The Rev. Leah D. Schade
Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA
January 29, 2006 
“Authority”
Text:  Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Mark 1:21-28

Our first reading begins today with Moses giving instructions to the people of Israel about prophets.  He tells them that God will raise up prophets for them, and that they should listen to what the prophets say and do what they command, because it is actually God speaking through the prophets.

But in verse 21, he asks the important question that’s on their minds.  “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?”  In other words, how can we tell the difference between a true prophet of God, and one that is false?  How can we know who to trust?

This is a very timely question, because one of our Confirmation students asked this same question recently.  Some of you may have noticed that during sermons they fill out these Sermon Outlines.  There is one section where they can write down any questions that come up for them during of the sermon. 

And one of their questions was -- “How can I know whom to trust?  How can I figure out who to believe and who to follow?” 

This is an excellent question.  Because there are so many competing forces vying to have authority over teens these days, trying to get them to listen and do what they say.  Just think of all the voices competing for the attention of a teenager in a day’s time. 

They wake up in the morning and hear their parents talking at them over the breakfast table. 
     They ride the bus and go to school in the midst of hundreds of their peers, each      vying for attention and credibility.

In school, they receive instruction from teachers and read textbooks, each trying to convince the teen to pay attention to them and learn what they have to teach. 

They come home and turn on the t.v. and the computer, and are assaulted with thousands of websites, television shows, and advertisements, each vying for the attention of the teen, and trying to get them to purchase the product their hawking. 

And the technological devices themselves are competing for the teen’s attention.  Their eyes flick back and forth from their iPod to their cell phone to the t.v. to the computer screen, to their homework -- it’s enough to make adults dizzy! 

Of course these teens seem to just coast through this barrage of messages, surfing the waves with ease and grace.

And yet, when they sit in the pew and have time away from all these competing voices, and hear only the drone of the preacher up front, they distill one question:  “How do I know who to trust?” 

And let’s be honest, adults -- their question is our question, too.  How do we know whom to trust? 

It was a question that came up for the people around Jesus, too.  Here comes this man, fresh from the waters of the Jordan and the temptations of the wilderness, having just called some fishermen to follow him.  He goes straight to the synagogue at Capernaum and begins to teach.  And the bible says, “They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

This word for “authority” is the Greek word, “exousia”, and it’s a very interesting word.  It means “ability and strength”, as what a ruler would exercise over the people.  But mostly it has to do with power and influence, the ability to exert one’s will on others.

To say that Jesus, this no-name guy who just shows up out of nowhere has more authority than the scribes who went to seminary and were ordained and were officially recognized as the religious authorities -- well, this is a shocking development.

What was different about Jesus?  What set him apart from the scribes?  What was it about him that inspired more confidence and trust from the people than the prophets and religious leaders they were supposed hear and obey?  How was it that Jesus had more authority than the scribes?

It has to do with the kind of authority that Jesus exercised.  You see, there are two kinds of authority:  vertical authority and horizontal authority.

Vertical authority comes from the top down.  It’s hierarchical.  Its power comes by virtue of the position it has been assigned or claimed for itself up here at the top.  The scribes had vertical authority.

Now, vertical authority is not bad.  We need vertical authority in order to carry out the tasks of a civilized society.   Governments and corporations, churches, schools and the military all use this chain-of-command kind of hierarchy.  It is useful for the peaceful ordering of society. 

But it can go bad.  Here’s when it gets tricky -  when people in the hierarchy seek to control you without getting to know you.  That’s when you need to be careful.   Those in vertical authority who seek to impose their will on you without even trying to establish a relationship with you need to be scrutinized.  Also, those who use their authority for personal or material gain without having your best interests at heart are to be suspect.

I’ll give you an example of vertical authority that is abused.  Back in the fall, Pat Robertson, the televangelist, came on the show “The 700 Club” predicting catastrophe for the little town of Dover here in Pennsylvania because they voted out school board members who wanted to impose the teaching of “creationism” in the public schools.  He spoke with authority and invoked the name of God to call down retribution on these people.  I don’t remember his exact words but he said something close to this: “Don’t be surprised if disaster strikes your town.  You have put aside God, now God will put aside you.”

This man was speaking from vertical authority.  He assumed the role as God’s prophet and proceeded to call down retribution because the people did not vote the way he thought they should have voted.  He spoke with authority.  He invoked the name of God.  And he took a decidedly top-down approach to all who listened to him. 

