy fear that ultimately provides security, safety, and connects us eternally to God.  A holy fear is the glue that binds us to each other in Christ.

This morning we must ask ourselves under whose authority we live and find meaning for our lives.  Is it the “new voice of authority” for the 21st century, or the voice that has grown and matured following our initiation into Christ as a child, or is it the authority that has been handed down through the ages these 2,000 years in the church?   I cannot answer for you. 

Amen