The Ring of Authority
February 1, 2009, 4th Sunday Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 18:18 I Corinthians 7:32-35 Mark 1:21-28
To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]
First reading from Deuteronomy
Moses spoke to all the people, saying, “The Lord your God said to me, `I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people, and I will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.’”
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.
Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at the way He taught. He taught with the ring of authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, "Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are—the holy Son of God.” Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed the man, and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another what it all meant. “This man teaches in a brand new way. This man teaches with the ring of authority. He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey Him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
The ring of authority
In the first reading the Lord God promises to send a prophet into whose mouth He will place his words. The gospel reading is about that One who came with God’s words in his mouth and “taught with the ring of authority and not as the scribes.”
Old Testament scribes
In the Old Testament, scribes were simply people who made copies (hand-written, of course) of the Torah[3] and other books of the Bible. In the course of time, they became very meticulous and picky, and concocted a long list of rules to be scrupulously observed in copying the Biblical books.
(1) One must use only the skins of `clean animals’ to write on. (2) Each column of writing must have no less than forty-eight lines and no more than sixty. (3) The ink must be black, and of a special recipe. (4) The copyist must verbalize each word aloud while he writes. (5) He must review his manuscript within thirty days, and if he finds it has as many as three pages which require corrections, he must rewrite the entire manuscript. (6) The letters, words, and paragraphs are to be counted, and the document becomes invalid if two letters touch each other. (7) Every time the copyist writes the word `Jehovah,’[4] he must wipe his pen and wash his entire body before writing it! Etc.
Not like these Old Testament scribes did Jesus teach; He taught as one having the ring of authority.
(1) One must use only the skins of `clean animals’ to write on. (2) Each column of writing must have no less than forty-eight lines and no more than sixty. (3) The ink must be black, and of a special recipe. (4) The copyist must verbalize each word aloud while he writes. (5) He must review his manuscript within thirty days, and if he finds it has as many as three pages which require corrections, he must rewrite the entire manuscript. (6) The letters, words, and paragraphs are to be counted, and the document becomes invalid if two letters touch each other. (7) Every time the copyist writes the word `Jehovah,’[4] he must wipe his pen and wash his entire body before writing it! Etc.
Not like these Old Testament scribes did Jesus teach; He taught as one having the ring of authority.
New Testament scribes
In the New-Testament, scribes were not simply copyists of biblical texts, they were learned teachers and interpreters of the Law of Moses. In fact, some translations of the New Testament simply read `teacher of the Law’ instead of `scribe.’ Scribes gave lectures on the Law of Moses in synagogues, taught it in schools and debated it in public.
The New Testament scribes also were meticulous and picky. Their scrupulous attention to details equaled and sometimes exceeded that of the Old Testament scribes. With their cohorts the Pharisees[5] they concocted a mountainous heap of rules, regulations and prescriptions which they placed on the backs of the people. In the 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tirades against the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “They place back-breaking burdens on people’s shoulders - burdens which they themselves don’t even try to keep.” (Mt 23: 4)
Not like these New Testament scribes did Jesus teach; He taught as one having the ring of authority.
The New Testament scribes, did, indeed, have authority, but they didn’t have the ring of authority. Jesus tells the people, “The scribes and Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of the Law of Moses. So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do. Do not, however, imitate their actions, because they do not practice what they preach.” (Mt 23:2-3)
The New Testament scribes also were meticulous and picky. Their scrupulous attention to details equaled and sometimes exceeded that of the Old Testament scribes. With their cohorts the Pharisees[5] they concocted a mountainous heap of rules, regulations and prescriptions which they placed on the backs of the people. In the 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tirades against the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “They place back-breaking burdens on people’s shoulders - burdens which they themselves don’t even try to keep.” (Mt 23: 4)
Not like these New Testament scribes did Jesus teach; He taught as one having the ring of authority.
The New Testament scribes, did, indeed, have authority, but they didn’t have the ring of authority. Jesus tells the people, “The scribes and Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of the Law of Moses. So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do. Do not, however, imitate their actions, because they do not practice what they preach.” (Mt 23:2-3)
A law of proportion
Recently, Rod Blagojevich desperately invoked the authority invested in him as the Governor of Illinois, and appointed Roland Burris to fill the senatorial seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. That caused a great fury and also a great side-show. The Governor possessed all the external authority in the world to make that appointment but lacked the ring of authority. That he lost (if he ever had it in the first place), when he wanted to profit from the senatorial seat vacated by President-elect Obama.
A well-proven law of proportion states that to the extent that one lacks the ring of authority one desperately needs to invoke external authority: a governor needs to invoke the authority invested in him, a father needs to beat a prodigal son and a bishop needs to excommunicate a wayward sheep. On the other hand, to the extent one has the ring of authority one needs little more; one needs only to get out of the way and let his ring resound.
A well-proven law of proportion states that to the extent that one lacks the ring of authority one desperately needs to invoke external authority: a governor needs to invoke the authority invested in him, a father needs to beat a prodigal son and a bishop needs to excommunicate a wayward sheep. On the other hand, to the extent one has the ring of authority one needs little more; one needs only to get out of the way and let his ring resound.
