Missionary Renegade: The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 08 June 2016

Friday, June 10, 2016

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 08 June 2016 - “Where did John get his authority?”

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 08 June 2016 - “Where did John get his authority?”
Daily Scripture: Matthew 21:23 He went into the Temple area; and as he was teaching, the head cohanim and the elders of the people approached him and demanded, “What s’mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? And who gave you this s’mikhah?” 24 Yeshua answered, “I too will ask you a question. If you answer it, then I will tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things. 25 The immersion of Yochanan — where did it come from? From Heaven or from a human source?” They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From a human source,’ we are afraid of the people, for they all regard Yochanan as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Yeshua, “We don’t know.” And he replied, “Then I won’t tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things.
Reflection Questions:
Matthew said this exchange took place the day after Jesus “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, when he disrupted the corrupt money-changing in the Temple courts (cf. Matthew 21:12-13). The religious leaders, who profited from the money changing, asked what authority he had for his actions. Jesus replied with another question: what authority did John the Baptizer, his forerunner, have for baptizing with great spiritual power? The priests and elders found his question too awkward to answer.

Jesus' question was clever, but he was not just being evasive. He was acting on the same authority as John—God’s living presence. The religious authorities had not been willing to recognize that authority in John, so it made sense that they fought it in Jesus, too. What are some important indicators of God’s living presence in any activity? In what ways can that divine presence work through established channels? When does it need to reach beyond them?
The Temple authorities did not believe that John, or Jesus, actually bore God’s authority. So why not just use their authority to say so? They gave their reason to one another: “we’re afraid of the crowd” (verse 26). Though Jesus knew “the crowd” was often wrong (cf. John 2:23-25), in this case they saw more clearly than the religious leaders. What wrong questions were the trained leaders asking that blinded them to a truth “the crowd” perceived accurately?

Today’s Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to keep asking the right questions. Help me to always seek to grasp what you are doing, rather than what will protect my comfort or my position. Amen.Insights from Kari Burgess

Kari Burgess is a Program Director for the ShareChurch team, handling promotion and marketing for all of the conferences held at Resurrection, as well as registration and coordinating hospitality volunteers.
Have you ever been in a situation where you have asked the wrong questions? Putting motive aside for now, think about a situation where you didn’t get the answers or information you wanted or needed because you were asking the wrong questions.
I can remember those anxious, exciting days when my youngest daughter started preschool. As a mom, I wanted to be a fly on the wall to watch her in her classroom. Will she make friends? Will she follow directions? Will she learn? Will she hit her milestones? Will the other kids be nice to her? Will her teacher be kind, engaging, creative? Will she take a nap? Will she eat a healthy snack?
In true “helicopter mom” style, I would pepper her with questions when I picked her up from school. How was your day? Did you have fun? What did you do? What did you learn? You can imagine the kind of answers my three-year-old gave: Good. Yes. I don’t know. Nothing.
One important thing you need to understand about the differences in my two children is that my oldest daughter started talking, in clear, complete sentences, at about age one–and she’s never stopped talking. From the first words out of her mouth before her first birthday, I could understand every syllable she said. I was used to being able to carry on a very adult-like conversation with an 18 month old.
When my second daughter came along and was very normal with her speech development, I couldn’t understand ANYTHING she said. By nature, she is much more reserved, quiet and content to be still. She could be so quiet in the backseat of the car there were times I would forget she was there or would assume she was asleep. When I would glance in the rearview mirror she would just be gazing out the window, taking in the world.
So there was no question I could ask which would draw out any of the information I was hoping for about her time at school. When she did give me an answer, I’d have to ask her to repeat it 3 or 4 times before I could understand. That was so frustrating to her, she would eventually shut down. I’d read articles suggesting open ended question: “Tell me about the favorite part of your day.” She would respond, “EVERYTHING!” Or suggestions to be specific: “Can you tell me which center (play area) you played at during play time?” to which she’d respond, “I don’t remember” (or “re-nen-der,” as she would say it). Nothing I asked got me any useful information to show me how well she was doing developmentally, socially, emotionally at school.
It was frustrating to ask a question and not get the answer I was expecting. Asking the right questions is important.
In today’s passage, the Pharisees were also asking the wrong question. Their question may have been accusatory. They may have had a negative agenda compared to what I believe were questions borne out of love for my daughter, but they drew a similar unexpected or undesired response. Jesus asks a question back to the Pharisees trying to get them to change their perspective, to shake them up or really to transform their thinking.
Our GPS challenges us today to ask the right questions and seek to grasp what God is doing in our lives or what God’s will is for us. It challenges us to ask questions with a motive of deeper understanding of ourselves and our creator. Questions which will challenge us to grow in our faith, rather than questions which simply back up our position or stance on a given issue.
I love the Prayer of Examen Pastor Wendy gave us in her sermon this weekend. I plan to incorporate this into my regular prayer life in an effort to ask the “right” questions for a deeper, growing relationship with God:
WHOSE am I?
WHAT did I do today?
WHEN did I feel most alive?
WHERE am I going?
WHY?