But Jesus called the ten to him, and said, “Those who are regarded as ruling among the Gentiles lord it over them, as you know, and their great men oppress them.
when we look around
there are mirrors everywhere
seeing authoritarian leaders
allows our own internal despot
its claimed right
to excuse every advantagesuch reflected icons
need a deep look of love
to see through their surface
behind their keep-out barrier
beyond this latest test
all the way to fertile groundwhen all we see around
are rich folks getting richer
resulting in poor folk poorer
contracted robbery by fountain pen
tilting every field downhill
we are ever so testedall the warnings in the world
fall on our test-deafened ears
speculating this time
our gracious rule
will escape its own comfort
to privilege another
It is helpful to palin our way back to the earlier scene with blocked children (10:13–16).
The issue of authority here is a parallel of the action of blessing back then.
Our tendency to boss another around is more clearly seen, more obvious, with the children. This can be called out far more easily than with adults that get into “climbing the ladder” contests where winners can be excused their behavior simply because they have the strength to get away with it in a “might makes right” sort of way.
As this is being written the children of Parkland, Florida are looking for a blessing after a mass shooting at their school. Women are speaking the words, “Me, too” in a claiming of a blessing of both belovedness and agency of their own. Minor children who were brought by or born to undocumented immigrants are dreaming of and acting toward their own blessing of safety in a place they have lived all their years. Similar blessings are looked for under other banners such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Occupy” (the 99%ers).
Under whatever sign, those following Jesus to Jerusalem and willing to join his suffering, death, and resurrection model of living with integrity in partnership with all of creation and the multitude of Neighb*rs will live together in shared authority, mutual honoring.