Authority (Lent 3B)

Scriptures:  Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-25

There are quite a number of places in the gospels where authority is displayed, but in today’s passages we see the theoretical basis or the underlying explanation of God’s sovereignty.  There are a number of key elements.  These are likely quite obvious to you, but let’s look at them anyhow.

1. God is the creator of everything.  This is the focus of Psalm 19.  Because God is the creator he is also eligible to be the lawgiver.  I would call creation an act of grace.  There is no reason why God had to create intelligent beings with choices.  He could do whatever he wanted to.  Robots would be much more tiny, whether biological or mechanical!  But he chose to create human beings.  The Babylonians had the gods regret making humans because we were so noisy and the gods could get no rest.  The God of the Bible extends more grace.

2. God is the redeemer.  I mentioned that while the ten commandments were addressed to the Israelites, they nonetheless contain principles that apply universally.  None of these is more important than the fact that the lawgiver is the redeemer.  “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”  The lawgiver is the one who set you free.  In his forthcoming book Preserving Democracy, Elgin Husbheck notes the paradox of law and freedom:  “… the more democracies try to do to improve the lives of their citizens, the less freedom those citizens will have” (p. 57). In one sense, God’s law works in the same way, but law also provides freedom.  My freedom to live might be restricted by my neighbor’s freedom to murder me.  There are two aspects to the ten commandments.  The first portion establishes a relationship to God and his authority to rule.  The latter looks at how we can best live in society–how best to balance the relationship between law and freedom.

3. While God’s plans are sovereign, they may not look so to us.  God’s plans may look foolish because of our limited perspective and understanding (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
4. God’s authority is often recognized even though it is not understood.  In John 2:13-25 we have the cleansing up the temple.  Unlike other gospels, this comes at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus in John.  The priest don’t know who he is.  Yet they obey.  They come back asking for his authority, but they already ran.  They didn’t understand.  They couldn’t explain.  But they knew.

These passages provide some fascinating looks at law, grace, and justice, though the end of the week is approaching and I don’t know how much more I will have time to write.  Be sure the read them all many times and meditate on what you see.