Saturday May 29

 

EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

AUTHORITY AND PERSON OF JESUS                           

 

Introduction

In the first reading, the Old Testament writer thanks God, from whom he has learned wisdom. God’s wisdom has brought him insight and happiness.

The Gospel shows us the Jewish leaders challenging Jesus’ authority for what he teaches and does because they feel challenged in their own authority. Jesus does not give them an answer because they are not willing to accept him anyway because they only try to justify themselves. They and we cannot understand Jesus unless we encounter and welcome and love him as a person.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
you are the source of all wisdom.
Speak your word to us today
and open our hearts to it,
that we may learn to look with your eyes
to the world and to people
and that your wisdom
may guide us in all we do.
We ask you this through him you sent among us
and in whom we believe,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

 

READING 1: SIR 51:12CD-20

When I was young and innocent,

I sought wisdom.

She came to me in her beauty,

and until the end I will cultivate her.

As the blossoms yielded to ripening grapes,

the heart’s joy,

My feet kept to the level path

because from earliest youth I was familiar with her.

In the short time I paid heed,

I met with great instruction.

Since in this way I have profited,

I will give my Teacher grateful praise.

I resolved to tread her paths;

I have been jealous for the good and will not turn back.

I burned with desire for her,

never relenting.

I became preoccupied with her,

never weary of extolling her.

I spread out my hands to the heavens

and I came to know her secrets.

For her I purified my hands;

in cleanness I attained to her.

At first acquaintance with her, I gained understanding

such that I will never forsake her.

 

Responsorial Psalm:  Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

The law of the LORD is perfect,

refreshing the soul.

The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,

giving wisdom to the simple.

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

The precepts of the LORD are right,

rejoicing the heart.

The command of the LORD is clear,

enlightening the eye.

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever.

The statutes of the LORD are true,

all of them just;

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

More desirable than gold,

than a hoard of purest gold,

Sweeter also than honey

or drippings from the comb.

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

 

Alleluia: Cf. Col 3:16a,17c

R/ Alleluia, alleluia

Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly;

giving thanks to God the Father through him.

R/ Alleluia, alleluia

 

Gospel: Mk 11:27-33

They returned once more to Jerusalem.  As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘[Then] why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

 

Intercessions

–   That the Church may imitate Jesus and base its authority on service and healing, we pray:

–   That those authority may be humble and self-effacing, we pray:

–   That we may recognize authority more in goodness and mercy rather than in power, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
you have given us your Son, Jesus,
to be with us and to show us the way to you.
Let him become to us a living person
present here among us
in these signs of bread and wine,
present also in people around us,
present in our lives
as our companion on the road to you,
for he is our Lord for ever.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God, loving Father,
your Son, Jesus, has been with us
in this Eucharistic celebration.
Give us the wisdom and the humility
to accept your Son always
on his own terms and with his own authority.
May we thus, come to love him more
and to live the kind of life
he lived among people
as the truth and the life and the way to you,
our living and loving God for ever.

 

Blessing

Thank God that we believe in Jesus. May we also accept those who speak in his name. We ask the Lord to increase our faith. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Chief priests, scribes, and senior men – These three groups comprised the Jewish governing body, the Sanhedrin. They confronted Jesus over the issue of him chasing out the animal sellers and money exchangers from the temple on the previous day. They ask Jesus “with what authority ” he did things and “who had given him such authority ”. When authority arises from the position, the power, the money and fame, normally such authority imposes itself and seeks the dominance of the other; tries to subdue the other. Power, money, and fame seek privilege, and even try to control God.

The temple authorities believed that they had already trapped him on the issue of authority. To teach people in the temple are required training under a recognised Rabbi. Did Jesus have the required educational qualifications? They were not aware of any! Hence, the temple authorities wanted to discredit him before the common people and stop him from teaching them in the temple area.
Jesus turned the table back on them by questioning them about not accepting John the Baptist. If they were unable to recognise or to accept the divine authority behind the mission of John, they would not have recognised the hand of God behind the works of Jesus. Jesus did not bother entering into further dialogue with them. The ignorant one from Galilee had outsmarted the elites from the centre.
Today, the detractors of the Church, use this act of Jesus cleansing the temple against the clergy and church leadership whom they do not like. We do listen to comments such as “If Jesus were to come back to the Church today, he would be chasing out our priests and church-leaders.” But there is a difficulty in such comments: Through such comments, they are trying to assume the role of Jesus and decide what would be the likes and dislikes of Jesus. In other words, they are already passing judgement on others.
We too, of course, can have a similar blindness of the temple authorities. When questioned about the baptism of John, they preferred to play ignorant and blind. “We do not know,” was their evasive answer. When we are preoccupied with our social status, power, authority and position, we run into the danger of refusing to see the presence and work of God in situations where we do not want to see it. We refuse to see the hand of God working in people in whom we do not want to see it. But God uses any person, any experience, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, to communicate with us. “Help me, Lord, to seek and find and respond to you in every experience of my life.”