The Ring of Authority

  “The people were amazed at the way He taught. He wasn’t like the scribes; instead He taught with the ring of authority.” (Mk. 1:22)

The Ring of Authority

January 29, 2012, 4^th Sunday Ordinary Time

Deuteronomy 18:18    I Corinthians 7:32-35     Mark 1:21-28

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 wasn’t like the scribes; instead He taught with the ring of authority.

In their synagogue was a man possessed by a demon who was loudly crying 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 the howling demon and commanded him, saying: "Shut up! Come out of him!" The demon convulsed the man, gave a loud cry, and came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another what it all meant. “This man teaches in a brand new way,” they exclaimed. “He teaches with the ring of authority; He gives orders to evil 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.
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Introduction

Purification, Candlemas and St. Blaise

This coming Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 is not only Groundhog Day, it’s also the Feast of the Purification of Mary. According to Jewish tradition the mother of a male child was considered unclean for forty days. After that period, she went to the Temple with her newborn son, and brought two turtledoves or young pigeons as a sin offering.  The priest prayed  over her, and she was purified. When Mary went with the infant Jesus to the Temple for purification, there was an old man named Simeon. Scripture says “He had been assured by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah.” (Lk 2:26) When Simeon saw them in the Temple, he took the infant into his arms and proclaimed him “a light of revelation to the Gentiles.” So on Feb. 2 the Church at Mass blesses candles needed for liturgical and home uses in the year ahead. That’s why Feb. 2 is also called Candlemas. Then the day after Candlemas, Feb. 3, two of the blessed candles are used to bless throats on the feast of St. Blaise.

Authority but not the ring of authority

In the first reading from Deuteronomy the Lord God promises to send a prophet in whose mouth He will place His words. The gospel is about that one who came with God’s words in His mouth and who taught with the `ring of authority’ and not as the scribes. The scribes were copyists who made hand-written copies of the Torah[1] and other books of the Bible. They were very meticulous people. They concocted a long list of rules to be scrupulously observed in copying the biblical books. E.g. (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.  Etc, etc. 

The scribes were also teachers and interpreters of the Law of Moses. In fact, some translations simply read `teachers of the Law’ instead of `scribes.’  Scribes gave lectures on the Law of Moses in synagogues, taught it in schools and debated it in public. As interpreters of the Law of Moses, they were also very meticulous people. With their cohorts, the Pharisees,[2] they concocted a mountainous heap of minute rules, regulations and prescriptions which they placed on the backs of the people. Of the scribes and Pharisees Jesus says: “They are the authorized interpreters of Moses’ Law. 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) Then Jesus launches a litany of eight tirades against them - eight “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees.” (Mt. 23:13-29) The scribes did, indeed, have authority but not the ring of authority.

Jesus’ ring of authority over an evil spirit

Unlike the scribes, Jesus had the ring of authority.  On a Sabbath in Capernaum Jesus commanded an evil spirit howling in a possessed man to “Shut up!” and come out of the poor man. The demon obeyed: he convulsed the man, gave a loud cry, and came out of him. (Mk. 1: 25) 

We too must command the evil spirits howling in our lives to “Shut up!”

“Shut up!” to the evil spirit of worry plaguing us.

“Shut up!” to the evil spirit of depression weighting us down.
“Shut up!” to the evil spirit of low self-esteem belittling us.
“Shut up!” to the evil spirit of anger raging in us.
“Shut up!” to an evil spirit of fear nagging us.
“Shut up!” to an evil spirit of the restlessness tossing and turning us.
“Shut up!” to an evil spirit of addiction destroying us.

“Shut up!” to an evil spirit of lust squandering us.

 Jesus’ ring of authority over a roaring storm

That same ring of authority in Mark 1: 25 is manifested in Mark 4: 39. There Jesus commands not a roaring demon but a roaring storm. He is in a boat with His disciples, asleep in the stern with His head on a cushion. A fierce storm blows up, and the terrified apostles wake Jesus. He commands the roaring storm to “Shut up,” and the wind dies down and a great calm ensues. The old Latin translation of these two passages from Mark uses the identically same word for the command to “Shut up!” -- “Obmutesce!”

Some of the storms in our lives (maybe many of them) are not much more than "tempests-in-a-teapot."  Many great storms rose shortly after Vatican II. There were storms over Communion-in-the-hand, Communion from lay-people, meat on Friday, nuns in civilian clothes, English instead of Latin in the liturgy, women ministering at the altar. As we look back now, we see they were not much more than tempests-in-tea-pots, which really deserved a sound “Shut up!” “Obmutesce!” They eventually did quiet down, for the most part.   If we can’t, or do not try, to `shut up’ at least the teapot tempests in our lives, what will we do when a real storm blows upon us?

A churchman lacking the ring of authority.

When Archbishop Rembert Weakland OSB of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee went to Rome in 1993 for his ad lumina visit to the Pope, a letter was hand delivered to him from the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. The letter made it clear to Weakland that "Among the requirements of Catholic unity there is the need [for you Rembert Weakland] to accept the tradition of the Church. According to ecclesial practice, reinforced by a Synod of Bishops, it is not [italics ours] possible to present married men for ordination to the priesthood." The letter also made it clear to Weakland that "On the question of the ordination of women, your position is perceived to be in opposition to the teaching of the church. Moreover, the charge of 'intransigency' (a word used by your Excellency) on the part of the Church in this matter can seriously damage Church authority and Church government." The prefect, lacking the ring of authority has to call upon authority.

A pope suffused with the ring of authority

On the other hand, the Universal Church experienced the wonderful example of a pope suffused with the ring of authority! On the day of his `coronation’ as pope, November 4, 1958,  Good Pope John XXIII  declared in his homily that  like Jesus the Good Shepherd, he came not to be served but to serve. Then the very next day John sped off in a papal limousine 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.

John’s ring of authority resounded not only throughout the whole Church but whole world as well. When the Pope lay dying on June 3, 1963, after four short years of a pontificate resounding with the ring of authority, the whole world was at his bedside, weeping and praying. 

John’s ring of authority resounded especially with Morris West. He was 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 wrote,

I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me[3], and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Pastor. Goodness [and the ring of authority] went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again. 

Conclusion

Authority or the ring of authority

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I place before you a choice between  life and death. Choose life.” The gospel today places before us a choice between authority and the ring of authority. And it bids us to choose the ring of authority. If we choose authority in our dealings with others, we become like that prefect of the Congregation for Bishops who dealt abruptly and dismissively with the Archbishop of Milwaukee. On the other hand, if we choose rather the ring of authority in our dealings with others, we are like Good Pope John whose authority resounded mightily in the Church, the world and in Morris West.

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[1] 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.”

[2] Pharisees: a Jewish religious party, very strict in obeying the Law of Moses to which they added a great accretion of their own concoction.

[3] Though West was and always remained a Catholic, his various writings contain a good deal of criticism about the church, and the church was not always pleased with him.