Sunday 1 February 2009 - Power and Authority

This sermon is based on Mark 1:21-28

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Introduction

One of the big news items this week has been on the subject of bonuses that financial institutions on Wall Street have recently paid to their employees.

Collectively, it seems that bonuses of $18.4 billion (about £13 billion) were paid to the employees of Wall Street firms during 2008 by financial institutions which also asked for government assistance during the year.

The American financial company Merrill Lynch - whose parent company was rescued by the Federal government - paid out $4 billion in staff bonuses in 2008. The recently-sacked boss of Merrill Lynch - John Thain - justified the payment of these bonuses on the basis that the company had to give out these bonuses or it would loose it's best people.

The American Comedian Steve Colbert expressed the outrage of the person on the street on one of his recent shows when he said: 'Newsflash! You haven't got any “best people”. They drove the country into a financial crisis. These are not “best people”!'

Comedy can sometimes speak truths more powerfully than any other mode of communication.

So, on the one hand, we have former Merrill Lynch boss John Thain seeking to use the alleged authority of Wall Street to justify the company's actions. And, on the other hand, we have the comedian Steve Colbert, whose observations are humorous (and authoritative) precisely because they go straight to the truth.

The Authority of Jesus

This morning's Gospel reading is actually about the authority of Jesus.

And it's about the quality of his authority rather than about the quantity of his authority. The story is not trying to ask the question 'How much power does Jesus' authority have?' But rather 'What kind of authority is it that Jesus' wields?'

21st century readers might be distracted by the question of whether or not such a healing exorcism took place at all. But Mark's audience would not have found the miracle in today's reading remarkable in any way. Their question would not have been 'Did Jesus have the gifts of healing and exorcism' but rather, 'Why did Jesus have these gifts? How did he use them? What purpose did they serve?'

One of the over-arching themes of Mark's Gospel is Jesus' miracles. This particular miracle is the first one that Jesus performs and so this story sets the scene for all the other miracles that come after it. The story is also a commentary on Jesus' character.

Mark indicates to us that Jesus has his own authority which he uses for the purposes of healing.

The Use of Power

This is an interesting image: Jesus, Messiah. Possessed of his own divine authority and power, using his power for the sake of healing others.

It's even more interesting when you consider the fact that, just a few verses earlier the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has rejected the temptation by Satan to use his power in a more conventional way. Jesus has just rejected the use of his divine authority and power to set himself up in role that we would normally consider to be one of power.

In fact, I'd venture to say that the phrase of 'a person of great power' would more conventionally conjure up the image of the boss of Merrill Lynch or the Prime Minister or perhaps even the members of The House of Lords.

By all conventional definitions, a person with a powerful position holds the welfare, health or happiness of many people in his or her hands simply by virtue of his or her position.

We have had so many examples in the last few weeks of positions of power being used for both good and for evil that there is no shortage of illustrations. I'll leave you to consider all these recent news events so that I'm not seen to be taking sides in one direction or another.

My point is that power can be used in a number of ways.

It can be used selfishly, without taking others into consideration at all. But as I use my power to maximise my own advantage I may unintentionally end up hurting others.
More negatively, power can also be used to take revenge and to actively try to hurt others. Or, we can follow Jesus' example and use power for the purposes of healing - which can include forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration of good relationships.

And before we decide that none of this applies to us personally because we are not powerful enough, we would do well to remember that each one of us probably does in fact hold power over someone in our life, even if we ourselves often feel powerless. Christians are called to follow the example of Jesus and to use the power that we have over others for the purposes of healing and reconciliation rather than for the purposes of selfish gain.

Conclusion

Power and authority go hand in hand and with them come responsibility.

We know to our cost that authority and power can be used in ways that hurt society and that tear it apart. But God's view of the uses of authority and power is very different from this.

God's view of the use of power and author is diametrically opposite to the way that financial institutions have been behaving in recent years.

God's view of the use of power and authority is often different from the way that governments behave.

And God's view of the use of power and authority is different from the way that individuals behave when we act only in our own self-interest.

The good news for this morning is that Jesus used his power and authority for the purposes of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus chose to use his authority for the benefit of humankind and he did not succumb to the temptation to use his power for his own self-promotion.

The good news is that, in Jesus, we know the Father and we know that his intention is for wholeness and restoration. The good news is that God uses his power for the benefit of his creation and for the good of humankind.

My prayer this morning is not only that we may grow in a deeper awareness of God's good purposes for our own lives, but that we may take seriously the challenge that this implies for us as his disciples. As we come to his table I pray that we will find wholeness and spiritual healing for ourselves.

