2021.01.31 | Authority Issues
“Authority Issues”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Jan 31, 2021
Mark 1:21−28 (NRSV)
Anyone who has been paying attention to the news these days, can see that our nation has authority issues. Consider reactions to the results of the November 2020 General Election.
According to a USNews report published on Nov 18, 2020 and a story published by Northeastern University on Dec 11, 52% percent of all Republicans believe that former President Trump was re-elected or--they think the reason he lost was because the election was rigged.
A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey published on Dec 8, 2020 suggested that Americans have a little more faith in our election systems, but not much. The NPR poll indicated that 60% of all Americans trusted the results of the General Election, but that sadly only 25% of all Republican voters trusted the results.
Stated conversely, 40% of all Americans and 75% of all Republicans distrust the results of the 2020 General Election. This is not good.
Even more troubling than the degree of distrust that exists about the election is the stubbornness with which doubt and the disbelief of “scientific facts” hover over our nation like the Great Smog of 1952 hovered over London. And, sadly, this smog's ability to obscure people’s vision and their ability to accept facts is deeply troubling.
This smog may be the biggest problem confronting the Biden Administration. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m slow to warm when it comes to politicians, and I have no doubt that our election system is flawed. But I’ve accepted the results--especially in light of the six closely observed recounts in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. President Biden won all six states, fair and square.
So how is it, after losing 6 state recounts and 61 of 62 lawsuits, anyone of sound mind still questions which candidate won the Presidential race?
Answer: lots of Americans have authority issues. Many Americans don’t know who or what to believe any more. Forget politics for a hot minute if you can, and notice what a mess our nation is in with this pandemic. Despite the fact that wearing a mask is one of the three scientifically proven ways of reducing the spread of the virus, many people in our country have yet to adopt this practice or only wear a mask if required to by their employer, or a greeter or guard at the door of a business or public building. Why?
Some commentators chalk up “mask resistance” to the narcissistic or civil libertarian impulses existent in American culture. (Such sentiments foster comments such as these: I don’t like masks. I don’t look good in masks. Masks are uncomfortable. My glasses fog up when I wear a mask. Masks mess up my lipstick, my hair, and my lifestyle. Hey, I’m a free person. I have rights! Nobody’s going to make me wear a mask! I’ll wear one if I want to wear one, and not until...)
Ralph E. Hardy, one of Eden’s CI/CT investigators, wrote and performed an original poem for AC Supervisor Valle’s poetry slam last month that addressed this concern. The poem offered a helpful antidote to persons with self-centered attitudes about masks. Ralph’s poem is titled, “It’s Not About Me.” He’s right. Wearing masks isn’t about me. It’s about us. It’s about taking care of all of us, and showing respect and care for ourselves and others.
II
To be sure, we live in a country whose culture tilts toward narcissism and individualism, but that’s not all, and it’s not new. Something else is going on. Something else has happened. A recent story featured in “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio offers some insights into this resistance to truth if not outright rejection of scientific fact.
During his show on Monday, January 25, 2021, reporter Jim Mclean compared the way that residents of Protection, Kansas responded to a polio vaccine in 1957 with the way that current residents are responding to COVID-19 and the prospect of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.
Protection, Kansas was the first U.S. town to vaccinate 100% of its population for polio. Compare that fact with the fact that many in the town today are flat out refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. When reporter Jim Mclean asked a local rancher who was raised in Protection, Kansas named Steve Herb how he accounted for the difference in his community’s response, Mr. Herb explained that many of his fellow citizens still think the virus is made up.
A retired teacher named David Webb, who was also interviewed and who had also participated in the mass vaccination program as a child, observed, "The big difference between 1957 and 2021 is that the polio vaccination event was apolitical. The COVID-19 vaccine has gotten [very] political.”
