2024-11-13 A Meditation on Authority

“7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. 13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor 10:7-18 ESV)

“17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”” (Luke 5:17-26 ESV)

The authority to own our mistakes, and therein the authority to serve an alternative Deity called Christ: this is set in contraposition to any framework of works-righteousness, any framework of suitability or perfectionist reasoning around choosing, from a crowd, a Soldier. The Soldier, once chosen, may have fright and panic around the alleged unsuitability of his or her Frame, the Foundations never quite as moral or resilient as we generally Imagine, strange daydreams forgotten and the urgent need: for this I must have Forgiveness: it sullies the entire enterprise, to think otherwise.

To think oneself somehow logically still connected to the rampant sin, the erroneous foundation, the wild-eyed panicky or rebellious lancing forth: this thought discourages and degrades that God-given Authority. Authority for building up not tearing down. Authority for making hay while the sun shines, our Service to the Throne no reluctant master but a gladsome Fatherly, Motherly embrace and assurance: We want you! Warts and all. Impossible-to-explain-away sins notwithstanding. Simple self-horror: why, you say, be in denial? It is no denial but rather a Certainty: my sins for His love. For, we have not the logical Astuteness to walk a foundational and logical jaunt from those past errors and today’s Certainty and Authority. It just doesn’t line up.

Please, we then plead, let me live in that odd moment when the taciturn speaks up, when the soldier is called out of his or her mellow thoughts borne in boredom, and given a Cause, when the sensibilities are Present and Accounted for: our spiritual Vibe or Situation the name of the game, the reason for the prayer time, the reason for the Word, the reason for the under-acknowledged Role of pastor one to another. We all share this role.

And then the relativism: these faux pas’s are nothing compared to what naked Error some walk in. Please be kind to yourself in light of this Fact, this Evidence-on-the-Ground, this time that heals all things. Plead the Cross… Yes! And in this plea find no linear cause-and-effect status update, but wild errors no match for a God who Stands In. God who builds up rather than tears down. God who makes our Testimony and the Experience therein, into a Fresh and Firm Foundation, one that is stronger than if we’d toed the straight and narrow all by our lonesome. Our own potential is dwarfed by His abilities. Our belief, then, is that One Body includes us and Him. It includes us the practical limbs, or the weeping heart, or the principled mental enterprise, moral code, endeavor. Somehow we are stronger for the wear. We are stronger for the devilish experience past. We are a little lighter in regards to self-reliance, and a little dreamy or exalted in regards to just how Potent we see our God and King. Who makes no moral boast (contrast the rich young ruler) but makes an Attack on organized religion. Who makes an urgent Endeavor to heal the demon-possessed and the sinful tax collector, the wild-eyed (victim? Of society?) legion of demons internal, the paralyzed and the under-appreciated ones who bless. See? It isn’t God’s worthiness as a morally-impeccable servant that qualifies Him to be who He is, but rather His boots-on-the-ground Service in a war that leads anyone caught up in boredom, in undeployed waiting, a target for Satan, but a War that is so gung-ho and has such gumption as to bless the Outwards Service as it leads to Inner Satisfaction. Of all our desires. Of all we need in this life. Of all we need forgiveness for. Believe it, servant of the Most High!