In October of 1983 John Cougar Mellencamp released his seventh studio album, titled Uh-Huh. The album proved popular, and was later ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the top 40 Greatest Albums of the 80s. Uh-Huh features three Top 20 Billboard hits: Crumblin’ Down, Pink Houses, and the aptly named Authority Song.

This latter song got my attention as a kid – I was 8 years old when it was released – well on my way to being a teenager and the testing of limits. One way I did that in high school was by growing out my hair, mullet style, just like Mr. Mellencamp. That’s business in the front (short) and party in the back (long). And that’s about the only thing I’ve got in common with this hip musician 😊.

Over time Authority Song became a mantra for what it is to grow up in the midst of a rule-based, institutional world. Amid catchy lyrics and zippy guitar riffs it is a downright memorable tune. The chorus goes something like this…

I fight authority, authority always wins.
Well, I fight authority, authority always wins.

The video, released back when MTV actually played music videos, shows what John Cougar is fighting.

In it we watch him in a faux boxing match, duking it out with a professional boxer. There’s no way this skinny crooner is going to win this fight. Right outside the ring, various authorities sit in the front row. There is –

A rich woman, dressed to the nines;
A big business corporate type, smoking a cigar;
A military general, wearing official regalia.

Each seemingly rooting for him to lose.

As the fight continues, Mellencamp reaches out for help, asking this:

So I call up my preacher,
I say: “Gimme strength for Round 5”
He said: “You don’t need no strength,
you need to grow up, son”

It seems John Cougar, in this song at least,  is even fighting the church.

At one point in the video Mellencamp play-boxes with a younger version of himself. As the video ends, fight now over, the boy dusts off his shoulders, kinks his neck, looks back at the row of authorities. The boy then gives them a big cheesy grin and walks away. The message is clear. He doesn’t plan to give up fighting authority any time soon.

Scripture is absolutely filled with tussles surrounding questions of authority. From to one person or group pitted against the next and the next and the next, we constantly find ourselves duking it out with others, skirmishing over who is in charge.

It’s an important question – who exactly is calling the shots?

Keeping with the boxing metaphor, let’s consider how Jesus mixed it up with people bound to keep him down. The gospels contain more rounds than there is time to share here; those other bouts stories for another time.

Round 1
(Matthew 21:12-14)
Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. First stop: the temple. There he sees tables set up. Vendors busily selling their warez. The business types are seemingly everywhere. This angers Jesus enough to take action. He turns the tables on them, drives them out, calls them thieves.

My house is to be a house of prayer, Jesus shares. He then heals the blind and lame, making known this house is where we find healing too.

The religious elites and business-types are furious. Just who does this radical Rabbi think he is! We’re the ones calling the shots! Their wallets threatened – religion and business are in financial cahoots here – they realize something must change. As the bell rings Jesus won this round. But still, there is more to come.

Round 2
(Matthew 21:23-27)

The very next day the religious elites and business-types make their move.

We need to know something Jesus.
We can’t help but ask.

By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?

The goal of their query is simple. They sought to –

Diminish,
Shutdown,
Silence.

If they could back Christ into a corner, they could pummel him into submission. The religious elites and business types were the real authority after all. Right? They were sure of it.

Never shy about answering a question with a question, Jesus turns the tables on them once again, offering two questions of his own:

Did the baptism of John come from heaven?
Or was it of human origin?

Christ’s antagonists argued amongst themselves. If they said heaven, then Jesus was the true authority. Because when John baptized Jesus, they knew the heavens opened and God spoke, saying this is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

But if they said the baptism was of human origin there was this crowd to think about. The crowd very much thought John a prophet. The religious elites and business-types were afraid of the crowd, afraid of what they might do. This answer was no good either.

Stumped at Christ’s query, the religious elites and business types demurred. We do not know, they replied. Well, if you don’t know, Jesus concludes, I won’t be telling you. Christ had landed the final uppercut right before the bell rang. He had won this round as well. The fight continues.

Round 3
(Matthew 26 and 27)
The religious elites and business types found themselves gripped by fear. They –

Feared loss of power.
Feared loss of wealth.
Feared change.

Most of all they feared being exposed for who they were. Instead of looking out for the widows, the children, the foreigners, the marginalized, the blind, the lame, and those without, Christ made their true motives clear.

They had only been looking out for themselves.

Knowing they must do something, and fast, a plan quickly came together. They formed a new alliance, made up of –

Religious elites,
Business types,
Government.

They were sure that trifecta of power would win the day.

Then, with a –

Bribe,
Garden,
Kiss,

A new plot formed.

Soon it was a –

Denial,
Trial,
Cross.

And that was that. It was a knockout punch. The referee counted to ten. Jesus lay there, on the mat, lifeless. He was bruised, battered, bloodied. Human authority, it seems, had won. The final bell, as far as anyone could tell, had rung.

Round 4?
(Matthew 28)

Wait, isn’t this fight over? As an Easter people we know better.

With –

One gardener,
Two Mary’s,
Three days,

There was revelation.
Jesus was back, baby.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!

Clues had been offered that this is how it would turn out. Christ had said destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Now it had happened.

And of this question of authority? Who has it? Who is calling the shots? Overcoming death and the grave settled that once and for all.

Today
Jesus didn’t hold on to this authority, granted from on high, for himself. Instead, he gave it away to the disciples. It is an authority to cast out that which is unclean, an authority to heal the sick. It is an authority, as disciples of Christ, we claim today.

And what that looks like, in the flesh? We need go no farther than the greatest commandment: to love the lord your God, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

It is a call to care for our neighbors who are:

Women,
Children,
LGBTQ+

Immigrant,
Refugee,
Asylum seeker.

Hungry,
Unhoused,
Poor.

It is a call to care for our neighbors –
who are sick.
who are marginalized.
treated as less than.

And on whose authority do we do all these things?

It is none other than the Lord our God.

If you ever hear the –

Religious elites,
Business types,
Government officials,

try and do anything less than care for our neighbors, no matter who those neighbors may be, take note.

They were in cahoots with each other 2,000 years ago; many are in cahoots still.

They’ll sometimes share this alternate message from the –
Pulpits,
Podiums,
Profit centers –

of our day.

When their messaging says hey, treat certain people as less than, the authority they claim is not aligned with the Divine.

John Cougar Mellencamp, it turns out, was right:

I fight authority, authority always wins.
Well, I fight authority, authority always wins.

May we put away our struggle to control what is not ours.
May we recommit ourselves to care for our neighbor, without exception.
May we live into the authority to go, and to do.

It is an authority we have been granted by our savior, Jesus Christ.

For no other earthly “authority” will do. Amen.