“Show us your credentials." Some thoughts for the readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the Season of Creation

 “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach here? Who gave you permission to cause this ruckus” Big questions that keep coming up. Moses faced it in the wilderness. Paul faced it repeatedly due to his radical ideas. He claimed his authority came from the risen Christ. Jesus pointed to his faithfulness to God, whose own authority rests on the covenants to restore humanity and renew creation. True authority is found in actions.

Matthews’s gospel as a whole and this week’s reading in particular is all about these questions. In telling this story Matthew wanted to show both where Jesus’ authority came from and the nature of that authority. To put this week’s reading back, Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and has already tipped over tables. Next day he is back in the temple, having grumpily dried up a non-fruit bearing fig tree. He is at once confronted by the wealthy, entitled elite religious leaders who used religion to justify their wealth while abandoning their responsibilities to the poor struggling under Roman taxes. Like the fig tree, they bore no fruit. In the eyes of the prophets, they were failed leaders. Their legacy was the Jewish nation in ruins and the temple turned to rubble. In this Season of Creation, I wonder what our legacy will be. How will future generation remember our care for creation?

In contrast Jesus’ credentials were seen in the fruit of his actions; actions that gave flesh to what scripture taught when read from the central themes of love, compassion, generosity that the prophets spoke from. The first term used to describe Christians was “followers of the Way”. Being a Christian wasn’t about agreeing with certain theological statements, it was about how we lived – the Way of Christ, the Way of God. It is this way that is at work in Jesus’ interaction with his disciples, with the authorities, and with sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes. We are followers of the Way. How might being followers of the Way help us to live as good stewards towards all creation?

It was this way of trusting God that the starving and thirst driven people of God were struggling to learn in the wilderness. Moses’ authority came from his experience of God present in a burning bush . Now he is back at that place with a people consumed by thirst and still not trusting. It takes time to let go and trust amid desperation. How desperate are we, and what is it we need to learn to trust God for?

This same Way sat at the heart of Paul’s theology. He encouraged people to live humbly and look for the common good by setting aside selfish ambition. Apparently, the concept of humility (tapeinophrosynē) did not appear in Greek literature until Paul used it, and even after him, society mocked it as a trait for weak "bottom feeders." Yet, Paul championed it, urging believers to imitate Christ’s humility to achieve true unity. As we face the inter-weaved emergencies of pollution, bio-diversity loss, and climate change, what does living humbly look like as we live for the common good?.