J. J.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
“Check and Checkmate”
You ever play chess? I’ve played it all of a handful of times. It’s on a board similar to a checkerboard, but it has all these different pieces: king, queen, knight, bishop, castle. The object is to capture the other side’s king. When you move a piece in line, so that your next turn you will capture the king, you say, “Check.” And when you have it so he has no moves left to keep his king safe, when he has nowhere to turn, you say, “Checkmate.” So, Check, and Checkmate.
Jesus played verbal chess with the religious leaders. He has just ridden into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They know that He has been teaching the people, they have been spying on Him for years. Now, partly because they want to get to the bottom of things, and find out what’s what, and partly because they want to get after Jesus, they ask Him about His authority. They know that He was not a student of any of them. He did not go to their seminary as it were. So they ask Him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus said “If you answer my question, then I will answer yours. Tell me, the baptism of John the Baptizer, who sent him, where did his authority come from? From heaven, or from men?”
Now the leaders asks themselves: if we say, “from heaven,” then Jesus will say, “why did you not believe him?” It was obvious that they did not believe him, because they refused to be baptized by him. And if John’s authority came from heaven, then how could they have refused? That answer was a dead end. Check.
What about the other answer, that John’s authority came from men? Meaning either that: (1) John just made it up on his own, or (2) that someone like them had sent him out to teach and proclaim. That’s good, he just made it up! Let’s lock it in. Oh, but wait, … if we say that, the people will revolt. They believe John was a prophet sent by God. Even if they don’t riot, they will regard us as fools, and they will stop listening to us. Another dead end. What was our third choice, letter C? There was no third choice. There was nowhere else to turn. So, Check. And Checkmate. What will we do? Let’s go with, “I don’t know.” “Then neither will I tell you,” Jesus replied, “by what authority I do these things.”
We know that both John’s and Jesus’s authority was from heaven. It seems so obvious to us. How could those leaders be so blind? But people are still asking those two questions today. And they don’t like either answer.
There are some who teach, and many people who think, Jesus was just a good religious teacher. His authority came from Himself. He was a great man, they say, but only a man. His authority is from earth, His authority is from man. But Jesus authority is from heaven. Not only is Jesus’s authority from heaven, we need His authority to be from heaven. A Jesus from earth alone could not defeat Satan. A Jesus from earth alone could not overcome death.
And no one but God alone has authority to forgive sins. If we are to see and to know Jesus as the God-man Savior that He is, then His authority must come from heaven. Or it is game over.
We sometimes find ourselves in this game of theological chess. We pass by the answer, “authority from man.” But the answer, “authority from God,” does not always suit us. Oh, we want a Jesus from heaven, who will forgive us and redeem us. But if Jesus’s authority is from heaven, and it is, then what He says, goes. We don’t get to do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want. To face a Jesus from heaven, is to face God. And knowing that we are facing God can terrify us, and rightly so.
Just as those religious leaders looked for an escape, we, too, look for a way out. We want to switch the gae from chess to checkers. “King me, king me.” Let me be a super-checker, and hip-hop however I like. Yes, that’s my ticket. And I switch, at least for the moment, to a Jesus from earth. To one who has no authority over me. Who doesn’t confront my thinking, or my politics, or my habits. No Jesus from heaven who will get in my way. But now I have a Jesus who cannot save me. Check, and checkmate. I have not tipped my chess king over yet. I have not conceded the match. I have not died. But it is game-over.
Dear ones, it is game over. But in a better way. We have already died. In baptism we were baptized into the death of Christ, and being united into His death, we are united to His resurrection. In the Holy Eucharist, we taste of His death, for Paul writes that when we do this, “we show the Lord’s death until He comes again.” Having literally tasted of His death, we also partake of His resurrection.
We are still kicking, still living and breathing on this planet. But it is check and checkmate for the adversary. The world is on a checkerboard: red and black squares, running and jumping and being their own king. We are in a different kingdom. We are on the chessboard. It looks similar, but it is white and black squares. It is light versus darkness. The battle has been fought. The battle has been won. Being in chess, not checkers, our lives will look different from that of the world. And it will unfold differently, too. Instead of “King me,” it’s King Jesus. He is in control. He has all authority. Authority from heaven. Authority both now, and in the world to come.
For Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. Amen.
S. D. G.
