What do they say? "When it rains it pours."
Certainly seemed to be the case this week.
- Newspaper headlines trumpeted an American Court's sentence against Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones affair. He could be disbarred in Alabama.

- CBC television ran a docu-drama called "Dupplessis' Orphans." It featured a rather harsh look at the orphanage system run in the 60's by the Quebec government together with the Catholic church. Officials were shown in a most uncomplimentary light.

- CP news service reported on a controversy in the Nova Scotia Legislature. A former probation officer has been convicted of abusing 7 boys, and faces 135 other sex-related charges. Apparently some government official gave the former officer a good reference even after knowing about allegations of these activities.

Each of these events is dark in its own way. And each of them adds to the long litany of incidents over the last number of years that has served to make our population wary and even downright cynical about institutions and individuals who are authority figures in society. A poll this week showed that the least trusted people in Canada today are MP's.

We are a nation that doesn't really understand authority. And we certainly don't like it or respond to it well. Mention authority, and people will immediately develop negative thoughts.

Authority - defined as the right to expect obedience; the right to command and give final decisions.
Authority - which calls for a response of submission; the object voluntarily complying with the calls and directives of the authority figure.

We're actually raising a whole generation that has virtually no concept of proper authority. Ask any public school teacher and they'll tell you that. The authority of their public position, which even 15 years ago was respected, has eroded to nothing today. Students swear at or ignore their teachers, and the consequences are virtually nil. When action is sought, parents invariably threaten legal action and stymie the process.

What we DO understand is the concept of "rights" - individual rights. Freedoms. Personal choice.

And we understand power. Where a person or group can force another into unwilling submission through the act or threat of violence.

Authority calls for submission.
Power forces it.

The UN's authority to bring harmony in the world is ignored in the Balkans, so NATO moves in with power to try and force compliance.

Authority - stripped naked in Canada by the incredible fascination with personal rights AND by the legacy of people who have misused and abused authority vested in them, leaving the citizenry of our nation rightfully gun-shy.

Authority? "Hah", we say, "can't trust anyone."
Right?

All of which is going to make it hard for us to hear the Message from God's Word this morning. Because it is about precisely this - authority.
Right authority.
Authority in our lives.
Authority calling for our submission.

So - what do you think?
Can we give it a try?
I'd like to invite you to join me in reading a passage about authority and power at work in nature and in the lives of those who encountered Jesus. It's a passage that speaks very directly about authority and power as we will encounter it in our lives, also.
 
 

A centurion, fever, demons, a teacher, disciple, wind and waves and a town full of people. Each in their own way encounter Jesus and His holy authority and power.

The Centurion is first. Centurions, we're told, were the backbone of the Imperial Roman army. They were stationed throughout the empire and had the authority of the Emperor to conscript local citizens into the service of Rome. They became the connecting points between the province and the capital. Their word was final, and disobeying them was tantamount to disobeying the emperor. He expected, and received, the obedience of the population at large and the soldiers in his command. He had authority.

He also knew authority when he saw it in others. Including Jesus. Leading him to do something that apparently astonished even Jesus (v.10). "Lord, just say the word, and my servant will be healed." This was a man of great influence, and yet he saw Jesus as something far greater yet than he. He doesn't want to put Jesus out. He openly acknowledges that Jesus has great power over forces of nature and well-being, and submits his life and the life of his servant beneath that of Jesus.
He bows to Jesus' authority.

And his humble submission has stood through the centuries as a monument of submissive faith - faith that says, "Lord, just say the word. In my life, and my circumstances just say the word. What you want and where you want it - say the word."

I mentioned that this sort of attitude is something we have trouble with today. We're the sort of people that'd far rather double check, get a second opinion, come to our own conclusions and make our own decisions rather than give a carte blanche to someone else.
"Just say the word"?
I don't think so.

Apparently we've got some company, even among those who like to think of themselves as being part of the community of faith, because Jesus talks about people who seem for all intents and purposes to be in the kingdom ending up on the outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In other words ending up in an eternity of frustration and dark separation from God and Himself.

The authority of Jesus - the Centurion saw it. Great enough that one word was sufficient to cause the forces of sickness to flee from the body of the servant even though he was some distance away. "Just say the word."

The centurion submitted. He would follow and do whatever Jesus said. Unqualified obedience. And as this man surrendered, he found the power of Jesus flowing through his life and the life of his servant.
He found that when he let go of the control of his life, a new source of living and joy and hope was given to him.
He was given a choice - chose "Lord, just say the word" - and received the blessing of life.