A further difference between then and now, Mr. Webb explained, is that many local residents are now listening to crank media outlets and that have fueled conspiracy theories about a so-called “rigged” General Election. They have repeated messages about COVID-19 being a variant of the flu, and not that big of a deal. And, they have propagated the fallacious idea that Bill Gates created the vaccine as a way to inject every American with a microchip so that the government can keep an eye on us.
III
Regardless of our party affiliation, patriotic Americans in general, and humanitarians and people of all faith traditions have to ask ourselves, “How have we come to this?” How have we come to this time and place in which so many people question so much? Furthermore, how is that we have come to this time and place when many not only question or flat out reject scientific truth, but they do so to their own detriment and the detriment of others?
Answer: I think many of us have been “Trumped.” We have been trumped into someone else’s self-serving agenda; because we are suffering so much and feeling so vulnerable, and it’s easier to blame someone else or something else than it is to face our own needs and our sense of loss and grief. We don’t like feeling weak. We don’t like losing. We don’t like living this American nightmare. We want to be living the American Dream!
So, many of us are sucked into someone else’s lies, which only builds someone else’s power, and only serves someone else’s future. And, when we do, the symbolic boil of our suffering is lanced, the infection is released, and for a few minutes, we may feel a sense of relief. But, then, sadly, the relief does not last long, because the cause of our suffering has not been appropriately addressed, and the process repeats itself.
Social scientists and historians alike will be busy for a long time studying, mapping, and describing how Donald Trump hijacked the American airwaves and manipulated a significant number of U.S. citizens into believing his lies, fanning his xenophobic agenda into flames, and drinking his toxic Kool-Aid.
They will be reviewing and analyzing this mess for generations to come--and they should. And when they’re done, I hope that we and our posterity will have learned from what we have endured, and I hope and pray that we will find a better way for all of us. But how?
IV
I don’t have all the answers, but I trust that if we look closely at the life of Jesus and follow his example, we will learn and evolve in ways that get us off of this Highway to Hell, and on a Pathway to Peace and Justice. Today’s gospel reading provides us with a guide to get there. Let’s take a look.
The setting for today’s reading is the synagogue at Capernaum—a place where Hebrew people gathered for prayer and Torah study, in a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This location was at the geographic center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.
Although synagogues were not specifically designed for this purpose, they often served as de facto hospitals and hospices. They were places where the very ill and the infirm were taken by loved ones when all other remedies had failed.
Most were left in the portico with the hope that pilgrims arriving for worship would share food and alms with them. The man with the unclean spirit was one of those individuals. He was one of those people whose loved ones had given up to God, because they were out of ideas and money, and didn’t know what else to do for him. So there was nothing unique about this man with the unclean spirit, and there was nothing unique about him hanging out in the portico of the synagogue.
Similarly, there wasn’t anything unique about the fact that Jesus was asked to heal him. In Jesus’ day, faith healers were the only physicians in town. When people got sick or became infirm, they or their loved ones sought out faith healers for help. Jesus was one among many. So he wasn’t special because he healed people.
What made Jesus special, according to Mark, was that he healed people who others could not heal, and as a result, Jesus proved that he was the real deal--the Messiah--the Son of God.
V
To be sure, no earthly being will ever equal or surpass the miracles that Jesus performed. He was and is the real deal. His words and his deeds were and are trustworthy and true. But how can we be sure?
According to Mark, “The proof is in the pudding!” The sick are healed, the possessed are cleansed, and the dead are raised!
So if you’re looking for the real deal today, if you’re looking for truth, look to Jesus, the one who heals.
And, look to his followers. They are easy to spot. They are the ones who are doing what he did. They are the ones who are improving the wellbeing of others. They are healing the sick and empowering the vulnerable.
They are the ones who are teaching and learning, testing and “vaxing,” doctoring and nursing, cooking and cleaning, and delivering and sharing.
Look for the healers. Look for the healing. That’s where you will find Jesus and his disciples. That’s whose words you can trust, and whose ministry can make you and me and everyone else whole. Thanks be to God. Amen.