Ambae, academia and some thoughts on authority

We were having pastoral group lunch yesterday, as we try to do on the last Friday of every month. We share news, pray for one another, have a moan, have a laugh, eat....

Vanuatu flag - the chain of islands forms a kind of Y shape..

Chatting with Fr Anthony Ling from Vanuatu (who appears in this photo to have been relegated to the mat behind the small cupboard as though in some kind of naughty corner), he was saying that his government has ordered the compulsory evacuation of Ambae island, home to about 11,000 people, because of volcanic rumblings. It's where he went to school. Vanuatu's population is about 280,000 people and cyclones and earthquakes are part of life as it sits on what's called the Pacific’s 'ring of fire', a series of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean. The Anglican Church of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, has instructed that its church properties should be used by families evacuated from Ambae and Vanuatu Christian Council Secretary General Pastor Shem Temar, has called on all churches to cooperate among themselves and work in harmony with the Government 'to ensure the spiritual and physical unity and safekeeping of the people in evacuation centres on Ambae in the current Manaro volcanic eruption.' Spare a prayer please.

From Vanuatu to Kiribati... One of PTC's PhD researchers, Rev Ruteru, gave a presentation this week to faculty and fellow researchers. I used to have to do that at Spurgeon's College, back in the days. It's a great discipline in terms of getting feedback and critical questions to help the work move along and shape up, but it can be a knee-trembling experience. The topic under scrutiny in Ruteru's case is

Sheep Stealing, Reef Crossing or Tidal Waves? A Comparative Historical Analysis of the Declining Membership of  the Kiribati Uniting Church compared with the Growing Membership of the Roman Catholic Church in Kiribati.

It involves a lot of statistical analysis, so I take my hat off to him for having the patience for all that. And here's how he references the title's key terms.

 ‘sheep stealing’[1] or ‘reef crossing’[2] or ‘tidal waves’[3]

---

[1]William Chadwick used this phrase for attracting and converting church members of another denomination (2001, 1).

[2] During low tide at ocean side, a fisherman can walk from the land onto the reef, and cross to the deep ocean for fishing. When it is getting to high tide, the fisherman swims back onto the reef and walks back to the land. This is known as ‘reef crossing.’ Likewise, if a believer from one church leaves behind his/her church and chooses a new church it is addressed here as ‘reef crossing.’

[3] If the loss of membership happens in a church because of particular issues such as fertility rate, immigration, etc., it is addressed here as ‘tidal waves'. 

So if you're reading this from the perspective of another place and another declining Church denomination, what's been going on? Any of those three?

I've received a kind invitation from the Fiji Corrections Service to give some theological input on the theme of Restorative Justice at their regional Conference coming up in November. So, a bit of thinking, planning and prayer needed for that and it's humbling to be approached. Over the years I've had connections with Prison Christian Fellowship, but not so much here in Fiji. However Prison Chaplaincy is alive and well through the denominations, not least the Methodists, so plenty of Fijian brains to pick, thank goodness.

Do you know this lovely hymn by Martin Leckebusch?

1.  In an age of twisted values we have lost the truth we need;

In sophisticated language we have justified our greed;

By our struggle for possessions we have robbed the poor and weak -

Hear our cry and heal our nations; your forgiveness Lord we seek.

2.  We have built discrimination on our prejudice and fear;

Hatred swiftly turns to cruelty if we hold resentments dear.

For communities divided by the walls of class and race

Hear our cry and heal our nations: show us Lord, your love and grace.

3.  When our families are broken; when our homes are full of strife;

When our children are bewildered, when they lose their way in life;

When we fail to give the aged all the care we know we should -

Hear our cry and heal our nations with your tender parenthood.

4.  We who hear your word so often choose so rarely to obey;

Turn us from our wilful blindness, give us truth to light our way.

In the power of your Spirit come to cleanse us, make us new:

Hear our cry and heal our nations till our nations honour you.

We sang it in Friday Chapel but I chose a tune we sometimes use for a much loved Samoan hymn, Faafetai I Le Atua. See - it's all on this blog isn't it? Even free worship resources. Am I good to you or what?!

And here's the sermon. As ever, all comment and critique most gratefully received.

Matthew 21:23-32 (NRSV)  The Authority of Jesus Questioned

23 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?” 24 Jesus 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. 25 Did 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?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So 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.

The Parable of the Two Sons

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.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which 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. 32 For 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.

It seems that the leaders of the people haven’t listened to the people. At least that’s the way Matthew’s Gospel wants to angle it: the story Matthew wants us to hear. Pretty often in this Gospel we’re told that the crowds grasped a vital message: the λαός (laos) in the Greek, where we get the word ‘laity’ from. But the ἀρχιερεύς (archiereus) – think ‘hierarchy’, in this case the chief priests, and the πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros), think ‘presbyter’ – sometimes translated ‘priest’, but in this part of the gospel read ‘elders’ - didn’t get the message. Terms for leadership in the New Testament can get a bit brain twisting and it makes me wonder whether any of it will actually matter in the slightest, when the Kingdom comes. 

