AND WITH AUTHORITY

AND WITH AUTHORITY In times of intense crisis we are often given leaders who steer us through. Americans revere the memory of President Abraham Lincoln who led the country through a civil war born of slavery and secession. There was a northern and southern USA for a while with a multitude of confused and opposing views on the burning issues of the day. He ended slavery and saved the union but it cost him his own life. He was assassinated as the war ended. In the lifetime of the elders among us we witnessed another leader, Winston Churchill, rally a despairing Britain to stand up to Hitler and fight. The enemy was at the gates but his speeches fired up his countrymen and women to resist and hold on even though for a time, the UK was the only country opposing the dictator who was virtually ruling Europe. He too was assassinated, but only politically, as the war ended. And it is not necessary to give even the barest details of what Nelson Mandela achieved by his focused and enduring intent on overcoming apartheid. Everyone knows it. What is common to these three leaders is a clear vision and enduring courage. If we study their lives before they became known and revered we find much searching of heart, many failures and a good deal of personal suffering. They did not flinch through fear of failing or being rejected. They thought little of their own comfort and security. They were not interested in power and wealth except in so far as it enabled them to serve the people. But the most vital thing about these leaders and so many other men and women in positions of authority is the effect they had, or have, on others. They generate hope. In all three cases the people they liberated were at a loss to know what to do. Most had just given up and sat and waited. They saw no solution. When these leaders came along they stirred something within; they released a power in people and enabled them to rise up and struggle against the evil that held them in thrall. When Moses told the demoralised people of Israel marooned in the desert of Sinai that God, ‘will raise up for you a prophet from among yourselves,’ he was promising just such a leader. This leader would give the people hope. He would enable them to see their own gifts and strengths, and develop and use them. This is the meaning of the word ‘authority.’ It comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to grow.’ Someone in authority has only one task: to help others to grow. Be they parent, teacher, local councillor, MP or president, they have basically this task. The Old Testament likes to use the word ‘shepherd.’ The shepherd’s only task is to lead the sheep to pasture and protect them from wild animals. That just about defines the role of those ‘in authority.’ So when the people of Capernaum observed the actions of Jesus we are told, ‘his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.’ Jesus releases energy in people, makes them aware of their gifts and helps them engage with courage in the issues troubling our world. 1 February 2015 Sunday 4 B Deuteronomy 18:15-20 1 Corinthians 7:3-35 Mark 1:21-28