Jesus was not afraid of anyone because his inner authority was so strong. In today's worship, let us consider how we too can develop inner authority.
Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, I am often unsure of myself and afraid of those with authority over me.
Lord, have mercy.Jesus, I am often unsure of myself and sometimes lord it over those under my authority.
Christ, have mercy.Jesus, I am often unsure of myself and unwilling to allow you access to my inner being.
Lord, have mercy.
Reading:
Matthew 21.23-32
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 26But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet." 27So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
Story:
In today's parable, Jesus contrasted the words and actions of two sons. One son was afraid of authority so told his father he would go to work, but did nothing. The other son had his own inner authority so refused to accede to his father's wishes, but later decided for himself to go to work.
In this story, Rory the dog listens to his inner authority and through this, saves lives.
Rory's Bark
"Rory! Do stop that barking! You're disturbing everybody!"
Rory took no notice. He was so excited at the creak of the gate and the squeak of the postman's shoes that he couldn't help himself. He simply had to bark.
"Right then!" scolded his owner. "Out you go until you learn to obey!"
The back door was opened and Rory was bundled unceremoniously out into the back garden. Not that he minded. Being out in the garden was almost as good as going for a walk, for there were thousands of different smells to investigate and hundreds of corners to sniff and dig.
Rory was soon so absorbed in exploring that he quite forgot to bark, so he was allowed back indoors. But whenever anyone opened the gate he started to bark once again. The noise was quite deafening, for Rory had a particularly loud bark.
During the day Rory found that he spent most of his time in the back garden, for he had no intention of obeying the order to stop barking. He enjoyed barking and especially enjoyed terrifying the cat with one, loud, well-placed bark, close to the cat's ear. That started a crescendo of miaows, screeches, woofs and barks. Rory was returned to the back garden, where the cat spat at him, arched her back and haughtily marched back inside through the cat flap.
Later, she hissed at Rory, showing him her claws. The cat was always indoors, seated in the most comfortable spot in the house, because she always immediately obeyed the orders of her humans. That meant that she was petted and cosseted and never thrown out into the back garden.
One night, Rory woke up suddenly. He always slept with one ear alert and something had triggered his wakefulness. He began to bark. The upstairs bedroom door was opened and with a muffled oath a slipper was flung down the stairs at Rory. It only just missed him and he shivered in fear.
He wasn't entirely sure why he was barking, but something inside him made him go on and on even when the bedroom door opened again and a volley of missiles was hurled at him. But still Rory barked and barked and barked. The cat was huddled in a corner pretending not to notice, while Rory went on barking louder and louder and louder.
Eventually there was the clattering of angry feet on the stairs. "I'll have you put to sleep for this, you good-for-nothing dog!" yelled a furious voice. But Rory continued to bark. By now he could smell something very strange and his barking took on a new intensity.
As his irate human grabbed his collar and made to throw him into the garden, Rory dug his feet into the floor and refused to budge. And then the human stopped and sniffed the air. "Why," he muttered. "I do believe " He let go of Rory's collar and padded into the kitchen, where he opened all the windows and the back door. But this time, he didn't throw Rory out.
Instead, he bent down and ruffled Rory's head, tickling his ears and stroking his hair. Rory was ecstatic. "Thank you, Rory," mumbled his human. "I do believe you've saved our lives. You must have smelled the gas leak. If you'd stopped barking as I told you to, we'd all have gone on sleeping - and never woken up again. Rory, you're a hero! I'll never stop you barking again!"
And Rory said, "Woof!"
Activity:
You need:
A selection of coins and some bank notes
A pack
of playing cards
Show the children the coins and the bank notes. Ask the children what the coins and bank notes are for (to buy things). Then ask why a shopkeeper should give you goods in exchange for a bit of metal or a piece of paper. Would any bit of metal or piece of paper do? Then show the children the bank notes, pointing out that each note says "I promise to give the bearer on demand ." This is what gives the bank notes their authority and by extension, what gives the coins authority. Other pieces of metal or paper don't have that authority so are worth nothing.
Now show the playing cards. Tell the children that for this game, the Aces are worth 4 points, the Kings are worth 3 points, the Queens are worth 2 points and the Jacks are worth 1 point. The cards bear that authority. Divide the cards equally between the children and play a game of "Strip Jack Naked" or "Beat your neighbours out of doors" or whatever the game is called in your region! (Go round, each player placing a card face up. If someone places as ace, the next player must lay down four cards. But if one of those cards is a jack, the next player must place one card, and so on. When a full complement of cards is placed following a picture or an ace, the player who placed the picture or ace takes all the cards that have been laid. Then that player starts the round again. The winner is the player who eventually takes the whole pack.)
Then talk about inner authority or inner worth. Tell the children that like bank notes or playing cards, we all have value. In God's eyes, we are all supremely valuable. Tell the children that we need to help our inner authority to grow, by learning to take responsibility for ourselves and by making our own decisions, but that we can only make reasoned decisions if we have listened to what other people say. Adults are usually (but not always) wiser than children, so we should listen to them and base our decisions on what they tell us. But God is the ultimate authority and has the most important voice. We should always follow his guidance and that will help us to develop our own inner authority.
Intercession:
God of authority, help us to work together in our church so that our decisions are joint decisions based on true knowledge. May we resist following one person simply because he or she is forceful and it's easier to agree than to face disagreement.
God of authority, give our politicians and world leaders inner authority so that they are able to make decisions which benefit all humanity. May they ignore the easy way out in favour of that which is right.
God of authority, give us the courage to make our own decisions. May we face the pain of refusing to go along with the crowd and learn instead to stand up for your way and your values.
God of authority, you have authority over disease and illness and we invoke that authority now on behalf of our friends and family members who are sick, praying for them
Blessing:
May God endow you
with courage
and inner strength.
And the blessing of God almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you now,
be in your homes and in your families
and with all those whom you love
and for whom you pray,
now and always.
Amen.
