I left you for less than four weeks, and what have you done in the meantime at the General Election? I went to Poland to save the Presidential election there, but that effort too failed spectacularly, as it was not won by my candidate. My enormous authority is now in tatters, both there and here. And \u2013 just in case you didn\u2019t pick up on my sarcasm \u2013 I\u2019ve said all that with tongue-in-cheek. However delusional I might have been about my influence on other people\u2019s opinions and upon authority, the reality is that it\u2019s extremely limited, thank God.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s gospel Jesus \u2013 unlike me \u2013 makes a very bold claim: \u2018All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.\u2019<\/em> At first glance it doesn\u2019t sound overly modest, to put it mildly. Even the newly-elected President of FIFA hasn\u2019t gone that far (quite close, though). Does he (Jesus, not Mr Blatter,) back his claim convincingly? Because of the constant stream of bad news, ranging from personal adversities, through large-scale natural disasters to full-scale wars, sometimes it\u2019s hard to believe that claim. A common argument raised often and by many is that the idea of loving and merciful God, who is interested in our world and in our lives, cannot be reconciled with all the pain and suffering present here. This argument seems to be more convincing than Jesus\u2019 claim to his unlimited authority.<\/p>\n I think there\u2019s a misunderstanding causing the problem here; it\u2019s the same misconception held by many of Jesus\u2019 contemporaries, including his own disciples. They expected that a powerful man would be sent by God; powerful politically, and perhaps militarily too. His coming would change the political, social and religious landscape of Palestine: he would throw the Romans out, purge the people of Israel, and re-establish the long-lost independent Jewish kingdom. Those expectations echo on the road to Emmaus, when one of two of Jesus\u2019 disciples says: \u2018Our own hope had been that he (Jesus) would be the one to set Israel free.\u2019<\/em> Even immediately before Jesus\u2019 Ascension, the disciples kept asking: \u2018Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?\u2019<\/em> Over the centuries, too many Christians have held dear this misconception of earthly power, a misconception causing problems and even leading to bloodshed. The misunderstanding is that it wasn\u2019t Jesus\u2019 idea of authority.<\/p>\n In the whole of his public activity, we cannot find a single instance of Jesus claiming any earthly powers, despite the many occasions that he could have exploited in order to do this. People wanted to proclaim him king after he had multiplied bread and fed thousands \u2013 but he backed off. Many urged him to make a clear and explicit declaration of his messianic status \u2013 but he always refused to do so. His idea of authority is clearly presented in the gospel of St John, chapter 10: \u2018I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again<\/strong>.\u2019<\/em> In contrast to that of most of those who seek to wield power and influence over us, the authority of Jesus is not forced upon us, but presented and left to each one of us to make a personal choice whether to accept or to reject it.<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 declaration in today\u2019s gospel is followed by a three-stage plan of action left to the Apostles: \u2018make disciples of all the nations; baptise them […] and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.\u2019<\/em> The order of this plan isn\u2019t accidental. Encounter with Jesus and becoming his disciple is the first step towards understanding his plan for one\u2019s life; the person can make a prudent and mindful decision to accept or to reject Jesus. If the decision is positive, it\u2019s sealed in and by baptism. This commitment is then continually strengthened and deepened by a developing personal relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n I can see a problem for many of us here… Most of us were baptised when we were helpless babies, unaware of what was going on around us. It seems we\u2019ve missed the first train, we\u2019ve caught the second one without a ticket, and now we are rumbling along in the third one, not quite sure why we\u2019re on board or where we\u2019re going. But fear not, all is not yet lost. Jesus tells you here and now: \u2018Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.