Sacred Heart Parish
4TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)
On one occasion the Lord Jesus said to his followers – "I am the living bread come down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Some of his listeners began to quarrel among themselves – How can this man give us his flesh to eat? As a result, no longer did they walk with Jesus. The Lord then asked his chosen twelve – Do you also intend to leave me? Peter was their spokesperson – "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God."
In our Gospel passage today, a man possessed by an unclean spirit began to shout – What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God. Although the Holy Spirit is on one end of the spectrum and the unclean spirit is on the opposite end of the spectrum, it is interesting to note that there is no disagreement in saying – This Lord Jesus of ours is truly the Holy One of God.
Whenever we speak of the Lord Jesus, we say of him – He is true God because he truly is God’s Son. He is true Man because he truly is Mary’s son. Because he is true God, Mary’s son possesses full and absolute holiness. Because he is true Man, God’s Son can be said to grow in wisdom and age and grace.
Our Gospel reading today pictures Jesus entering a synagogue on the sabbath. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. How are we to understand Mark’s words – He taught them as one having authority?
Authority is a neuralgic issue in our day. People today seem distrustful of authority whether parental, governmental or ecclesial. One writer describes authority in this way: "Nowadays authority is attributed to persons with special abilities and prestige or with an official function in society. The former may be called subjective or personal, the latter objective or official. Personal authority comes from the recognition of someone’s superiority in a given sphere. It exists insofar as it is respected. Official authority is the authority a person has, not by reason of his personal superiority, but by reason of a function conferred on him or at least respected by society." (Molinski, "Authority", Sacramentum Mundi) Obviously, one would hope that a person with official authority would also possess personal authority. This is beautifully expressed by St. Clare of Assisi who writes about her successor who will be taking over the responsibilities of the Poor Clares. Clare writes – "My successor should be committed to being in charge of the Sisters through virtue and holy behavior more than by virtue of her office, in order that the Sisters, inspired by her example, obey her not so much for her office but for love."
In 1999 the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission issued an important ecumenical statement entitled – The Gift of Authority. It tells us that the root of all true authority is the activity of our Triune God who authors life in all its fullness. The authority of Jesus is that of faithful witness. The document quotes St. Paul as teaching us in one of his Corinthian Letters that Jesus Christ is God’s "Yes" to us and our "Amen" to God. In the life and ministry of Jesus who came among us to do the Father’s will, God gives us our perfect way of saying "Amen" to God. It seems to me that the challenge of today’s Gospel is to focus on who Jesus is as we read about the mighty deeds that He accomplished. He is the one who teaches with authority, who destroys evil, who is the Holy One of God. "What supports the authority of his teaching is the power of his deeds. What supports the power of his deeds is who he is – the Holy One of God." (Cantalamessa) Closely aligned to the word "authority is the word authenticity. Another expression for the word authenticity is "holiness of life". God chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy. Our very reason for existence is holiness of life without which or apart from which no other calling has much significance at all. I’m reminded of what the philosopher Pascal had in mind when he spoke of the three orders, the three planes of reality: the order of bodies or matter; the order of minds and intellects; and the order of holiness. Those who cultivate the order of intellect have no need of material grandeurs. Those who cultivate the order of holiness, the order of charity, have no need of bodily or intellectual eminence – although these are good things in themselves – God is their sufficiency. This by the way is good reason for getting invo0led in the Arise Program.