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By What Authority?
Where We Are
Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time. The evangelist Mark continues to show us Jesus in the Temple during his final week in Jerusalem. Yesterday, Jesus cleansed the Temple and taught about prayer and forgiveness. Today, the religious leaders fight back. They confront him with a question about authority, and Jesus responds with a counter-question that silences them. The letter of Jude, one of the shortest books in the New Testament, serves as today's first reading.
The Word
The chief priests, scribes, and elders approach Jesus in the Temple with a pointed question: "By what authority do you do these things? And who has given you this authority?" (Mark 11:28). Jesus answers with a question of his own: "The baptism of John: was it from heaven or from men?" They are trapped. If they say "from heaven," Jesus will ask why they did not believe John. If they say "from men," the crowd will turn on them, for everyone considers John a prophet. They answer: "We do not know." Jesus responds: "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
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Reflect
Jesus's counter-question is brilliant, but it is more than clever debate. It exposes the real issue. The religious leaders are not genuinely seeking truth; they are trying to trap Jesus. If they were honest seekers, they would answer the question about John, even at personal cost. Instead, they calculate the political consequences of each possible answer and choose evasion.
This is a warning for all of us. We can ask questions about God with genuine openness, or we can ask questions as a way of avoiding commitment. The leaders knew that if they acknowledged John's authority, they would have to acknowledge Jesus's authority, because John pointed to Jesus. And that would require them to change their lives.
Jesus does not withhold the truth from those who genuinely seek it. He withholds it from those who would use it as a weapon. The pearls are not thrown before swine, not because the swine are unworthy, but because they would trample the pearls. Truth is a gift that requires open hands to receive.
Jude's letter reminds us to "build yourselves up in your most holy faith" and to pray in the Holy Spirit. The alternative to the leaders' dishonesty is simple: approach God with honesty, even when the answers are uncomfortable. The one "who is able to preserve you without sin" can handle our real questions.
Living It
Ask yourself: Am I approaching God with genuine openness today, or am I avoiding a truth I already know? Sometimes the question we ask God is a way of delaying a decision we already need to make.
If there is a question you have been avoiding because you fear the answer, bring it to God honestly today. He is not threatened by your questions. He is only frustrated by your evasions and your silence.
Practice intellectual honesty in one conversation today. Instead of calculating the safest answer, speak the truth, with charity, humility, and courage.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you see through our evasions and love us anyway. Give us the courage to answer honestly when you question us, even when the truth is uncomfortable. Free us from the trap of using religion as a shield against genuine encounter with you. We want to know you, not just know about you. Amen.
Today's reflection draws from Mark 11:27-33 and Jude 17, 20-25 (CPDV), per the Ordo Lectionum Missae.
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