[stephenkhoo]

LEADER WITH AUTHORITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 SM 1:9-20; 1 Sm 2:1, 4-8; Mk 1:21-28 ]

People of the world seek authority and power. They want to be recognized, respected and obeyed. They like to be addressed with titles and honors. They want to be served them and have others at their beck and call. They want to be given special treatment wherever they go. But the irony is that those who seek authority in this form lose their authority, at least their personal authority, even though they might have legal and juridical authority. This was the case of the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. They did not command the respect of the people even though they were religious leaders.

In fact, we often act in the same manner as the religious leaders during the time of Jesus and in the Old Testament. In the first reading, we have the story of Hannah who was in despair over her barrenness. “In bitterness of her soul she prayed to the Lord with many tears.” There was Eli the high priest and judge of Israel. He “was watching her mouth, for she was speaking under her breath; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard. He therefore supposed that she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long are going to be in this drunken state? Rid yourself of your wine’.” Eli was quick to judge her without inquiring from her what she was doing.

Indeed, how often as religious leaders, we act arrogantly and prejudge without having the facts. We are insensitive to the sufferings and needs of people who come to our churches and rectories for help. Many have left the Church because of harsh and insensitive words spoken by priests, religious and lay leaders or ministry members serving the community. We think we can push people around using the authority invested upon us. If we were Hannah, in that state of depression and sadness, we would have reacted strongly, either by leaving the faith or given Eli a good piece of our mind. Putting people down when they are wrong, using destructive words, scolding people, will not bring about change or command respect from people. Rather, they will become resentful and angry with us because we are not feeling with them in their predicament.

Jesus in the gospel teaches us that true authority is something which must be earned, and not something that is solely dependent on the office we hold. We might have legitimate authority invested upon us but without personal authority, no one will respect what we say. Jesus in the gospel presented Himself as one who taught with authority. Indeed, “his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.” What was it that Jesus said that left an imprint on them? Or rather, it was not just what He said but how He said it that would have created a deep impression on them. What and how we deliver our content will determine the response from our audience.

To teach with authority presupposes that we are utterly convinced of what we say. The weakness of our teachers today is that they teach from what they have studied, and from knowledge acquired from books and the internet, and lesser still, from personal experience. Some speakers seek to impress their audience by displaying their knowledge, quoting from great teachers and philosophers, politicians and religious leaders. But they themselves are not convicted in their hearts, the truth of what they have studied and read. They remain intellectual knowledge, detached from the heart and their lives. Unless what we have discovered through study is linked to our own personal experience or the lives of our fellowmen, they remain just beautiful words and ideas but they will not move people to respond because such abstracts and ideals seem impossible to be attained by ordinary people. People today are not interested in truths and doctrines per se, unless the truth that is taught is encountered in events. In the final analysis, truth is not a word but an event.

If what we say is what we also believe, then we will deliver our message in a passionate, clear, calm and measured manner. Because we know what we are speaking about is not a theory but something felt by us, we will naturally be able to connect with others as well. All of us have common aspirations and we are moved when people can connect with us. When we speak of daily life struggles, we can connect with everyone. That is why when a leader shares his weaknesses and failures in a prudent manner, it touches the lives of his listeners because they find hope and encouragement from him. Of course, a leader does not just share his weaknesses and then wallow in self-pity. If that were so, he is blind and cannot lead the bind out of the land of the blind. He, too, must be able to make sense of life, the mystery of suffering, and the challenges facing us each day.

Jesus was a great teacher simply because He did not teach from books but from the book of life. Nor did He quote from great leaders of the past to gain authority and credibility. He taught from His own personal experiences in life and His own inner convictions. That was why, in His teaching, He did not use bombastic, theological terms and sophistry to deliver His message. Rather, He used daily life examples that every person could identify with, such as fishing, sowing, cooking, farming, shepherding, investing, resolving debts, greed over inheritance, servants waiting on their masters, etc. All these daily life examples were used by the Lord to help the people understand God in their own terms which they can relate with.

But His words were not just taught with conviction but with power. He demonstrated His awesome authority when He commanded an unclean spirit from a possessed man to come out of him. “Jesus said sharply, be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.” Such was the authority of our Lord. He was not speaking His own words but the Word of God. He knew that He was not just acting by Himself. He was acting in the name of His Father. Jesus was always conscious that because He spoke the Word of God, that Word carried power. Jesus said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.” (Jn 14:10f) The Lord said, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:10f)

Indeed, “the people were so astonished that they started asking each other what it all meant. ‘Here is a teaching that is new’ they said ‘and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’ And his reputation rapidly spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.” What does it mean? It means that if we want to have the authority of Jesus, we must teach the way He taught us. Jesus assures us, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (Jn 14:12-14) If we believe in Jesus, He will give us the same Holy Spirit and the authority to teach with power and conviction. That was what happened to the apostles. St Paul said, “I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5)

Authority of a leader and a teacher depends on his or her faith in Christ. If we do not rely on ourselves but on the Lord, we will also allow Jesus to teach through us. Like St John the Baptist, we must decrease and He must increase. This faith, unlike that of the devil, must not be just an intellectual faith but that of a personal faith expressed in love and submission to His divine authority, believing in His word and living them out in our daily life.