Who's Your Authority?

Homily for Sunday, February 1, 2015
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

What does the word “AUTHORITY” mean?

In today’s Gospel, we hear the word “authority” twice:  Jesus “taught them as one having authority”, and “A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

I guess we should first try and understand what it meant when we say, “authority”.  Merriam-Webster gives the following definitions for authority:

•    the power to give orders or make decisions
•    the power or right to direct or control someone or something
•    the confident quality of someone who knows a lot about something or who is respected or obeyed by other people
•    a quality that makes something seem true or real

Power.  Confidence.  Respect.   We might say that these are the three main characteristics that help determine if one is an authority or not.

So let’s look at Jesus in this passage. 
•    He has power to give orders; he exorcises the unclean spirit;
•    He has the quality of someone who knows a lot about something and the confidence to convey it in his teachings; and
•    He is respected; after all, he is allowed to speak in the synagogue on the Sabbath;

Does that make him an authority?

“He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” That’s interesting – “not as the scribes”.  You’d think that scribes WOULD BE authorities. Scribes in Israel at the time of Jesus and throughout Jewish history were men who were highly educated in the Scriptures and Jewish Law and it was their business to study it, interpret it, write about it – they were “the authorities” of their time.  It was their job to know and teach The Law.  (I like that statement – “The Law”.  It always gives me the image of Sylvester Stallone in the original Judge Dredd movie.)  Yet here we see that the scribes are not considered an authority like Jesus.

So what made Jesus different?  It might help, I guess, if we should look at those who we recognize as authorities today.   How about those who exert control over our lives - we often refer to police officers and other public or political figures as “authorities”, especially those who enforce the laws and regulations that we are subject to.  They fit the first two definitions of an authority; they have the power to give orders or make decisions and the power or right to direct or control us according to the laws that they represent.

But as we have seen in the news recently we often do not recognize or respect their authority – after all, they are only human and can make mistakes, right?  We may be compelled to obey them or face the consequences – but we often resent what we see as an abuse of power and we can lose confidence and respect in their authority over us.

OK, if we don’t always respect the authority of our civil servants, who do we respect?  Our parents?  We should – remember that whole Ten Commandments thing about honoring our father and mother?  I suppose that when we are really young we recognize their authority over our lives – they certainly know more than we do.  At least until we get to be about thirteen when they all of a sudden forget everything and we become instantaneously smarter than they are.  Actually, if you stop to think about it, we begin to reject that sense of parental authority over our lives at a much younger age – like about the age of two – when we first learn the word, “NO”?  My parents didn’t become smart again for me until I was in my twenties and then they suddenly became – smart.  Well, at least SMARTER.

How about our teachers?  Maybe now we’re getting a little warmer.  Do you remember any teacher that you had a particularly high level of respect for?  Did you recognize their authority in their teaching of you?  I can remember several teachers whose knowledge always amazed me, and I would trust them to help with other issues in my life.  Ah – TRUST!

So, maybe TRUST is a component in order for us to view someone as an authority?

Power, Confidence, Respect, AND Trust.  The people at Merriam-Webster don’t directly mention “trust” in their definitions of authority, but it is definitely part of mine.  In order for me to consider someone an authority on a subject, they have to earn my trust.

So if Jesus did exhibit these characteristics – power, confidence, respect, and trust – did that make him an authority?  Well, not to everyone.  At this point in the Gospels, we are seeing the early days of Jesus’ ministry and Jesus hasn’t been recognized as a threat to the power structure of the Jewish leadership – YET.  Over the next three years of his ministry we will see that as the recognition of his authority grew in the people, those who thought they were the authorities would feel threatened by him and, unwilling to release their perceived authority, would seek to destroy him.

Are we so different today?  Jesus lives on for us through his teachings and His Church.  For us, the teachings of the Church should carry the kind of authority that Jesus himself had.  Why?  Because Jesus himself gave it that authority.

And that leads us to the fifth and maybe most important characteristic of authority – it has to be granted by one who has greater authority.  Jesus’ authority was shown in the signs he performed, the words he taught, the respect he received and the trust others held in him because of his fidelity to his message – but he always acknowledged that that authority came from God his Father.  That authority he passed on to His Church and lives on through it, guided by the HOLY SPIRIT, because He said that it would, and Jesus IS the AUTHORITY – as shown through His POWER, CONFIDENCE, RESPECT, TRUST AND THE HIGHER AUTHORITY THAT GAVE IT TO HIM..

Especially in this country, we look in distrust of those who may have control over us, but I think that deep down we really do want someone who can, if not tell us what to do, help us to do what is right.  We all seek for that sense of respect and trust because there is security in knowing that there is someone we can trust, who we can depend on to do the right thing, who has the ability and the desire to do it.  And just like the people in Capernaum, we can find those qualities in Jesus.  The scribes and so-called authorities of the day, while educated, didn’t have the air of authority that comes from following God’s will that Jesus does.  The signs that he did and the signs of those, even today, who follow him show us that the authority represented by Jesus exists today.

So, the question we ask today should be the same as asked by those in Capernaum two thousand years ago – who is this who teaches with authority?  And the answer is the same now as then – Jesus.

Do you recognize Jesus as the true authority in your life?  Will you listen to Him through His Church?