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Last Sunday’s gospel told us how amazed the people were because Jesus “taught with authority”—his words conveying the powerful and motivating “authority of truth.” In contrast, we were told the Scribes and Pharisees “taught with power”—their words conveying the boring and ossified “truth of authority.”
It wasn’t that what the Scribes and Pharisees taught was untrue, after all, they were teaching the people about God’s Law and what it required of them in the context of the times in which they lived. Those are important matters!
The problem was the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees was uninspiring—entirely devoid of the Holy Spirit. The people had heard it all before. But, Jesus said proclaimed it in a way that moved that captured the minds and moved the hearts of those who were listening. When God’s Law captures the mind and animates the human heart, people like the Scribes and Pharisees, Pope Francis and Archbishop Perez, and you and me, too, “will” that the truth of authority—what otherwise would be sterile and ossified words—be translated into the authority of truth—the “bread of life” that nourishes and strengthens faith not simply as an idea but more substantively in action.
That kind of teaching—“teaching with authority,” like Jesus taught—packs a punch, possessing as it does the power to amaze people in any era. Why? It conveys the convincing authority of God’s Truth that motivates the heart to act. Just like the people in Jesus’ day, all of us need to know God’s law and what it requires of us in the context of our days. Yet, we’re not interested in boring homilies about stuff we’ve already heard. Our minds need to be captivated by and our hearts motivated to experience what those words mean, not just what they state.
In this regard, today’s gospel extends last week’s challenge from Scripture, telling us of a leper who said to Jesus “If you wish, you can make me clean.” To this statement—notice it wasn’t a request like “Please, could you?”—Jesus responded not by wishing that something be done but by willing it, responding to the leper: “I do will it.”
It’s pretty easy for any of us to “wish” many things for others, especially good things. But, it’s more difficult, isn’t it, for any of us to “will” anything, especially when people we care about intrude upon our schedule of activities and plans. If those folks persist, we oftentimes issue a command: “Stop pestering me!”
But, it’s only the extraordinary among us who “will” to do things when people we barely know or could give one whit about intrude upon our schedule of activities and plans. We may not categorize these folks as “lepers” but we believe they deserve none of our attention and we do everything in our power to keep them at a distance. So we push them to the side, ostracizing them as unimportant and undeserving or unworthy of our attention or care. We may not treat them as the people of Jesus’ days treated lepers, but the simple fact is we don’t want to be near them for fear that doing so will it make it difficult, if not impossible, to do what we want.
“Christmas crib” Catholics—whose faith is “childish”—are like the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ days. They know God’s Law and Church teaching very well. After all, they’ve heard it all before and on many occasions. Many of them also teach it by telling others what they’ve also already heard, perhaps more than a thousand times. But, with hearts devoid of the Holy Spirit, the minds and hearts of those hearing those sterile and ossified words are unmoved, receiving no nourishment that would strengthen their faith. Perhaps feeling good for “doing their part,” “crib Catholics” are pleased with themselves and believe God is pleased with them for dictating to others what God wants them to hear. In this way, “crib Catholics” teach with the “power of authority,” lording their power over others.
Of these Catholics, Pope Francis said:
These people have a psychology of princes. They think: “We are the masters, the princes, and we teach you. Not service: We command, you obey.”
In contrast, “crucifix Catholics”—whose faith is “childlike”—are attentive to others’ immediate needs, even if doing so represents a sudden and unwelcome intrusion into their activities and plans. They “will” to embrace this kind of suffering because it’s what love requires of them—pouring out their blood—and, in this way, teach with authority. Like Jesus, the words and actions of “crucifix” Catholics are coherent because they live what they preach, not fretting about or fearing what might happen as a result of “willing” to serve those lepers. “Crucifix” Catholics want to be close to them which strengthens their authority.
Pope Francis reminds us: “Jesus never passed Himself off like a prince: He was always the servant of all, and this is what gave Him authority.” Jesus didn’t teach with the power of his logic or use clever words, like the Jewish religious leaders. Instead, Jesus taught “with authority” by willing to embody the words we heard first announced about Jesus on Christmas Day, wrapped as he was in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger. This is “Emmanuel”—meaning “God [is] with us.”
God didn’t send His only begotten Son to earth to preach sermons and then wash his hands of people. Instead, God sent His only begotten Son precisely to teach humanity that God “wills” to be close to them—right there beside them. With a heart animated by the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the comfortable, swaddling blanket of “crib” Judaism behind and taught with authority as his heart was moved with pity for anyone who intruded upon his activities and plans, taking upon himself their problems, sins, and spiritual diseases.
That represents this week’s challenge from Scripture: To pray with a “childlike” faith that trusts in God by saying “Lord, if you will it, you can do it. If you will it, you can do it.”
The “it” we tell God to “will” is to empower the Holy Spirit within us—already given to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation—so we “will” to be “Emmanuel” to all of those who will intrude upon our plans and activities for the day. In this way, we “will” to be near them in the form of comforting them, bearing their sadness and pain, and feeding them the bread of life which will nourish and strengthen their faith. In short, to “teach with authority,” as Jesus did.
That’s a beautiful prayer because it expresses our confidence that God is with us, right there beside us as we begin the day. Then, having organized ourselves for what’s really important to accomplish as the day will unfold, the Lord will “will” it—transforming our short but beautiful prayer into a miraculous prayer, evident as we “will” to embrace the crucifix by giving our life for others in their need.
And, in this way, what St. Paul taught in today’s Epistle will shape our days: To “do everything for the glory of God....not seeking [our] own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.”
As we light our baptismal candle at the beginning of each day, let us pray “Lord, if you will....”
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