Homily: Monday of the 3rd Week of Advent - On whose authority?

On Wednesday, the Church enters into the period of what is called Deep Advent, from December 17-December 24.  During the first two weeks of Advent, our readings concern the prophecies of the coming Messiah, now, during this second half of Advent we begin to focus more intensely on the person, identity, and mission of Jesus Christ.  When we understand Jesus better, we come to understand better what our daily response to him should be.

St. Matthew this morning gives us two very important concepts to consider about Jesus’ person, identity, and mission: his “authority” and his origin—that he comes “from heaven”.

Today’s passage comes very soon after Jesus entrance into Jerusalem.  He had entered the temple and overturned the tables of the money-changers and merchants, teaching that his Father’s temple is to be a house of prayer, not a den of robbers.  He then began to cure the blind and the lame.  He then began to teach about faith with authority.

The elders questioned his authority, and Jesus refused to answer their question directly.  Advent for us requires a choice, for all those who hear of his deeds, for all those who hear about Him, we are called to make a choice, is Jesus going to have authority in our lives or not.  If he is just a man, then no, of course not, his words and teachings are no more authoritative than any other.  Yet, if his authority comes from God, and of course it does, then we must conform our lives completely.  It is not up to us to pick and choose which teachings we like, and just follow those. 

Sadly, many modern-day Catholics have made themselves the authority.  They ignore or reject authoritative teachings of the Church which Jesus founded.  This is somewhat understandable.  After all, in our own time we have seen authorities grossly misuse their power. In recent decades we have seen the authoritarianism of Nazi and Communist regimes. 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote that “as soon as one mentions the authority of [the Church] there are visions of slavery, intellectual servitude, mental chains, tyrannical obedience, and blind service.”  He said, “There is nothing more misunderstood by the modern mind than the authority of the Church.” 

The authoritarianism of tyrants is altogether different from the authority of Jesus and the Church, the authority that comes from heaven.  The authoritarianism of tyrants does enslave.  The authority of God, rather, comes to free: to free us from the slavery of sin, to free us from the burden of being our own god. 

We do well to consider today the areas of our life that we have not handed over to Christ.  If we are honest we are likely to find a few, if we are very honest, we are likely to find many.  It is no easy task to give up our authority, yet Advent calls us once again to bow the knee to Christ the King, in whom we find true freedom, true peace for the glory of God and salvation of souls.