Homily: Saturday, 8th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Sir 51:12-20; Ps 19; Mk 11:27-33

The conversation described by Mark took place just after Jesus had cleansed the Temple, and believe me He had upset more than the tables of money changers. He had also upset the chief priests, the Temple elders, and scribes, most of whom had a financial stake in the selling and money-changing that Jesus had stopped.

Yes, indeed, they had long been looking for ways to get rid of Jesus, ways to discredit Him, perhaps accuse Him of blasphemy, hoping He would claim in public what He had reportedly said privately. And so they ask Him by what authority He did what He did in God’s Temple. They thought they were being so very clever. How could this Jesus not answer the question? But unlike Ben-Sirach in our first reading, these men didn’t pray for wisdom before the Temple, but sought only personal gain.

Jesus, though, the very personification of divine wisdom, spoke and acted with the authority of God, and for the people who truly listen to Him, it was a liberating authority. In His wisdom Jesus asked them a question they wouldn’t answer because their primary concern was not the truth but their own welfare and interests.

But all authority isn’t always easy to accept. I remember, years ago, when I was a new junior officer in my Navy aircraft squadron. On my first day, assigned as a division officer of the avionics division – all the electronics technicians who maintain all the radios, radars, and associated electronics – I called all the enlisted troops together. I went around the room, asking each about their specialties, and what they liked and disliked about their work.

The discussion went well, until one young petty officer asked, “Why should we listen to you? What do you know about avionics?” I just shrugged and said, “I know enough. I have a degree in electrical engineering, so I’ll understand all the technical stuff. But more importantly, I’ll support you all, all the way up the line, as long as you’re straight with me. Our commanding officer has given me the authority to lead this division, but if you undermine me, if you don’t listen to me, things probably won’t go very well.” Not a long speech, and as a young 25-year-old, I held my breath. There was no mutiny, so it seemed to work. Perhaps one of my better days...there have been others with different endings.

I suppose, when it comes to authority, the real issue for all of us, is who or what will we accept as our authority. You and I have to respond to a lot of different human authorities – to law enforcement and judges, to elected leaders, to all kinds of people who exert authority in limited ways over little pieces of our lives.

But to whom do we listen when it comes to the truly important things of life?

The Gospels assure us that Jesus embodies the authentic authority of God, as I said, a liberating authority that empowers us to become fully human and fully alive. Only by accepting the authority of God, an authority He has given to His Church, can we live truly happy and fulfilled lives.

Remember how, at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus extended God’s authority to Peter:

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” [Mt 16:18-19].

I’m pretty sure Peter didn’t realize exactly what Jesus had just given him, but in time he would come to understand the extent of it all.

But do you know something? That Church Jesus gave Peter is our Church, and it possesses the full authority of God Himself. How blessed we are to know that, when the Church speaks on faith and morals, we don’t just hear the words of men, but we are listening to the very authority of God Himself.

And how sad for those priests, and scribes, and elders that they rejected this authority that came from the very mouth of God Himself.