By What Authority?

Radical transformation wouldn’t be radical if it wasn’t stepping on someone’s toes. Only the upstarts are described as ‘radicals.’ Jesus was an upstart, and those in power — those who assumed a monopoly on righteousness — wanted to know by what authority Jesus did what he did. But this is the power of the doing of God’s work: When God calls Moses to act, to lead the people of Israel through the sea, there is no doubt who is doing what. ‘You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians (Exodus 6:7).’

Sunday Sermon | Second Sunday of Advent 2022

Telling hard truths seldom makes us friends. More often than not speaking the truth — especially to power — results in our banishment out into the wilderness. ‘Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel,’ declares the prophet Hosea. It is in the desert place, the wilderness, that God meets his people. He calls them there and from there he sends them. Let us not be afraid of the wilderness. It was into the wilderness Moses was called to encounter God on the mountain, and it was in the wilderness John and Jesus were prepared.