Under Authority, With Authority

"Just say the word and my servant will be healed.  I'm also a man appointed under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes.  I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and the servant does it."  When Jesus heard these words, he was impressed with the centurion.  He turned to the crowd following him and said, 'I tell you, even in Israel I haven't found faith like this.' "  Luke 7:7b-9 (CEB)

I think this experience, Jesus with the centurion, is crucial for anyone who calls himself or herself a disciple of Jesus Christ.  For, in it the centurion boldly recognizes what many of us fail to recognize, or at best wrestle with, the length of our spiritual journey.  Jesus is a man who lives in the balance of being under authority and wielding authority.  The centurion is a man who lives in the balance of being under authority and wielding authority.  We have evidence of Jesus living in that balance with grace and courage even when his expression of authority is challenging to the reader of the Word (even more so to the one who decides to follow).  We don't have evidence of the centurion doing that, but the One who can and did discern the thoughts and attitudes of those who come to him is impressed.  Just lip service by the centurion?  I don't think so.

Leaves me wondering ... what does it look like for you and me, regular Joes and Janes, to live under authority?  Two things, just to get started:

• I'm not THE authority on anything no matter how long I've walked with Jesus, how deep my education, or THAT I've been ordained to work on His behalf.  My experience, and so my knowledge, are limited at best.  So, not everything or everybody is my business.
• I have been, according to scripture, been gifted with skills, talents, passions that are from God and, along with the fruits that the Spirit is growing in me, I am called and blessed to serve. But, I'm not ALL that ... there are great gaps in what I bring and what I do.  It's my responsibility and privilege to receive what others bring to our common work and to celebrate how God works outside of me, too.

I would suggest that if we never learn how to live under the authority of our Creator-Redeemer-Sustainer, we will never get to the place of living out our authority with grace and Divine boldness.  Living under authority is not the same as living under the thumb of a demanding God who cares little about the spirit and soul of His underlings but neither is it behaving like a spoiled brat who never gets past asking (demanding) what he/she wants and pouting, even running away from home for some length of time, because you or I didn't get what we want.

Once we can begin to figure out what living UNDER authority looks and feels like, we are expected to live OUT OF the authority that's been shared with us as those-who-follow-Jesus.  Jesus gave his first disciples the authority to cast out demons, to heal, and to speak transforming Truth when they were sent out in Jesus' name.  I'm thinking our marching orders are the same.  Yes, we're to make disciples (not members!!), baptizing and teaching them.  Are we teaching and modeling a tender-yet-bold way of living out our authority ... listening to people, loving people, but never fearing to speak the Truth, the bind and cast out all that is not of God, claiming healing and wholeness in the name of Jesus, and trusting His peace?  Seems to me you can't speak the Truth if you don't know it, you can't give away that of God that you have not experienced, and you cannot claim for another person that of which you are not convinced is God's dream for each of us.

Guess we've gotta work on that ... if we're gonna get this authority balance down.

Lord Jesus, I cannot do what you do.  Yet, you invite me, push me, trust me to try.  Like Peter climbing out of the boat, I would rather figure it out and know how the healing, the truth-telling, the bold living, and the water-walking is gonna work BEFORE I step out there.  I am coming to understand that living under your authority is a simply a life of surrender ... I give you my heart, my mind, my hands and feet and mouth so that through me you can love this world in all the ways it needs to be loved.  I know that means I'll change in the process.  For in surrendering I will know a new power from you, through you, that will propel me to love you more deeply, think like you, love like you as I stay connected to you.  I'm getting it ... in surrendering to your authority, you enable to live with your authority.  Help me keep that straight, my Savior, that your authority is a gift, not a perk and it all begins with surrender.  I place myself under your authority, Jesus, even now.  Amen.