But here’s the problem.  He doesn’t even know the people of Dover.  He has demonized them and has not even taken the steps to find out what kind of people they are.  And this particularly riled me because my hometown of York is right next to Dover.  I have friends and family who live in Dover.  He knows nothing of who they are, what kind of lives they lead.  He used his vertical authority in a very problematic way.  And if I were to send a message to the people of Dover, it would be this verse from Moses’ words to the Israelites: “If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.”

You see, when a prophet has a word from God, the truth needs to be spoken in love.  And that’s the difference between vertical authority and horizontal authority.

Horizontal authority comes from relationship.  Its power comes not from its position at the top, but from the relationship it has with others.  A person with horizontal authority has earned their power from being in a trusted relationship with the other person. 

And this is what set Jesus apart in this passage from Mark.  When the man with the unclean spirit approached Jesus, Jesus could have done what the scribes and all the other religious authorities would have said to do - ignore him, refuse to engage him, demonize him, and keep him isolated from everyone else.  Vertical authority was not interested in this man as a person, only in demonizing him and keeping him quiet.

But Jesus did not ignore this man.  He engaged him.  He spoke to him.  He entered into relationship with this man - something that no one else had dared to do.  And it was because Jesus chose to take this man seriously and engage him on a personal level that the unclean spirit had no choice but to obey Jesus’ command to come out of the man. 

Of course Jesus had vertical authority - he was God’s Son.  But here he exercised horizontal authority.  And that is what makes the difference. 

Horizontal authority comes from being in relationship with a person, so that there is a high level of respect and trust.  Now, horizontal authority can also be abused, as we know from parents who abuse their children, from the stories of priests who molested young boys.  So here is the criteria for authentic horizontal authority:

The person has earned your trust by being in relationship with you, by showing respect to you as a person, by honoring who you are and always keeping your best interest at heart.  They have no ulterior motive.  Their authority comes from their love and care of you.

Now I’ll give you an example of horizontal authority with a modern-day version of this story of the man with the unclean spirit.  Earlier this week I was at City Team, and I sat down to have dinner with the people after the service was over.  One of the men in the drug rehab program came over and talked with me.

Now drug addicts are demonized in our society.  This guy used to be like the man with the unclean spirit in the Gospel.  He was a big man with a booming voice.  I knew he was there because he was recovering from drug addiction.  He was a person who my upbringing would have told me was a demon, and that I should denounce and steer clear of.  But as I talked with him, engaged in a relationship with him, I saw how horizontal authority had affected this man. 

He told me he had been at City Team for close to a year, and that it was through his commitment to following Jesus and reading the bible that he was able to get out from under the demon of drugs.  He said, “I learned from reading the bible that I need to repent, restore, reconcile and rebuild.”  He put himself under the authority of God and those who worked in the program in the name of God. 

Now the program is very strict in its demands of him.  They tell him when he must get up in the morning, when he must go to bible study, what he must do to earn time outside the program.  They have authority over him.  But he knows he can trust these people when they speak to him with authority, because they had no ulterior motives.  They have established a relationship with him, and he knows he can trust them because they have his best interest at heart.  He said he didn’t know if the demon had left him permanently.  All he knew was that he had tried everything else to exorcise the demon, but only when he submitted to the authority of Jesus and those who ministered in his name did it make the difference in his life.

So let me address the young person who asked this original question:  “How can you know whom to trust?”   

You probably can trust your parents - even if you disagree with them, you know that they meet the criteria of horizontal authority.

You know other adults who meet this criteria.  You know which teachers who have no trouble with discipline because they have earned your respect.  You trust them, and you would probably do anything they ask because their authority doesn’t come from their position.  It comes from the relationship they have with you.

You know which friends you can trust, the ones who can influence you to do the right thing.  Because you trust them.  They have proven themselves to you.  They’re not using you to be popular or to boost their own ego.  They genuinely care about you.

You know you probably can’t trust advertising and most of the media you encounter because, even though it has a very close relationship with you, it is only using you to make money.  Their interest in you only goes as far as getting you to buy their product.

But I will admit that even with having this criteria, it is no easy task figuring out who to trust.  And so whether you are a young person, or an adult, no matter what your context -- if you need help discerning - by all means ask God for guidance. 

Because God is the ultimate horizontal and vertical authority (point to large cross above altar – horizontal and vertical lines).  God established a relationship with you from the moment you were conceived.  God affirmed that relationship in your baptism.  God has no other ulterior motive.  You are the motive.  Care and love of you is what God is all about.  And if you let yourself come under the authority of God, you will find yourself guided in a very powerful way.

Amen.