WORKING WITH DIVINE AUTHORITY


TUESDAY, FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 

1 Sam 1:9-20; 1 Sam 1:1,4-8; Mk 1:21-28

Sharing in the Divine Authority

In the Gospel of John 5:17, where Jesus healed the paralysed man at the pool, the Jews wanted to know why he worked a miracle on a Sabbath day. Jesus answered them that he is working because his Father never ceased working. The Lord’s answer gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the Son of Man regarding our daily work, occupations, and professions. Our vocation is to be coworkers of God in the renewal of all things in accordance with his divine will. God made man the steward of his creation at the beginning. As stewards, we are never to oversee God’s creation without reference to the Creator. Though God handed his material creation to man, he never ceased working on creation to uphold and make it achieve the purpose for which he made it. Our vocation as stewards requires us to discern the will of God through communion with him and work alongside him to bring about his will in creation. Sin disrupted the envisaged communion and turned us into dishonest stewards. Sin caused us to lose our divine authority, for the authority of the steward comes from aligning his will to that of his master. The Incarnation of the Son of God is to reveal the Father’s will and thereby bring us back to a share in the divine authority over his material creation.

Jesus, as the Son of Man, wields this divine authority that God intended for us to share by paying attention to his word. By his words and actions, he shows us that the forces of evil have no authority over us when we obey the will of God. About the authority in his teaching, we read that “his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.” The authority was demonstrated over the forces of evil when he cast out a demon. “In the synagogue just then, there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and it shouted, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus said sharply, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.” As the Son of Man, the beginning of God’s new creation, Jesus demonstrates to us that God has restored our broken nature in his Son and invites us to embrace the renewal of our nature in him. The renewal and restoration are possible through conversion of our hearts and a decision to keep the company of Jesus every time and everywhere, as the four apostles did. In his company, we learn of the Father’s will and implement it in our lives.

Since the will of the Father reigns supreme in heaven and on earth, the abandonment of our own will and desire to embrace the will of God gives us the position of the Son of Man to wield the divine authority. The Holy Spirit, from the Father and the Son, comes to take his residence in us when we cease desiring selfishly and desire to fulfil the will of God in our lives. The power of such reoriented desire is demonstrated in the story of Hannah. Her frequent tears and supplications to God for a child did not do the magic. But when she opened her eyes and mind to the needs in the Temple of God in Shiloh, seeing the need for a worthy man of God to replace the old priest, Eli, whose two sons were worthless as priests serving in the Temple, she modified her desire and prayer. “In the bitterness of her soul, she prayed to the Lord with many tears and made a vow, saying, ‘O Lord of Hosts! If you will take notice of the distress of your servant, and bear me in mind and not forget your servant and give her a man-child, I will give him to the Lord for the whole of his life and no razor shall ever touch his head.’” It was not her many tears, nor the intensity of her prayer that did the magic, but the fact that she realigned her desires to synchronise with the will of God for his people. Our prayers, no matter how lengthy, do not change God’s will, but they change us to do God’s will.

Let us pray: Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what your divine will decrees must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.   

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