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BY WHOSE AUTHORITY? - stephenkhoo - 05-29-2021 12:06 PM
BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [SIRACH 51:17 – 27; PS 19:8-11; MK 11:27 -33]
The chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Jesus and queried Him, “What authority have you for acting like this? Or who gave you authority to do these things?” This seems to be a valid question, since Jesus, upon His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, showed His authority to purify the Temple by driving out the merchants. More so when Jesus was not an ordained rabbi, and therefore not appointed by any religious institution, especially Judaism, to speak with religious authority. Furthermore, He did not train under any rabbinic school or teacher. In other words, He had no license to teach as a Jewish rabbi.
We, too, will certainly ask the same question of someone who claims to be our leader, or an expert in a particular discipline or knowledge. Authority is often based on legitimate appointment to an office, and academic or external qualifications. Respect and obedience are given only to legitimate leaders appointed and installed by the community or the organization. Those that are not appointed would be given a hearing if they are validated to have the expertise, the skills and knowledge, normally by academic degrees. This explains why some people pursue one academic degree after another, so that they can gain acceptance by society and earn their confidence. By and large, most people who are not specialists in that field of knowledge would trust in what these so-called professionals and experts in their area of expertise have to tell us.
Even then, today legitimate office holders are also being challenged in their authority. The truth is that in democracy, not all office holders are elected. So they are not respected. Furthermore, those who are experts might not agree or share the same views or opinions with other experts in their field of expertise. This is why it is very difficult to be a leader today. A leader no longer commands respect and authority like in the past. This is not to say a leader is always right, but he has to be receptive to what is happening on the ground and to grasp the reality instead of seeking to preserve his authority and office, or even to preserve heritage and doctrines at all cost.
The truth is that many of us are not ready to accept the truth even if we know what the truth is. What is truth? This was the question, Pilate asked our Lord. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (Jn 18:37) Pilot was not ready for the truth. So, too, there are those who are not ready to listen to the truth. They want to rationalize and find excuses to justify their belief. Pope Emeritus in his foundational encyclical as the Holy Father wrote, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Deus Caritats est, 1) Indeed, truth is not some philosophical thinking and beautiful ideas. Truth has to do with the reality. We can rationalize away the truth but we cannot rationalize away the event. There is nothing more convincing than the reality of the event.
This was the dilemma of the Jewish leaders. They were not desiring to find the truth about Jesus or what He was teaching. They saw Him as a threat to their status quo, their authority over the institutions and the people. They wanted to get rid of Jesus, to put Him down, to discredit Him using every possible means. It was not about giving Him a sincere hearing. They would attempt all tricks to bring Him down. And they thought that by questioning His authority they would be able to expose Jesus as a fraud. If Jesus were to answer that His authority came from God, He would immediately be accused of heresy and castigated as a deviant. How could God have given Him authority to create disturbance and unsettle everyone in His own house? If He were to say He acted from His own authority, then He could be accused of being power-hungry and therefore be arrested before more damage was done.
Jesus, the Wisdom of God, outsmarted them. Instead of being forced into a dilemma, He put the religious leaders themselves into a far greater dilemma by replying to their question with a more fundamental question. Without which, Jesus would not have been able to explain Himself. Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question, only one; answer me and I will tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s baptism: did it come from heaven, or from man? Answer me that.” This question exposed their true motive in asking for the authority of Jesus. So “they argued it out this way among themselves: ‘If we say from heaven, he will say, ‘Then why did you refuse to believe him?’ But dare we say from man?’ – they had the people to fear, for everyone held that John was a real prophet. So their reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know’.”
Indeed, the truth was that they did not care whether someone came to them from heaven or not. This was the case of John the Baptist. The people all regarded him as a man of God. They had great respect for him. He was the greatest prophet since Prophet Malachi, the last of the Prophets in the Old Testament. They even suspected that John could be Elijah, or even the Messiah. (cf Jn 1:25) And the fact that John the Baptist was put to death made him a martyr in their eyes, as most prophets were put to death in the Old Testament. So, if the religious leaders were to say, John the Baptist was not a prophet, they would lose the popularity of the people and earn their indignation instead.
But if they affirmed that he as a true prophet, then they had to answer to the people why they never listened to him. The point was that John the Baptist not only preached conversion but pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God. He was the one who would take away the sin of the world. John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:32-34)
Hence, their answer was, “We do not know.” In truth they knew. But corrupt as they were, they were afraid to lose the esteem of the crowd for them. As Mark remarked, “they had the people to fear, for everyone held that John was a real prophet.” They were more afraid to lose face before the crowd than to seek the truth. They sought to evade the question of our Lord but they could not avoid God’s judgement. Their question about Jesus’ authority in truth revealed the true identity of our Lord and their lack of authority. Jesus, by referring to John’s baptism, vouched for His identity as the Son of the Father, especially at His baptism when the heavens opened “and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” (Mk 1:10) Mark himself introduced the gospel with John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah. He clearly vouched that both John the Baptist and God Himself testified to Jesus’ identity and authority when He was baptized. So the answer is clear, both John the Baptist and Jesus received their authority from heaven.
In the final analysis, the authority that comes from God is not just by appointment to an office or through study and research in the world of academia, but a personal authority, which could encompass both legitimate appointment and intellectual competency. But we cannot restrict authority to a mere exercise of an office or claim to intellectual reliability. It must be seen in our life, in our way of teaching, doing and living. This is true wisdom, as Sirach wrote in the first reading. Wisdom is not just knowing the truth but to walk a straight path and to put into practice what is good, which is summed up in the perfection of the Law.