Two other characters in Matthew 8 also faced the authority of Jesus. But they're much more hesitant. Each has an excuse to put things off for a while. "Lord, you can say the word..... but not quite yet; not quite that way, please."
And the response of Jesus makes it clear that His divine patience runs pretty thin for that kind of waffling around;
for that kind of "yes, but" response.

And then there are other encounters. Only these are not encounters with the authority of Jesus. These are encounters with the power of Jesus. The forces of sickness, of nature, and of demons - they face the power of Jesus. When Jesus speaks to them there is no opportunity to choose. They have no opportunity to accept and submit to Jesus' authority as the centurion and the other two people could. They had no opportunity to reject Jesus.
When Jesus encountered sickness, when He spoke to the forces of nature, when He addressed demons He issued commands. He spoke from a position of pure power.
They were forced to submit;
forced to obey.
 

From a distance Jesus addresses the paralysis in the servant and it left.
The fever left Peter's mother.
Demons were cast out with a single word.
A host of demons, strong enough to cause chaos to the economy of an entire town, have no choice but to obey the Son of God.

Power. Pure and simple.

The citizens in the region of the Gadarenes see that power and it scares them. So much that they beg Jesus to leave.
Oh - later we read of them responding positively when He returns. But in this first encounter, the extent of His power is a frightening thing. It's no small matter.

The power and authority of Jesus.

With all spheres of the Cosmos Jesus works from His position of power. Obedience is demanded. There is no option.

But with humanity it is different. With humanity Jesus has chosen to work from a position of authority. He calls for our submission. He invites our obedient response. And He gives us a choice.

As He said to those around Him, so He says to us today - v.22: "Follow me."
And we have to choose.
Just as people in the Old Testament time of Joshua were called, "Choose this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15)

"Follow me."

Understand that Jesus isn't the only one who issues that call.
I can't help but think of a group that we've given huge authority to. That is advertisers. They send us a constant stream of messages about what to eat, what to wear, what to do for fun..... and when. "Come, follow me" they say.
And we do!

But, answer me honestly - does submitting our lives to the authority of the advertising agencies gain us appreciable peace? Do we sleep better because of it? Is our conscience more settled? Can we face our old age or eventual death and the eternity that looms beyond it with any greater certainty? Do we feel any better about our valid and worthwhile place in society because of it?

Or - bucking authority altogether. Just doing our own thing.
Where does that get us?
My brother just got back from a trip to Liberia where he's working on a development project to install safe drinking water supplies in villages. The chaos he reports from that nation, and from neighbouring Sierra Leone is unbelievable. The citizens have rejected and overthrown the authority of government, and the result is a nation in ruins.
We've all see the images from Rwanda where the same thing is happening.

I tell you - though it may not be as dramatic, the same sort of eventual thing happens in our own lives when we try to live with no authority except our own self-interest.

I heard recently of a young mother with a child who was constantly bucking the family system and her authority. So one day, faced with a son who didn't want to get out of bed and go to school, she declared a "do your own thing day." Everyone could do whatever they felt like.
Well, eventually the boy came down for breakfast... but there wasn't any. Mom didn't feel like making it. He went to go and ride his bike. It was gone, because his sister felt like taking it for a ride. It went downhill from there, but by the end of the day he got the point.

Earlier in this service we had the privilege of watching Vicki make a choice.
She has heard Jesus say, "Follow me" and she has chosen to respond.
She has submitted her life to His authority - "Just say the word, Lord" is the theme of her life, and of her buddy Josh as they prepare for a life of marriage together.

Vicki - I'm delighted for you. And want to publically reassure you that you've made a choice which you'll never have to second guess, or worry about. The authority to which you've chosen to submit will never be like those authority figures I mentioned earlier - ones that will turn out to be back stabbers or cheats.
You've chosen to submit your life to an authority figure who also made a choice;
a powerful authority figure who chose to lay down His very life as a sin sacrifice in order to gain forgiveness for you, and a place in the family of God - a place as a daughter of God.
Remember Good Friday, and Easter?

The rest of us are also given that same choice.
Jesus has no desire to crush or take advantage of the centurion, or the people in the Gadarenes....... or Vicki.... or you.... or me.
His desire is to give us hope, an eternal future, strength for the bumps and obstacles in the road of life that all of us will inevitably face, a forever friend - powerful friend - along the way.

A choice.
Oh - one day that opportunity will come to an end.
One day Jesus is going to return. And then every knee will bow, says the Bible. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. We will have no more choice at that point that demons or illness or wind & waves.
That is the moment beyond choice. The moment when our eternal destiny is set forever.

But today - right now - at this moment
we have a choice.

A choice with an authority figure that is fully trustworthy.
Lifegiving.
Future ensuring.

Vicki, you along with the centurion have blazed the trail.
The challenge for the rest of us is to follow.