We can't escape the fact that Matthew’s Gospel spends quite a bit of time criticising Jewish religious leadership and praising ordinary people. His criticism is sometimes very hostile, accusatory and insulting. In chapter 3.9, Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Hardly respectful and reverential towards our great Father Abraham. In chapter 16.21, Jesus must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes. And in 20.18 the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death. We have to be alert and sensitive to that accusatory, anti-Jewish angle, and how it's been used at worst to fuel anti-Semitism. It’s also key to remember that Matthew is writing towards the end of the first century. Rome has already destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and we’re in the period after that. There’s a tremendous amount of tension around between those who’d come to follow Christ from a Jewish background, in contrast to Gentile Christians who had no knowledge of synagogue formalities, little interest in circumcision, food laws, sacrificial obligations etc. So at this time in history, Gentile Christians too were being ostracised, oppressed and persecuted by Jewish Christians for flouting the conventions. That doesn’t justify use of this Gospel by preachers and teachers to ostracise, oppress or persecute anyone – then or now! The background just reminds us that Matthew’s Gospel gives us a window onto a tense bit of New Testament history: its sadnesses and complexities. So, we lodge all that in our minds as we proceed. 

Nevertheless, we are still left with undeniable acclamation and praise in this Gospel, numerous times, for crowds getting the point when the hierarchy didn’t. What point did they get? Something about authority. In chapter 7.28-29, the crowds were astounded at Jesus’s teaching because he taught with authority. In 9.8, after the raising of a paralysed man, the crowds were filled with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings. The human being in this case a rather alternative Rabbi, from Nazareth of all places. In chapter 21.9 the crowds call him ‘Son of David’ – the one who comes in the name of the Lord – no greater authority. It would have been better for the leaders of the people if they’d listened to the people, don’t you reckon? The people recognised time and again God’s authority flowing from the life and ministry of Jesus. 

Not only did the crowds recognise Jesus’s authority: before that, they’d given the thumbs up to John the Baptist too. In chapter 3.5 we’ve heard about him drawing the crowds. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 

Now that’s quite a crowd. It covers a fair bit of territory, including Jews, Gentiles, even Samaritans. A diversity of people latched onto this unusual source of authority. They grasped that John the Baptist, strange and hairy and loud and chewing locusts – not betel nut like the Melanesian preference - dripping wet because he was in and out of the river all the time and with one relentless message to give you earache – Repent and be baptized! – was God’s prophet. Jesus confirms this when teaching the crowds in chapter 11. 8. What did you go out to see in the wilderness? You were expecting that God had sent one of the ‘hierarchy’ to prepare the way for the Messiah, weren’t you? All dressed up in ‘soft robes’, as one translation has it. That makes me think of how many of us will look at College Graduation Day in a few weeks, all floating around in silk and velvet and in funny hats in an attempt to convince the world we know something: that we have some kind of intellectual authority. God appears to have chosen different sorts of authority figures in Matthew’s Gospel: a loud and hairy prophet for one, picking bits of locust from his teeth. And it’s the ‘laos’ – the ordinary people – often the neediest and most rejected – the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the poor – who know God’s authority when they meet it, whether that be in the prophet John the Baptist or the Son of God himself. 

I believe that still happens today you know? Time and again. Ordinary people – and I don’t really like that phrase because we’re all simultaneously ‘ordinary’ and ‘special’ - know God’s authority when they meet it. They’re not blinded by our robes and our titles. It will become abundantly clear to them if leaders either in ‘soft robes’ or ‘camel’s hair’ act justly, love mercy and walk humbly: whether we love God and love neighbour as self. Authority in God’s way has an amazing way of revealing itself through some people. We don’t even need to ask for a CV or a transcript. 

Maybe that’s why Jesus isn’t so interested to play the question and answer debating game about authority with the chief priests and elders who want him to. See their furrowed brows and agonised faces. If we say this – this will happen. But if we say this… even worse! And it’s as though Jesus shakes his head and says to them, ‘If you can’t taste and see the authority of God before you, in John and his ministry of baptism and now in me, no clever debating will sort that out for you!’ 

Perhaps a parable might. If nothing else works, tell them a story. A story, in this case, about obeying or rejecting a Father’s authority. Which son recognised authority and did the will of his Father? ‘The first!’ said the hierarchy. No problems getting that message.

But it interests me, and I hope you too, that Jesus, when he unpacks the parable before them, from verse 31, doesn’t even use the vocabulary of ‘first son’ or ‘second son’. The one who got it right; the one who recognised authority and did the will of his Father, was the one who changed his mind. So, by implication, you leaders haven’t changed your minds, and that’s why you’re in a bit of a mess. 

And so we’re prompted to ask a big question, of all our nations, wherever they are – by all means start with Britain; and of all our churches whatever denomination they are; and of ourselves, whoever we are; and the big question is this. Can God’s authority be truly recognised and followed today without minds being changed? 

You decide. 

Amen.