Who’s in Charge Here?
SUNDAY, November 5
Matthew 9:1-8
Have you ever stood patiently (or semi-patiently!) in line at a service desk when someone barged up to the clerk with an angry, “Who’s in charge here?” You may just want to go over and offer a lesson in common courtesy. This fits the scene in our passage today. Matthew’s account leaves out some of the dramatic details that Mark and Luke include of the man lowered from the roof into an overcrowded room. Instead, Matthew seems utterly focused on calling attention to Jesus’s authority. His detractors take issue with his assumed authority to forgive. Then Jesus confirms that authority with a healing. When the crowd sees it, they’re filled with amazement that God “had given such authority to human beings” (v. 8, NRSV). Might that still be true—that you and I are given authority by God to forgive and to heal?
Jesus, help me to steward the authority you give me to heal and forgive. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: HEALING OF THE PAINS WE CARRY
You’re Not the Boss of Me!
MONDAY, November 6
Matthew 21:23-27
Our theme this week as we move nearer the end of the church year is on God’s life-giving and life-altering authority. I don’t believe Jesus went around strutting that authority, do you? He only seemed to address it when forced by his detractors. Years ago our grandson Wyatt, who was about six, challenged his mother’s authority with, “You’re not the boss of me!” Our daughter Kate responded, “Oh, yes, I surely am the boss of you.” After a thoughtful pause, Wyatt with childlike logic retorted, “Well then, who’s the boss of you, Grandpa?” I guess he was intent on appealing to a higher authority! By not yet directly answering the chief priest and elders’ questions, Jesus makes clear here and elsewhere that his authority is displayed by his actions. Anyone can claim authority. Jesus backs up his ultimate authority with unquestionable demonstrations of it. (See also John 10:37-38.) How has Jesus demonstrated his authority in your life?
Jesus, unlike your detractors, I yield to you. AMEN.
By Their Fruits
TUESDAY, November 7
Matthew 21:28-32
Today’s passage is a continuation of yesterday’s where we saw Jesus refusing to answer the authority question of the priests and elders. At first, he challenged their question with one of his own, a common rabbinic means of instruction. Then, because they refused to answer him, he refused to answer them. Rudeness? No, it was simply an assertion of his appropriate authority to control the narrative. But then Jesus addresses their challenge in a revealing manner with a parable that outlines exactly what is going on here, which we call the parable of the two sons. The first son represents formerly disobedient, now repentant sinners who were coming to Jesus in droves; the second, the religious leaders who presumed their own righteousness but were now rejecting Jesus. It could not be clearer: true disciples are recognized and known both by God and others by their fruits—by the ethics, virtues, actions, and outcomes befitting their true devotion. That truth holds today.
Lord God, thank you for your call to repentance and obedience. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: WISDOM IN VOTING
Ordered Priorities
WEDNESDAY, November 8
Psalm 1
I recall the year we memorized Psalm 1 from the Living Bible, complete with actions, at our church’s vacation Bible school. Verse 1 says, “The joys of those who do not follow evil men’s advice.” Imagine our surprise to hear some of the children picking it up as not following “evil mens and mice.” Yes, that would also be true! Psalm 1 is all about ordered priorities, because recognizing, celebrating, and submitting to God’s authority in our lives has its perks. Go back and list the several priorities in the passage. The text also identifies some perks—strength, fruitfulness, even prosperity, though we need to be careful to define the latter rightly. The biggest perk? To be blessed by God (v. 1), that lovely Beatitudes word (Matthew 5:1-12). Is there anything better?
Father, your blessing is important to me. I commit to follow your ways. AMEN.
This Is Your Life
THURSDAY, November 9
Deuteronomy 32:1-5, 44-47
What comes to mind when you think of God’s authority? Do you think of God’s majestic power, God’s sovereign rule over all creation? Or do you consider God’s authority as judge, the One who will exact justice over all good and evil in the end times? Maybe you reflect on God as rule-maker, the One who knows best how to live and how not to live. Or do you think of God’s authority more personally, God’s sovereignty over you? God’s attention to justice or judgment in your life? Deuteronomy 32 presents what is known as the song of Moses. It contrasts in the national life of Israel the blessings of God with the consequences of disobedience and constitutes a sobering warning from Moses with an admonition to pursue God wholeheartedly. God is worthy of that. And we are worth that much to God. (See also Deuteronomy 30:19-20.) God’s life-giving authority is both macro, over all, and micro, over me.
God, your authority “is no trifling matter for [me/us], but rather [my/our] very life” (v. 47). AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: THOSE WHO ARE MARRIED
Authority—Positional or Earned?
FRIDAY, November 10
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Authority (uh-thawr-i-tee), n., the power to influence or command thought, opinion or behavior.
Deuteronomy 34 may be seen as Moses’s eulogy. Moses’s authority wasn’t based on a position he’d acquired, fought for, or seized; it was earned through faithfulness, through the school of spiritual hard knocks. His authority was bestowed by the Almighty. This authoritative power was first God’s before it became Moses’s. God’s authority is always life-giving. Whenever God gives authority to people, it brings life-altering consequences. As with Moses, the spiritual authority God gives today is not positional; it is earned through faithful discipleship, called out and bestowed by God, exemplified in the practice of the spiritual gift of leadership, and perhaps to be more specific, servant leadership. Who in your life do you trust in this way? Do others trust your authority?
Trusting others and leading others is hard these days, Lord. Help me. AMEN.
The Trusted Pastor
SATURDAY, November 11
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
The Apostle Paul has labored faithfully, sacrificially, and with integrity among the people of Thessalonica. Now he appeals to their better nature to listen to what he has to say. But one doesn’t have to be a Moses or a Paul to receive authority from God to lead. In my years serving as associate superintendent on the Midwest Conference staff, I found that the most healthy churches seemed to be the ones whose lay leaders had entrusted spiritual and strategic leadership to a good pastor. Of course, that pastor must have a commensurate worthiness of that trust, including accountability. With this in mind, if you read the passage as if your pastor had written it, how does that feel? To be congregational doesn’t mean we disregard God-given gifts of leadership. Trust in pastors’ authority should be our default. Tell your pastor when you next see her/him that you are grateful for their leadership.
God, thank you for my pastor(s). Anoint them for your service. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: MILTARY VETERANS
