4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The great English writer and wit G.K. Chesterton would often be seen squeezed behind a table in a London restaurant for lunch. He would often joke about his great bulk, saying that he gave him great consolation to be able to give up his seat on the train for three ladies. One day at a lunch he was holding forth about the difference between power and authority: “if a rhinoceros were to enter this restaurant now, there is no denying he would have great power here. But I would be the first to rise and assure him he had no authority whatever.” This humorous anecdote reveals to us that often power and authority do not often go hand in hand. Richard Gaillardetz, one of the foremost ecclesiologists of our time, has defined authority as the “legitimate, trustworthy and accountable exercise of power.” The rhinoceros did not have any authority because his exercise of power was unlikely to be trustworthy or accountable. Power without authority is dangerous and authority without power is comical. Before coming to today’s gospel, I’d like to dwell on two contemporary examples, one of the danger of power without authority, and another the tragedy of authority without power.

Much of the Evangelical world here in Africa is reeling from the recent BBC exposé on T.B. Joshua. This documentary revealed that T.B. Joshua’s authority was a sham, because instead of extending himself to help his disciples grow in freedom, it turns out he was actually enslaving them for his own financial benefit and in some cases, his own sexual pleasure. The only power that he possessed was the power to enslave and coerce. He abused his God-given charisma to seduce people into the orbit of his influence and once drawn in he would hold them captive. His use of power was not trustworthy and highlights the danger of power without authority. The current case against Israel in the International Court of Justice is perhaps an example of the exercise of authority without power. The recent historic ruling of the ICJ that orders Israel to prevent and punish incitements to genocide and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Having heard arguments from both sides and weighed their merits, it is an authoritative ruling. However, the ICJ possesses no power to enforce its ruling and ensure that Israel complies. It is a tragic case of authority without power, something which might be said of many arms of the UN. In so many instances this international organization made up of the vast majority of the nations of the world lacks the power to implement its authority.

In Jesus we have someone who had both power and authority. It is clear that Jesus’ power came from God, for Jesus always uses his power to set people free and give them life. It is because he uses his power in this way, that Jesus has authority, for his use of power is trustworthy. Jesus’ use of power is always directed towards helping those he encounters to grow as people and discover their true purpose in life. M. Scott Peck, an American psychologist and author of the bestseller, The Road Less Travelled, defines love as the willingness to extend oneself for the spiritual growth of another person. According to this definition, in order to love, we must be able to do two things. First, we must know what spiritual growth means. In other words, we must know the direction in which a person must go in order to fulfil their purpose in life. In order to do this, we need to be able to reflect on our own experience in order to be able to know what gives us life and energy and what takes away life and saps our energy. We are not left alone in this task for we have the Scriptures, God’s Word of life to guide us in this task. If we are able to integrate our experience with the Scriptures and the experience of those around us and distil this into a conviction about how we are to live and act in the world in order to attain our purpose, then we have true and real authority. But knowing what is right is not enough, for we also need to be able to extend ourselves in order to influence other people to make the right decisions for their own spiritual growth. This is what power is, namely the ability to influence people. This can be done in a coercive manner (in which case it loses all its authority) or in a non-coercive manner, in which case authority is enhanced.

Jesus had both power and authority because he was able to reflect on his life and the purpose of our existence and then communicate this to others in such a compelling way so as to influence them to follow his teaching. From M. Scott Peck’s definition, it should be clear that a person’s power and authority are enhanced to the extent that they are motivated by love. In today’s gospel people are amazed by Jesus’ authority not simply because of the depth of his learning and reflection, but also because his love for them shines through his eyes as he preaches to them.

Jesus’ commitment to his listener’s wellbeing was so deep that he was willing to extend himself to remove the obstacles that might hinder them truly receiving the liberating power of his words. Our gospel today gives us an example of this where Jesus’ preaching is interrupted by someone who has no authority, no ability to control his own body or his spirit. Here is a person who has been dispossessed of his freedom by an evil spirit and is no longer in charge of his own life. The demon fears the power that Jesus has and questions what Jesus intends to do with this power. The power of the demon is a power to enslave, it is a coercive power that takes away a person’s freedom and imprisons them in their own misery. The power of Jesus is directly opposite, for it is a power to liberate a person from coercion and from the chains of addiction and loss of self-control. The demon senses a direct confrontation between these two powers and asks in alarm: “have you come to destroy us?” The demon is dead on for that is exactly what Jesus does, Jesus opens the doors of the prison that have bound this man, banishes the enslaving power of the demon and restores this man to his senses and to his own freedom.

In seeking to imitate Jesus we should seek to cultivate both our authority and our power in ways that express love for our fellow brothers and sisters. We do this through a discipline of reflection on our own experience and the experience of those around us as we seek to align our lives with the wisdom of the Word of God. When our lives align with the Word of God we are imbued with authority from on high which we should seek to use to influence our world so that it becomes a place of justice and truth.

Questions for reflection

1. Have I ever been in awe of someone’s authority? Where did that authority derive from?
2. What are the values or issues that I am most passionate about? Can I speak with conviction and authority about these issues?
3. In what ways do I extend myself to influence others for their own spiritual growth and well-being?