\u2019<\/em> It\u2019s never too late to delve into the gospel and to find Jesus\u2019 plan for your life, to accept it in full, and to let Jesus reveal his loving and merciful power and authority over your life. Perhaps making this commitment wouldn\u2019t make your life trouble-free; but you\u2019ll definitely find out that Jesus can make sense of even the most senseless happenings. He\u2019s got the power. It\u2019s the power of love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I left you for less than four weeks, and what have you done in the meantime at the General Election? I went to Poland to save the Presidential election there, but that effort too failed spectacularly, as it was not won by my candidate. My enormous authority is now in tatters, both there and here. And \u2013 just in case you didn\u2019t pick up on my sarcasm \u2013 I\u2019ve said all that with tongue-in-cheek. However delusional I might have been about my influence on other people\u2019s opinions and upon authority, the reality is that it\u2019s extremely limited, thank God. In today\u2019s gospel Jesus \u2013 unlike me \u2013 makes a very bold claim: \u2018All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.\u2019 At first glance it doesn\u2019t sound overly modest, to put it mildly. Even the newly-elected President of FIFA hasn\u2019t gone that far (quite close, though). Does he (Jesus, not Mr Blatter,) back his claim convincingly? Because of the constant stream of bad news, ranging from personal adversities, through large-scale natural disasters to full-scale wars, sometimes it\u2019s hard to believe that claim. A common argument raised often and by many is that the idea of loving and merciful God, who is interested in our world and in our lives, cannot be reconciled with all the pain and suffering present here. This argument seems to be more convincing than Jesus\u2019 claim to his unlimited authority. I think there\u2019s a misunderstanding causing the problem here; it\u2019s the same misconception held by many of Jesus\u2019 contemporaries, including his own disciples. They expected that a powerful man would be sent by God; powerful politically, and perhaps militarily too. His coming would change the political, social and religious landscape of Palestine: he would throw the Romans out, purge the people of Israel, and re-establish the long-lost independent Jewish kingdom. Those expectations echo on the road to Emmaus, when one of two of Jesus\u2019 disciples says: \u2018Our own hope had been that he (Jesus) would be the one to set Israel free.\u2019 Even immediately before Jesus\u2019 Ascension, the disciples kept asking: \u2018Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?\u2019 Over the centuries, too many Christians have held dear this misconception of earthly power, a misconception causing problems and even leading to bloodshed. The misunderstanding is that it wasn\u2019t Jesus\u2019 idea of authority. In the whole of his public activity, we cannot find a single instance of Jesus claiming any earthly powers, despite the many occasions that he could have exploited in order to do this. People wanted to proclaim him king after he had multiplied bread and fed thousands \u2013 but he backed off. Many urged him to make a clear and explicit declaration of his messianic status \u2013 but he always refused to do so. His idea of authority is clearly presented in the gospel of St John, chapter 10: \u2018I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again.\u2019 In contrast to that of most of those who seek to wield power and influence over us, the authority of Jesus is not forced upon us, but presented and left to each one of us to make a personal choice whether to accept or to reject it. Jesus\u2019 declaration in today\u2019s gospel is followed by a three-stage plan of action left to the Apostles: \u2018make disciples of all the nations; baptise them […] and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.\u2019 The order of this plan isn\u2019t accidental. Encounter with Jesus and becoming his disciple is the first step towards understanding his plan for one\u2019s life; the person can make a prudent and mindful decision to accept or to reject Jesus. If the decision is positive, it\u2019s sealed in and by baptism. This commitment is then continually strengthened and deepened by a developing personal relationship with Jesus. I can see a problem for many of us here… Most of us were baptised when we were helpless babies, unaware of what was going on around us. It seems we\u2019ve missed the first train, we\u2019ve caught the second one without a ticket, and now we are rumbling along in the third one, not quite sure why we\u2019re on board or where we\u2019re going. But fear not, all is not yet lost. Jesus tells you here and now: \u2018Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.\u2019 It\u2019s never too late to delve into the gospel and to find Jesus\u2019 plan for your life, to accept it in full, and to let Jesus reveal his loving and merciful power and authority over your life. Perhaps making this commitment wouldn\u2019t make your life trouble-free; but you\u2019ll definitely find out that Jesus can make sense of even the most senseless happenings. He\u2019s got the power. It\u2019s the power of love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-b"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}