When I was in high school, Six Flags over Mid-America opened in St. Louis. Being about the same distance away from Carbondale IL as we are here in Columbia, it was a favorite youth group activity to, once a year, get a van load of kids and take off for Six Flags. I distinctly remember going for the first time, and how taken I was with the beautiful flowers, with the shows, with the boys who would come along after you and sweep up even the smallest piece of litter that got dropped, and I remember the rides. I have never been a scary ride lover, but the log flume looked tame enough. I waited with friends in the long line, the line moving slowly, so slowly through the labyrinth of dividers, making us feel like cattle being led to the slaughter. And then the moment to climb in the flume. Soon the fiber glass logs glided smoothly through the light blue painted flume. Each log containing four or five people were securely paced behind another so there would be no crashing together, so that everyone would be safe. The log moved quickly through the course, just as it did hundreds of time each day, until it came to the end...at the end there is a very steep incline that the log has to make---the creators of the log flume have even built in sounds to make this part scary, creaking, groaning sounds the log makes as it slowly and deliberately climbs up the incline, and as it reaches the top, it hesitates only briefly and then swoosh, down it goes on the other side, creating screams and laughter as your heart and stomach feel like they've been left behind and then a big splash at the bottom, that, if you're lucky on a hot afternoon, gets you wet and cools you off for a while. After you climb out of your log, you can go back and get in line and do it exactly the same way again if you want to--and you'll have pretty much the very same ride, over and over again...The log flume--never mind that the log is fiber glass, that the water is sterile, that the sounds are man-made...it still can be fun. And it was for me...
But then there was another experience, a ride on water, that happened just a few years ago. This time, again, it was a ride that we, my family and I had to wait in line for too--but much longer--almost an hour. We waited with hundreds of others in the host sun on top of bridge at Niagara Falls. This time, the ride we were waiting for was a boat called Maid of the Mist. The Maid of the Mist has been operating for decades---several times a day, one in the fleet of boats called Maid of the Mist take passengers out into the Niagara river, and after supplying everyone with full length hooded plastic ponchos, the skipper heads out to the falls....Along with 75 or so other passengers, we wrapped ourselves and the kids in what looked like City of Columbia recycle bags, put life jackets on and had them hang on to us and the side of the boat---I really had no idea what this would be like. It turned out to be one of those authentically awe inspiring experiences that creep up on you when you least expect it. As you stand near the side of the boat, and the boatÕs captain steers the boat closer and closer to the falls, the force of the waves fight against the boat and the huge falls grow nearer and nearer. The spray from the falls covers everything--the sound of the falls blocks out any hope of hearing human speech and you find yourself overwhelmed by the creative force of God as the smell and the taste of the water as it overwhelms you, the feel of the spray on your face, the roar of the falls, your eyes not able to see anything but the powerful cascades, a hugely powerful experience of the authentic creative power of God right there, with you. Wow! Somehow we all knew we were in the presence of something very real.
Both of these experiences, both the log flume and the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls might be called enjoyable, fun, memorable. But one pales in the face of the other==as much fun as the log flume was, there was really nothing truly profound, nothing sacred, so to speak about that experience. The Maid of the mist left a lasting impression on all of us, even on Caleb at age five, had his spirit touched by the sacred that was at work somehow in the midst of that beautiful ride. It was, in fact, a Godly experience, infused by the power of the reality of God's presence. Riding the Maid of the mist, was, in fact, an authoritative experience, made to have authority because it touched sometime within each of us that God had made--it touched that spirit that can appreciate authentic beauty, that part of each of us, no matter what age, no matter what education level or i.q. level, that part of us that knows what it is to be taken out of this earthly experience, if only momentarily, and to be touched by the transcendent presence of God.
In the gospel lesson today, we hear of Jesus's first healing miracle in the gospel of Mark--the casting out of an unclean spirit. What Mark seems to want us to do with this miracle is not so much to be amazed at what Jesus does here, as how he does it. The healing is immediately preceded by Jesus teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The people were astounded---not so much at the content of what he said, in fact Mark doesnt tell us here what Jesus said. The people were astounded at the authority with which he taught, contrasting it with the scribes, whose teaching was not authoritative. Again after he casts out the unclean spirit which had inhabited a man who was there in the synagogue, the people react to Jesus saying, What happened? Such authority!
What did this mean, that Jesus taught and healed with authority? What kind of authority did he have? Was it the authority of the Roman general of the appointed ruler? Even allowing for the sternness of Jesus' tone when he tells people of the coming judgement, it is clear that Jesus did not forcefully impose his will on other people. Was it an authority based on social standing or professional rank, supported by privileged birth or the proper credentials? No, he was born to working people, and he even at age 12 was already able to teach the rabbis at the temple without any formal temple education. Still, the first-hand witnesses to the presence of Jesus said he taught as one having authority, not as the scribes.
