Devotion #5: The Babysitter
While I was growing up, my parents would occasionally be called away from home, often to spiritually care for someone within the church. On these occasions, my dad would pull aside my oldest sister and provide her specific guidance as to how she was to care for my other siblings and me, as well as the home and more. As you can guess, all of us siblings willingly and lovingly accepted the role of leader that my sister, Christmas (Yes, her name is Christmas. Perhaps I will share that story another time), was temporarily granted in lieu of our father’s absence. Actually, I think we both know better about that reality.
It is okay to laugh. In fact, I have no doubt that this very scenario is quite familiar to your own past experiences while growing up. My sister being left in charge was not all that challenging to either my siblings or myself. You see, my dad was very successful at setting his behavioral expectations of us, especially for times when he was not present. However, there was one aspect of my sister’s deputized leadership that was particularly bothersome, and it always led to conflict.
Christmas had this unchecked urge to “help out” my dad. She was quick to move beyond his clearly defined standards for us and would instead apply her interpretation of his rules to our lives. As a result, we younger siblings experienced an inner conflict as we wrestled with obeying the clear and simple instructions of our dad while also wishing to honor the temporary authority that was granted to our oldest sister.
In today’s Scripture passage, the situation described above is not terribly unlike what many who are part of the family of God were struggling with daily under the authority of the priests, the teachers of the Law, and the scribes.
Imagine, if you will, that you are one of the chosen people of God, one of His beloved of the nation of Israel. Your people possess the recorded wisdom of God, the revealed character and will of God, His truth. Yet, you are never quite settled in your position before your Creator, never quite sure as to how to please or satisfy the commands of God. You seek to know Him, to understand Him as He desires to be known and to be worshipped. You believe Him to be within reach, but your understanding as to how you are to fulfill His design for life is shaped almost exclusively by those who have been placed in earthly authority of the Scriptures and by their burdensome interpretations for living out the wisdom of God.
Now, imagine one day hearing, with your own ears, a new hope and invitation for humanity to know and love the Creator and to know His love for you. Even more so, imagine hearing these words spoken by the One who is the author of life, uttered by the pure and righteous authority over all creation.
Matthew records that those who were in the crowds that day, those on the mount with Jesus, sitting under His teaching, were amazed or astonished by the manner in which Jesus spoke, as one had authority, and not like their scribes (Matthew 7:28-29).
Would you have recognized Jesus’ authority that day? Would you have been aware of His uniquely separate but familiar way about Him? Would you have been willing to consider His message as true, good, life-giving, and superior to any other?
You know, for me, when I think about the story from my youth that I shared with you at the beginning, I am always reminded of how each one of those times ended. It would end with my dad returning home, and before he even entered the room where we were gathered, I would hear his voice. When I heard his voice, I knew that no matter what happened between us siblings during that time, he would set everything right because he held the authority of being the father.
Do you know the voice and authority of your Father? Find hope in Jesus’ own words today, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).