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Fear and Awe Mark 1:21 – 28; Psalm 111 Geena Davis received the Golden Globe award for best actress in a television drama recently. In the new TV show, “Commander in Chief,” Davis plays the President of the United States. As she accepted her award she told the story about a little girl who had tugged at her dress as she was walking the red carpet into the awards ceremony. The little girl looked at her with awe and wonder and said, ‘because of you, I am going to be the President of the United States someday!’ After the hearts of audience members melted a bit, Ms. Davis said, “Well, that didn’t really happen, but it COULD HAVE!” It reminded me of a personal – and true – experience I had years ago. A young family joined the church when their children were small. The children had never known another congregation. One day the little girl said to her parents: “I know what I am going to be when I grow up!” They were surprised with her sudden assurance – because she had been contemplating this often asked question. “You know, how I have been trying to think of something that only girls can do — well, I am going to be minister just like Suzanne!” Cute as it was and wonderful that her perspective was, of course, skewed by limited experience, it made a profound impression upon me about the responsibility of leadership. That child had been watching me, and was claiming (at least in those moments) a desire to emulate and hold as her own something she had seen in me. To that point I do not believe I had thought much about how others, especially pliable young children, learn from our behaviors. The more public we are the more we are watched, and there is power involved in these transactions. Assuming an office, a job, a leadership position carries with it a certain amount of authority and power. Positional power, however, is short-lived IF there is not authentic leadership generated as the person performs in that position. Successful leaders find the match between their gifts and positions that can allow for those gifts to flourish. That’s just good leadership theory and experience, and, thankfully, we all know many examples when positional and authentic power and authority mesh. We also know of the unfortunate examples in which men and women are put into positions of leadership and do not have the ability to actualize true authority in those positions and, therefore, fail as leaders. The not so common showing of authority is when it comes outside a position or job or responsibility. That’s what our Gospel story is about today. This passage finds Jesus still very early in his ministry. He is not yet known. He does not have any position of teaching. He has not been called to any post of healing ministry. And, of course, neither of these ever happens! Yet he walks into the synagogue, teaching and healing, and the people were filled with awe and fear. THIS man had true authority. THIS man had authentic power. THIS man was filled with something the crowds had not seen before. The Gospel writer, Mark, frequently sets up Jesus as a teacher. He doesn’t, however, often describe his teaching or include (as the other Gospel writers) a recounting of the specific points of his teaching. The important aspect of Jesus’ teaching for Mark is the authority he brings to it and how the crowds realized that authority immediately. Jesus had an authority outside any teaching or healing position of ministry — in days of 2000 years ago and in days of this time. His authority comes from the absolute integration of God within his person. That divine authority could not — would not — and will not go unnoticed. It was realized by the people in his presence; it was realized by the unclean spirit within the man; it is realized by us today when we see, feel and sense it. Divine authority is not merely expressed in words or specific acts. Jesus’ words can be repeated. His teachings can be remembered and taught and expressed in various ways. We can teach, preach and mutter good thoughts and important sayings. We can also do good deeds, act kindly, and even perform acts of justice. All those activities may be genuine and beneficial. None of them, however, is able to totally define the authority and power of Jesus Christ. God’s power — and that of Jesus Christ — is revealed when the words and deeds are linked to accomplished acts, transformed people, enlivened congregations. God’s authority is rarely discerned in isolation. As Mark was clear in his writing, it was not one or two people who were awed by Jesus it was the crowds and increasing numbers of people in those crowds. Divine authority is never about the building up of one person over another. It does not make one person look smarter or better. In fact, it is NOT about individual strength or power at all. This was something Jesus fought all throughout his ministry. As those crowds became awestruck and fearful of his amazing power, they quickly sought to revere, exalt and worship him. Jesus always shifted that reverence to God — the true source of his authority and power. Anyone in a leadership position will strive to mesh their positional authority with the gifts they have. This is true in business, politics, education, and the church. Those of us in church leadership have the added responsibility and dangerous possibility that we are also seeking divine authority to inspire and lead us. It is there for the asking — not there for the taking. Jesus rarely claimed it, but the crowds knew it when they saw it. All of us who call ourselves Christian have the same power available to us (in smaller doses). It is ours for the asking — not the claiming. Others will know when it is realized through us. As congregations, as individuals, as committees and boards and departments within the church there is always the possibility of the immensity of divine authority empowering our work and decisions. It is available for the asking, for the discerning, for the prayerful questing. Every time we make a major decision in our lives, every time we make a decision within the congregational life for a new program, a way to use our resources, building and money, extending a call to a minister, we have the possibility of tapping divine power. We best not abuse that by claiming it when we truly have not asked for it; by asserting we have it merely because of positions in which we serve. or by believing we have it merely because we know we are right. The crowds around Jesus were awed by his authority because it was genuine. The people who followed Jesus were amazed by him because his power came from God. Those of us who follow him today do so because of the authenticity we know of him. People are watching us each day — because we are Christians, because we are Christian leaders. May they be moved and amazed at the witness we make. May they be moved and amazed not because it is our own, or about ourselves but because it comes from the divine authority we are seeking, the divine guidance we are enlisting, the divine love we are receiving. SW |
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