Let's think a little about our own experience. When we think back on our lives, and we think of the people to whom we have really responded, and the people we've really allowed ourselves to be influenced by, we realize that these people who have been really authoritative in our own lives are not necessarily the authorities designated by office: our boss may tell us what to do at work, for example, and we must do it, but does he or she really hold great influence over who we are as people? Again the people who rank over us so to speak, by virtue of their position--a landlord, a governor, even an elected leader of our church, . We may respect and obey that person by virtue of their office because they hold power over us. But really positive response is most genuinely given to persons not be virtue of the office or position that they hold but by who they are. Think of those people whom you could name who have been influential in your own life, the relationship with whom has been authoritative for you. These are persons who are authentic, who are trustworthy, who are believable, who are real. These persons that have influenced us are people who do not try to manipulate themselves into believability, who are not skilled in the art of being all things to all people.We are influenced by persons who we know have power but who do not use it over us, whose personal integrity attracts our faith and confidence.
Each of us could name a person who has had real authority in our own lives. Such a person for me was and is a woman for whom I worked at our denominationÕs General Board of Discipleship in the mid eighties. Her name is Barbara Garcia. She was and is a woman who, when she says she will do something she does it. That is part of where her personal power, her authority lies. She is also a woman who, when under a lot of stress and pressure, as she was in 1985 when I was with her as her assistant, planning a national conference for our denomination for workers with children, she is a woman who continues to be as caring and respectful of others when under pressure as any other time. She is a woman who brings out the best in others. And she is a woman who is touch with her inner being, and knows who she is, her strengths and her weaknesses, and most importantly, she knows whose she is---God's precious child, loved into salvation by Jesus Christ his son.
When we compare the authority of scribes to the authority of Jesus, it is like comparing, if you will, vinyl to leather; comparing the scribes to Jesus is like comparing rhinestones to diamonds, like comparing coffeemate to whipped cream; like comparing gold plate to fourteen carat, like comparing "help me make it through the night" to a wedding night, like comparing a log flume at Six Flags to Maid at the Mist at Niagara falls.
Our problem, even we who have had our souls touched by the presence of Christ, our problem is that we have grown so accustomed in this world of superficialitiyof the vinyl and to the gold plate that we forget that our souls were created by God to experience life, not superficially, but transcendently. We were created in the image of God, not to settle for the scribe mentality---the scribes were respected by the people because of what they are acquired---the scribes acquired learning, they knew a lot about the content of the law. But the people, even these people who up to the time of Jesus had only had scribes as authority, the people knew authenticity when they heard and saw it and they heard and saw it in Jesus.
So many of the people that have become authoritative in our world, who hold influence and sway over us, especially over our young people, are so much more like the scribes than like Jesus. We admire those who have accumulated wealth,--and we dont really question how. We admire the professional athlete, the television personality, the rock star, who makes a splash with his or her personality, but whose real person hood we do not know. So much of what passes as authentic in the world today is not. We too often believe that authentic joy can be found in the accumulation of wardrobes with designer labels; we believe authentic joy will be ours with the right financial portfolio; we beleive that authentic joy will be ours if we only can somehow meet that standard beauty or that muscular body that will attract the kind of people to us that also meet that standard. We settle for authorities nowadays that are produced by Madison avenue and wall street, instead of nurturing that place within ourselves that continues to cry out despite the things we buy, despite the people we attract, despite the clothes we wear, and says to us, where is there a real authority, a real relationship that will speak to my deepest desires for meaning, for God?
The people who witnessed Jesus teaching, who saw him cast out the unclean spirit, witnessed true, real authority. Jesus authority did not find its source in his ability to cast out demons. The source of Jesus authority was who he was---He was and is God's son0 never wavering throughout all of his life, from living that identity every single second, every moment. We who live in a world of vinyl that passes for leather and gold plate, that passes for 14 carat, in a world where sex too often passes for love, we who live in a world of cheap glitter and rhinestone, are, like the people who witnessed Jesus in the scripture, confronted with the Real Thing-Jesus Christ. In him, and in relationship with him, we come to know our truest identity as well---precious children of God,, we are to live as people who strive also to live that identity out each and every moment of our lives.
So, precious children, this day, this week, keep your mind on the real thing-Jesus. As you go home this day, as you watch the Super Bowl and root for the Rams like the good Missourianyou are, when you are with friends and family, at work, at school,visiting friends, reading, going to church meetings, in all that you do, remember that YOUR soul was not made to settle for what one hymn writer calls the "vain world's golden store." YOUR soul, Christian, yearns for a right relationship with the Real thing, Jesus Christ the righteous. And the people were astounded, for he taught as one with authority. This week, let Christ astound you again with his authority. Through prayer and mediation, take time to let him make your life more Maid of the Mist, a little more like fourteen carat. For Jesus, the one who astounds others by the authentic nature of his power, yearns for us to know that we are powerful too, powerful by virtue that we, like Jesus, can be authentically the followers of this one of authority, and can be powerful agents of transformation of our world, in his name. AMEN
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment