Sermon by the Rev. Canon Dr Charlotte Methuen

In the name of God, who creates, redeems and sustains us.

A German pastor is said to have addressed his congregation one Sunday morning:

“Brothers and sisters! Today there will be no sermon. Today I have something to say to you.”

“Today there will be no sermon. Today I have something to say to you.”

One rather hopes that this is an apocryphal tale. But true or not, there is something here of what seems to have been the experience of that synagogue congregation in Galilee when they heard the teachings of Jesus. This, the opening of his ministry as recounted by St Mark, is an occasion of realisation, of recognition: this man speaks with authority. This is someone who has something to say to us. Indeed, this is someone whose words effect change, who speaks to the deepest needs in people’s hearts and fulfils them, who can touch the darkest spirits in people’s hearts and bring them into the light, cast them out them out, someone whose words cleanse and free. In short, this is someone whose words we hear; and hearing believe that can believe as coming from God. And in this, Mark suggests, the congregation saw a profound difference between Jesus and those who were holding official authority. “Jesus taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” It is apparent that for Mark, a key feature of Jesus’ ministry is about a community’s discerning – and recognising – where true authority lies.

Of course that was even then not a new problem. The passage from Deuteronomy reminds us that Israel had been grappling with the same question for generations. The authority of the true prophets, the prophets who are to be listened to, the prophets who have something to say, is an authority which is given by God. Those who listen to their words and obey do the will of God. Those who do not, will die. And those who take the name of the Lord in vain, who assume and authority which is not theirs, will also find themselves on the receiving end of God’s anger. “The prophet who speaks in my name that what I have not commanded the prophet to speak: that prophet shall die!” This is a somewhat alarming message for the preacher, for it is a stark reminder that speaking the word of God is a responsibility to be taken seriously. To speak in the name of God is to appropriate divine authority. (And in parentheses, I would just add at this point that the deep and dangerous irony of preaching any kind of sermon on this topic is quite apparent to me.)

Our reading from I Corinthians reminds us, however, that the responsibility of speaking God’s word – whether through word or action – is not restricted to preachers and prophets. Paul is concerned here at how the actions of some members of the church might be interpreted by others. The question is no longer one which affects us directly: it is the matter of whether or not it is proper for Christians to eat food sacrificed to idols. Paul recognises that those to whom he is writing do not believe in idols, so that for them eating such meat is no issue. They have knowledge, which they believe makes them safe. But he is worried about the effect on those for whom the imperial gods are still powerful: how will they react? Think about how your behaviour will look to them, he counsels. They are weaker than you. Behave in such a way as not to disturb their faith. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” So “take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak.

And so our readings today face us with questions of how we might speak with true authority, questions of how we might live our lives in ways that are examples for others, questions of how our knowledge can be used in love to build up the community. Perhaps in our society those questions have come to be related in a new way. Many of us will have the sense of living with information overload. Almost everything we want to know – and a great that we don’t – is available to us via the internet, via the media. We have a huge amount of information, reams of knowledge, but does it enable us to speak with authority? Does it enable us to build up our communities in love? I wonder. Sometimes I think that our knowledge is used more to break things down, or to puff us up – say “Here I am.” Most of us here will have had the benefit of an education intended to help us to develop our own ideas, our own judgements, and not simply to accept what others say. We have been encouraged to question traditional structures of authority – but where does that leave us?

The temptation may be to rely on my own recognition – my individual affirmation – that a particular person speaks with authority. The danger of that is that it comes down to personal preference: if I agree with what that person says, it is authoritative. If I don’t, it is not. Or it may seem simpler to throw up our hands in despair, and take someone else’s interpretation – my favourite newspaper, my favourite teacher, my favourite blog – whatever, and let define what I recognise as authority. Again, I get to choose. We have become individualistic in our understanding of authority: like those to whom Paul writes, if is feels right, if it makes sense to us, then we tend to conclude that this is clearly the right thing to do, to believe, to think…

There are no easy answers to this conundrum. We certainly don’t want to go back to an unquestioning submission to imposed authority. But we can surely say that it cannot simply come down to my own preferences. We are called to community, to be together the body of Christ, and as Paul reminds us, that means reflecting not only on my own sense of what is right and proper, but on how that might affect others. True authority cannot be simply that which makes me feel comfortable. The Bishop of London once commented that as Christians: “We are to turn our back on the shallow version of freedom in authority, which has as its anthem the song ‘I’ll do it my way.’” Rather, as the gospel reminds us, true authority is about the proclamation of freedom at the deepest level. Luke’s gospel presents Jesus saying this in a different way when he preaches on a passage from Isaiah 61:

Jesus read: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

Here too, we see Christ preaching with authority, banishing demons – in this case the demons of poverty, captivity, blindness, oppression.

So spiritual authority is not simply about imposing what works or has worked for me. As Ignatius of Loyola put it, “There is no greater error in matters of the Spirit than the desire to govern others according to what has worked for oneself.” True authority is about the kind of freedom that brings truth, a truth which will touch the dark spirits that are within us, and cast them out; a truth which will banish the demons of poverty, captivity, blindness, oppression, from our communities and our world; a truth that sets us – the whole community – free.

Those who speak with authority are surely those who share in God’s vision for God’s world, who seek to bring God’s word into God’s world. But that is something that each of us is called to do. Let each of us find the strength, the courage, and the authority to preach and live out God’s word.

Amen.