A church with external authority
On October 21, 2008, the Vatican sent a letter to the Maryknoll community stating that Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest of 36 years, has 30 days to recant his statement of public support of women's ordination, or he will be automatically excommunicated. An excommunicated Catholic may not receive any of the sacraments of the church, including the Eucharist and marriage. He may not even be given Christian burial. Automatic excommunication is a handy alternative for one who lacks the ring of authority.
A priest with the ring of authority
On November 7, 2008, Fr. Bourgeois replied to his threatened excommunication. His response reads in part,
To the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our
Church, or I will be excommunicated. I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years
and have a deep love for my Church and ministry.
When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972. Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained. With all due respect, I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jaegerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer,
reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right
thing. I cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the
ordination of women in our Church.
If excommunicated, Bourgeois could face the loss of his benefits and the $1,000 he receives monthly for living expenses. But, he said, “If I am without healthcare, I will be joining 45 million people in the U.S. who don’t have healthcare.” Bourgeois has been at peace, he said, since he drove to his hometown in Louisiana and told his 95-year-old father, his 3 siblings and 13 nieces and nephews about the threatened excommunication. His father cried a little, Father Bourgeois recalled, then said, “God brought Fr. Roy back from the war in Vietnam, from his mission work in Bolivia and El Salvador, and God’s going to take care of him now. I support Roy.”
Not like the scribes does Fr. Bourgeois (an unofficial teacher) teach; he teaches the official teachers of the church as one having the ring of authority.
Not like the scribes does Fr. Bourgeois (an unofficial teacher) teach; he teaches the official teachers of the church as one having the ring of authority.
A pope with the ring of authority
Good Pope John XXIII let the ring of his authority resound throughout the whole church. Born November 29, 1881, in a little Italian village called Bergamo Sotto il Monte (Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain), he made it to the top. On October 28, 1958, he was elected pope and took the name of John XXIII. On November 4, the day of his coronation, a tiara was placed upon his head. In his homily that day the new pope declared that, like Jesus the Good Shepherd, he did not come to be served but to serve.
The day after his coronation, John sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to serve. He visited aging brother priests in nursing homes. He visited inmates in the nearby Regina Coeli Prison along the Tiber. “I come to you,” he told them, “because you couldn’t come to me.” When he celebrated his first Holy Thursday as pope, he revived an ancient custom of the church. He girded himself with a towel and bent down to wash the feet of 13 young priests. That rite had fallen into disuse for many centuries, and the disuse itself was symptomatic of a prevailing institutional attitude.
John’s ring of authority resounded Urbi et Orbi.[6] Emanating from the lofty throne of Peter it attracted the City of Rome and the whole world. It attracted Morris West, an Australian writer (1916-1999) famous especially for his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman. In A View from the Ridge he writes,
The day after his coronation, John sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to serve. He visited aging brother priests in nursing homes. He visited inmates in the nearby Regina Coeli Prison along the Tiber. “I come to you,” he told them, “because you couldn’t come to me.” When he celebrated his first Holy Thursday as pope, he revived an ancient custom of the church. He girded himself with a towel and bent down to wash the feet of 13 young priests. That rite had fallen into disuse for many centuries, and the disuse itself was symptomatic of a prevailing institutional attitude.
John’s ring of authority resounded Urbi et Orbi.[6] Emanating from the lofty throne of Peter it attracted the City of Rome and the whole world. It attracted Morris West, an Australian writer (1916-1999) famous especially for his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman. In A View from the Ridge he writes,
I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me[7], and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Pastor…. Goodness went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again.
When John lay dying on June 3, 1963, after four short years of a pontificate resounding with the ring authority, the whole world was at his bedside weeping and praying.
Conclusion
A shining city upon a hill
A shining city upon a hill
At 12 noon on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the USA before a sea of two million people. They came flocking because they had been electrified by Obama’s ring of authority which rose to a resounding crescendo as election day grew near. When the sun had set on that historical inauguration, a new nation had been reborn, bent on laying hold again of the ring of authority which in times past made the nation a shining city built upon a hill for all to see. (Mt 5:14)
[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church institution but those whom the institution has left!
[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24
[3] The Torah is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It’s sometimes referred to as simply “The Law of Moses.”
[4] In Hebrew Yahweh is God’s personal and unutterable name. In Hebrew Adonai means `My Lord.’ To avoid uttering Yahweh (the unutterable name of God) the Jews took the vowels of Adonai and added them to the consonants of Yahweh, and that’s how they got `Jehovah’.
[5] Pharisees: a Jewish religious party, very strict in obeying the Law of Moses to which they added a great accretion of their own concoction.
[6] The Lati n phrase now refers to a pope’s teaching or blessing addressed to the City (Urbi) of Rome and to the entire world (Orbi).
[7] Though West was and always remained a Catholic, his various writings contain a good deal of criticism about the church, and the institution was not always pleased with him.