And as we go from this place, I pray that we will employ the power of the Holy Spirit given to us in our baptism in order to touch the lives of others with God's healing and wholeness. Amen

Sunday 26 October 2008 - Love & the Great Commandment

The text for this sermon is Matthew 22:34-46

Introduction

In 2005, Channel 4 decided that it was going to conduct a nationwide poll among the British people to come up with a new set of Ten Commandments. The thinking was that the original ten commandments are somewhat out of date and that a new set might be more relevant for the 21st century. If Christianity (and Judaism) is no longer considered relevant by enlightened, modern people, what sort of moral code doe the British public feel speaks to our lives in post-Christian Britain?

Interestingly, the British public came up with 20 new commandments. And if you're ever tempted to accuse preachers of being long-winded, do try to remember the fact that it was the general public who felt that ten commandments weren't enough.)

Here are the 'new' commandments which speak to the British public over and above the outmoded moral requirements of Christianity:
1) Treat others as you would have them treat you.
2) Be honest
3) Don't kill
4) Look after the vulnerable
5) Respect your mother and father
6) Enjoy life
7) Nothing in excess
8) Be true to your own God
9) Be true to yourself
10) Protect your family
11) Look after your health
12) Try your best at all times
13) Don't commit adultery
14) Live within your means
15) Appreciate what you have
16) Never be violent
17) Protect the environment
18) Protect and nurture children
19) Take responsibility for your own actions
20) Don't steal

Love is the Commandment

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus answers the Pharisees' question 'What is the Greatest Commandment' with the formula from Deuteronomy: Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments - often called The Great Commandment - are at the very core of the Christian faith and they are at the core of our value system.

I also find it interesting that these two commandments seem to appear in our new, secular commandments - the ones that the public claims actually have relevance to our daily life here and now.

And I find it extremely interesting that 'treat others as you would have them treat you' was thought to be the number one 'new commandment' by the British public.
In some form or another, most of the world's major religions mention this principle - The Golden Rule - as being central to their beliefs. Many forms of paganism, for example, believe that the good you do to others will return to you in like measure but that if you do evil to another human being, seven times the evil you have done to them will come back to you.

A Christian friend of mine once remarked that she liked this pagan principle because it underlines the seriousness of treating other people as you would have them treat you.

I understand what she meant, but I can't help but notice that the Great Commandment doesn't call us to treat our neighbour well because if we don't God will zap us with seven times our own bad behaviour (God forbid!)

Rather the Great Commandments calls us to treat our neighbour well because of Love.

And it suggests to us that there is some kind of important connection between our love for God and his love for us on the one hand and our love for other people on the other hand.

God is Love

Christians believe that love is a force that looks outwards, outside of oneself to the good of the other.

The first of the Great Commandments is to love God with everything that you are: with the centre of your willing and your choosing. This is an invitation to look outside our selves and to focus on the God who loves us and to align ourselves with that love.

But the invitation to love God also comes with the invitation to love other people, to look outside our own interests and even outside the interests of our immediate family and to also take an interest in the needs and well-being of other human beings: People in our community, in other parts of the country and even in other lands.

Created to Love

The Christian author and psychologist M Scott Peck tells a story about one of his clients who felt isolated and cut off from the rest of society.

One day he took her with him to a hospital and asked her to visit with a number of people. (He gave her the excuse that he had to confer with a colleague but, in fact, he had arranged for her to do the visits.) His client visited with these people, who had all been in hospital long-term with serious physical illnesses, and they were very glad of the company. When the visiting finished, he asked his client how she felt and she replied: 'You know, I feel better than I've felt in ages. I don't feel so isolated and I realise that there are other people with problems that are much worse than mine.'

Now, please don't take this as a simplistic 'cure' for depression on my part. My point is simply that I expect that many of us will recognise the truth in that story: that there is a great deal of human satisfaction in looking outside ourselves to the needs of others.

As a Christian, I would say - along with M Scott Peck - that the reason is because God created us this way. We were created to look outside ourselves, to love God and to love our neighbour.

Conclusion

But the wonderful thing about the Great Commandments is that God is at the centre of it all and God is love.

We don't have to worry that every time we miss the mark and fail to do what is right that God or the Universe will return evil to us seven times over. Because at the centre of life, the universe and everything is love. An intentional force that is trying to work all things together for good: God.

My prayer for us this morning is that we may each be strengthened by the love of God and that we may receive more and more of God's love in order to give more and more love to others.

Because at the end of the day and at the end of our lives, what matters most is that we are loved by God and that we love others in return. Amen