When a policeman tells a driver to stop, he stops. The man in uniform is acting with authority. That authority is declared in the uniform, the number and the spread of electronic gadgetry that is required to manage today’s traffic.
There is another kind of authority that has nothing to do with labels, uniform or numbering. Nowadays it is likely to be styled self-confidence. Sometimes it is confused with brusqueness or impatience. This kind of authority has about it the suggestion that the person concerned knows what he is talking about. He knows he will not be contradicted by experts in the field. He is not minded to give way to someone who thinks he knows better.
We like to think of Jesus as meek and mild. We regard him as somebody with a sympathetic ear, an approachable demeanour. We may even classify him as one who would not say boo to a goose. This would be an unbalanced view of the representations we have in the Gospels. And this becomes clear before he cleanses the Temple or conducts formal arguments with those who order all that the Temple stands for. The last word in Jesus’ disclosure that we call the Sermon on the Mount is the impression he makes on his hearers. He teaches with a note of authority.
It might be a teacher telling a class that ‘comprise’ takes a direct object. It could be a physics teacher explaining the curious fact of surface tension. It cold be a maths teacher running through the numerology of pi. In each case a person who knows something about what is given as opposed to what opinion people hold is at stake. Stated with self-confidence, the ruling brooks no hesitation from an audience. They accept what they hear.
This is significant. We like people with authority to be wary of throwing their weight about. We expect some degree of self-deprecation. But if we believe Jesus to be God incarnate, the case is altered. It can hardly be otherwise. The Sermon on the Mount moves from benefits to obligations. That is a journey we might expect to be full of surprises.
ALL-INCLUSIVE
Four congregations are working together at St Edmund’s and St James’s, Whalley Range, Manchester. All ages, all cultures, all ethnic backgrounds are represented. The ministry team is led by Tony Hardy. One member of the congregation tells of losing her husband, being invited to a coffee morning, then to the Sunday morning worship – and ‘Now I’m a different woman.’
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