Reflection: September 26, 2026
Wednesday September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a day when the church pauses and considers its role in the system which, among other injustices, separated First Nations children from their parents and denied them their language, customs and self-determination. It is a shameful part of the history of the churches, who acted as agents of the Federal Government in this program. Its legacy lives on in the lives of many Aboriginal Peoples for whom the experience created multi-generational trauma.
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Sunday’s gospel (Matt 21:23-32) addresses the question of Jesus’ authority and, in the context of Truth and Reconciliation, invites us to consider the actions of the churches with respect to First Nations peoples.
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Just before the opening of this gospel, Jesus had entered the temple in Jerusalem
and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’
Temple offerings were to be made in shekels, the Jewish currency. Roman coins with the image of “the divine Caesar” were forbidden as idolatrous. The money changers, who swapped the Roman coins for shekels, apparently charged exorbitant exchange rates.
The chief priest had given permission to the money changers to set up in the Court of the Gentiles... an outer court of the Temple. So, when Jesus threw them out of the temple he was attacking the authority of the chief priests who had given this permission. Moreover, his cures and popularity bothered them.
The preamble to this morning’s gospel continues,
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry ....
The priests saw that the people supported Jesus. Then Jesus went to Bethany, leaving them seething.
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Sunday’s gospel, using the First Nations Version of the text, opens.
When he (Creator Sets Free (Jesus) arrived at the lodge, the head holy men were waiting for him.
They and the ruling elders of the people came to him. “By what right do you do these things?” they challenged. “Who gave you this right?”
They were concerned about Jesus upsetting the commercial system they had permitted at the temple. Their question was an indirect version of, ‘you have no right to do this’.
But they had also seen Jesus’ power by curing the blind and the lame and they were cautious about how to attack him. They had heard the people praising Jesus and understood his popularity.
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“First you must answer one question for me,” he challenged back, “and then I will tell you what gives me the right. The purification ceremony performed by Gift of Goodwill (John), wis it from the spirit world above or did it come from human beings?”
They put their heads together and talked it over. “If we say the spirit-world above, he will say to us ‘why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say it is from human beings, we fear what this crowd would do, for they are sure Gift of Goodwill (John) was a prophet.”
So they answered him, “We do not know.”
“So then”, Creator Sets Free said to them, “neither will I tell you what gives me the right to do these things.”
Jesus had them in a bind. John had baptized Jesus. If John’s baptism was from the Spirit World Above then that was his source of authority. But if they said, from human beings, they risked rejection by the people who thought John was a prophet.
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The question of which authority one obeys – Divine or human - invites our reflection on the treatment of our First Nations brothers and sisters.
When Canada became a country, in 1867, the new federal government took total control over "Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians," removing self-rule. The Indian Act of 1876 let bureaucrats control where First Nations lived, how they farmed, who had legal status and outlawed important cultural events, such as the potlatch ceremony in British Columbia, to stop community bonding.
At the same time the churches had aligned themselves, broadly, with the governments of the day. It was a comfortable relationship where each supported the other. The governments offered land grants (known as ‘Clergy Reserves’ for Anglicans) and various forms of financial support for the Roman Catholics and Wesleyan and Presbyterian churches (subsequently the United Church).
The bishops and elders of these mainline churches bent scripture to rationalize their actions. They took Matt 28:19 - make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...as their justification to eradicate the cultures of the Aboriginal people. In doing so, they failed to understand that Jesus had invited people with teaching and healing. He blessed the poor, the hungry and those who mourned. He did not inflict sufferings on them, as the churches did by aligning with the governments of the day.
As the Summary of the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC)report notes, “When it came to taking action on the abuse of Aboriginal children, early on, Indian Affairs and the churches placed their own interests ahead of the children in their care and then covered up that victimization.”
The TRC noted, “Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches were the major denominations involved in the administration of the residential school system. The government’s partnership with the churches remained in place until 1969.”
The TRC issued specific Calls to Action to church parties to the settlement agreement
48) ... to formally adopt ... the principles, norms, and standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation.... https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
49) ... to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius.
59) ... to develop ongoing education strategies to ensure that their ...congregations learn about their church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary.
60) ... to teach curriculum for all student clergy... who work in Aboriginal communities...to respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right, the history and legacy of residential schools and the roles of the church parties in that system, the history and legacy of religious conflict in Aboriginal families and communities, and the responsibility that churches have to ... prevent spiritual violence.
61) ... to establish permanent funding to Aboriginal people for:
i. Community-controlled healing and reconciliation projects.
ii. Community-controlled culture- and language-revitalization projects.
iii. Community-controlled education and relationship-building projects.
iv. Regional dialogues for Indigenous spiritual leaders and youth to discuss Indigenous spirituality, self-determination, and reconciliation.
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Back to the question of Authority or Right. The gospel today calls us to examine our motives and actions to ensure that they are not self-serving. In today’s context, we acknowledge the role of the church in ignoring this principle when it came to dealing with our First Nations brothers and sisters. God’s authority and human authority often conflict. We must discern God’s will carefully.
Peace
Decon Michael