Gotcha Moments and Driving Authority

 Dearest e-votees-  

I don't know if you noticed (probably have) but there is a rather vicious political climate with adversaries seeking to take down one another with ensnaring questions, sound bites and slanted coverage.  The closer we get to the election, towards milestone numbers of deaths due to COVID-19 and to sorting out what to do with a recently vacated Supreme Court seat the more vicious and devolved the interactions become.  What we need is level-heads, selfless and courageous discerning and communication and efforts that transcend the party and state lines.  What we have seems to be markedly different if not diametrically opposed.

If only we were back in the good old days of Jesus' time--a kindler simpler time when folks didn't resort to such chicanery--oh wait, that's not how it was.

Peace,

Karl

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In this Sunday's appointed Gospel text the chief priests and elders approach Jesus and ask:  "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"  (see Matthew 21:23)  Their authority is being threatened by Jesus and his ministry of healing, restoration and the ushering in of the reign of heaven.  Perhaps they are trying to find out the exact nature of the authority that empowers Jesus and threatens them.  Perhaps they're hoping to find a point of accusation or an Achilles' heel by which to take down Jesus.  If they can catch Jesus with an incriminating sound bite perhaps they can put him aside.  

Jesus is well aware of the games that are at play.  His ministry seemed full of people trying to catch him in a trap of one sort or another:  “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.  Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (The Scribes and the Pharisees in John 8:4-5)  “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?" (collectors of the Temple tax in Matthew 17:24)  "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.  Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”  (Pharisees and Herodians in Matthew 22:16-17).

Jesus manages, as he often does, to turn around the moment of decision onto those seeking to entrap him.  In the case of the woman taken in adultery he forces those present to figure out who is sufficiently sinless to cast the first stone (spoiler alert:  none of them).  In the case of paying taxes to the emperor or not he forces them to consider what ultimately belongs to God and what ultimately belongs to Caesar.  In the case of the temple tax Jesus seems to give them a break and simply (well, not so simply) has Peter pay the tax for each of them with a 4 drachma coin drawn miraculously from the mouth of a fish drawn out of the nearby lake.  In this Sunday's case he forces those questioning him to answer where did the authority come from in the baptisms John performed:  from human origin or divine origin?  He stymies the chief priests and elders.

Maybe the better thought is to stop trying to trap Jesus and instead question and examine ourselves.  Where does our authority come from?  To what are we called?  Who gives us this calling?  How are we to live out that calling in a way that is loving, helpful and truthful and brings glory to God?  

The world around us may call out our lives and how we carry ourselves in the world.  We can engage in fruitless debates or we can rest in the assurance that the call on our lives comes from our God and through our baptisms.  We can seek to entrap others in our own "gotcha!" moments or we can allow our lives to be captivated by the love and grace of God.  We can struggle against God (and do about as well as those who tangled with Jesus) or we can pray and trust that God will equip us to engage in important struggles in the world against powers and principalities, injustices and bigotries.  What do you think?

God, help us learn from and trust in you.  Help us be loving and gracious to a world that often is not.  Stir us to live into the callings you have placed on our lives.  Amen.