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4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
St. Francis de Sales, Abingdon
February 1, 2015
Authority and Its Power
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Authority
In the life experience that you and I have,
authority is almost always related to a position or a title.
For example, a business employer, a schoolteacher,
an elected civic official, a parent, a basketball coach, a priest – all of
these people have a certain authority.
It is related to their position and is reflected in their title.
This is a very different situation from Jesus
because he has no position or title. No
position and yet, today’s Gospel states that, “The people are amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one having
authority.”
Jesus’
Authority
In preparing to speak with you, I came across
an interesting insight about Jesus’ authority.
The original word for “authority” used in this passage is Greek and literally means “out of being” or “out of his own being.”
So Jesus teaches and drives away evil in this
incident “out of his own being.” He does this from his inner self, from who he
is as a person.
Now, it is easy for us to think of Jesus doing
this “out of his own being.” After all, we believe – as the unclean spirit
says in this passage – that he is “the
Holy One of God.”
He is the Son of God. So it’s no wonder he can teach and cast out
evil “out of his own being,” out of
his inner self, out of who he is as a person.
Our Authority
It is not so easy to think of ourselves as having
this kind of authority.
But, I believe, Jesus’ example calls us to this and
it demands some work from us. It demands
above all that we be quiet and slow down enough to look within ourselves to become
aware of who we really are.
It demands that we know our humanity – our
strengths, like having a keen mind to understand things quickly or like having
good relational skills. It also demands
that we know our weaknesses – like always wanting everything our own way or like
not being very flexible.
Having and living with the authority of Jesus also
means that we try to really take in and understand and apply to ourselves the
way of Jesus. It means that we allow him
to empower us and shape us from within.
And then, with this inner self, we can act with the
authority of Jesus in whatever position we have or title we hold.
We are able to lead the business, contribute to the
work group, or coach the kids out of our inner being and allow that transformative
energy to influence what we say and do.
That’s a Jesus-understanding of authority
Authority over Evil
In addition to this inner authority, the Gospel can
also help us to see how Jesus uses this authority he has in a way that astonishes
the crowd watching him.
He casts out evil spirits from this man in the
synagogue. My thought is that today
there remain evil spirits that can be cast out.
One such spirit is the evil spirit of instant
gratification. We know it all too well: We
want, what we want, when we want it, and that usually means right now.
This spirit can lead us to an inappropriate expression
of sexuality. My pleasure right now
becomes the driving force above any other consideration.
Or this spirit can lead us to an overall
impatience. We get impatient with slowed
traffic or with anything or anyone who interferes with what we want right now.
Conclusion
So, I am saying tat the authority of Jesus comes “out of his being,” out of his inner
self.
Jesus calls us to be aware of our inner selves, to
let him in and then live out of that.
If we do this, Jesus’ authority coupled with the authority
or empowerment we have within us can cast out those evil spirits that can
afflict us today, just as he does for the man in the gospel.
