The authority of Jesus and ours

(Mt 21:23-27)

"By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?" (Mt 21:23).

In the traditional Judaizing environment of the early communities, questions about Christ's authority in laying siege to the ordinary religious system, and his standing apart even from recognised prophets such as the Baptist, were bouncing around.

The only answer: the power of God expressed in the sign of the times - fermenting consciences.

Jesus' mission was not a regular one: he disconcerted the atmosphere, so his sharp, living Word had to be contained at all costs.

Such bold behaviour would have seemed irreverent towards the authorities, even if adopted by the expected Messiah himself. And a landless one could only be his false pretender....

The religious leaders whom the Lord confronted - rooted in established patterns of thought and strategies, even coinage - were always content to fit Heaven into closed dishcloths.

Even the faithful in the congregations of Mt seemed under the tutelage of interests, ways, words and deeds imposed by the despotic climate.

In the 1970s-80s, Jewish converts to the Lord were persecuted because they resisted the customs and pressures of established religious leaders and the power system.

Some had already thoughtlessly attempted the diplomatic route, trying to reconcile Faith and Empire.

As Paul, by now sadly aware of the defeat of his theology, said: 'Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh, force you to be circumcised, just so as not to be persecuted because of the cross of Christ'.

Mt tries to help his communities in Galilee and Syria: they should continue fearless, and not be seduced by official religious practices, nor polluted by the corrupt ideology of the various Caesars.

The evangelist also seems to suggest to the faithful in Christ to avoid punctilious diatribes, with the representatives of a world only apparently stable - on the contrary destined to implode on its own contradictions.

The Tao Tê Ching (v) writes: "To speak much and scrutinise rationally, is worth less than to be empty". And Master Wang Pi comments: 'He who does not talk and does not reason surely scrutinises the reason of things'.

After the expulsion of the sellers and usurer-profaners from the Temple (Mt 21:12ff), Jesus' fate is sealed.

The true god of the ancient high places is not touched: the sack of the 'masters' and the treasure of the priests involved.

Those in charge of the black affairs of the sacred precinct appeared believing and loyal, but only when scrutinised from the outside.

Their inner eye and activity well concealed under their cloaks and behind the scenes lay on anything but spiritual goods.

They were masters of everything, so no one had to take any initiative without their placet. Let alone affect religious commerce.

Who ever gave the imprimatur to a carpenter's son to stand in the way of lavish earnings, and undermine their prestige?

Useful beliefs and habitual income were 'vested rights'.

Unfortunately, the history of religions is punctuated with episodes of plagiarism and compromise, even in times when the economic and social situation became difficult or complex (like today).

Where the less affluent classes declined the risks, the more willingly they outsourced the difficult management of personal freedom - leaving the field open to business partners with God, manipulators of conscience.

But here - by dint of permits to be asked for with deference, similar proceedings (and smuggling 'cordatas') - that freshness full of wonder, typical of the soul open to adventure and the passion of love, was finally lacking.

Therefore, according to Jesus, no man can give 'permission' for any person to be reflective and dissolved.

There is an unpredictable path even for those who are used to being directed in every affair.

The seed borne by the wind of the Spirit makes its own plant, which does not necessarily resemble the surrounding ones: it does not bind itself in its particular expressiveness, and it also flies out of bounds.

Although the constituted authorities absolutely did not want to lose control of things and imposed the usual standard pious life - with its own spin-offs - according to Christ, God alone could have stewarded the seed, roots and development.

Through his intimates, the new Kingdom - untied - is to be proposed to the whole world, in the spirit of selflessness... and as a Surprise.

Unforeseen and unburdened attributes, which the Son reveals in his caring for the weak, and opposing the wily; in his Person.

We manifest independence and freedom, because Jesus himself demonstrated it, overriding all expectations and intentions.

The Master was not a qualunquist with those who hatched plots of trade and even demanded approval.Without seeking lexical concordances, he emphasised that orthodoxy should not be confused with repetition.

The guarantees of the past often clog up minds and clog up paths that then lead to frontier experiences.

In this way, sooner or later the leaders would have been dismayed by those who do not endure ratifications, finally acknowledging their ignorance.

They would run themselves aground - overwhelmed by their own cheating and their anxiety not to lose power over the people [increasingly intolerant of 'visas'].

This, even because of the desire not to expose themselves (vv.25-27a). 

Tactical perplexity, which reveals unbelief - lukewarmness - total lack of Faith.

As Pope Francis pointed out:

Jesus, with intelligence, answers with another question and puts the chief priests "in a corner", asking them whether John the Baptist baptised with an authority that came to him from heaven, that is, from God or from men. Matthew describes their reasoning, reread by the Pontiff "If we say, "From heaven", they will say to us, "Why did you not believe?"; if we say, "From men", people will come against us. And they wash their hands of it and say: 'We do not know'. This, the Holy Father commented, "is the attitude of the mediocre, the liars of faith".

"Not only did Pilate wash his hands of it," the Pope explained, these also wash their hands of it: 'We do not know'. This means, Francis continued, "not entering into the history of men, not getting involved in problems, not fighting to do good, not fighting to heal so many people in need.... 'Better not. Let's not get dirty'".

That is why, the Pontiff clarified, Jesus replies "with the same tune: 'Neither do I tell you by what authority I do this'". In fact, "these are two attitudes of lukewarm Christians", recalled Francis, "of us - as my grandmother used to say - "rose-water Christians"; Christians like this: without consistency".

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 16-17/12/2019].

In his commentary on the Tao (LXV) Master Ho-Shang Kung writes: "The man who possesses the mysterious virtue is so profound that he cannot be probed, so inscrutable that he has no limit.

The silence of those who in Christ are still educating the protagonists of the sacred places is often God's righteous echo, more eloquent than many brilliant disquisitions (v.27b).

Thus Jesus avoids the ambiguity of mental restriction or evasive semantics: in Him the non-answer to the leaders is transformed into a question.

The Lord remains silent, but without deflecting the question.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you demonstrate autonomy and emancipation from those who aspire to control your personality, only to make you a (licensed) labourer in (their) temple?

In your opinion: despite their pompous appearances of rank, did the people's spiritual leaders and temple officials have anything to do with the One they were celebrating?

Sometimes, perhaps - even us - little or nothing?

Translating power into humility

Jesus' word to the people immediately opens up access to the Father's will and to the truth about themselves. Not so, however, for the scribes, who had to strive to interpret the Holy Scriptures with countless reflections (...)

Divine authority is not a force of nature. It is the power of God's love that creates the universe and, by becoming incarnate in the Only-Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, heals the world corrupted by sin. Romano Guardini writes: 'Jesus' entire existence is the translation of power into humility...it is sovereignty that here lowers itself to the form of a servant' (Il Potere, Brescia 1999, 141,142).

For man, authority often means possession, power, dominion, success. For God, on the other hand, authority means service, humility, love; it means entering into the logic of Jesus who stoops to wash the disciples' feet (cf. Jn 13:5), who seeks the true good of man, who heals wounds, who is capable of a love so great that it gives life, because it is Love. In one of her Letters, St Catherine of Siena writes: 'It is necessary that we see and know, in truth, with the light of faith, that God is supreme and eternal Love, and can will nothing but our good' (Ep. 13 in: Le Lettere, vol. 3, Bologna 1999, 206).

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 29 January 2012]