The notion of authority is very important in our relationship with God and one another. The Holy Scripture is literally overspread with the authority syndrome. The prophet Isaiah describes in details the transfer of authority from Shebna to Eliakin (Is, 22:16-21). Saint Paul bows before the authority of God whose ways are unsearchable and full of wisdom ( Rm. 11:33-36) Saint Matthew gives
a new twist to the concept of authority connected with law and identity. About 20 centuries ago, Jesus asked a question, which was answered properly and correctly. That’s fine and dandy! The point is that Jesus asks that question today, to you and me, personally. Actually, you are the Peter of the Gospel. Do we really know Jesus? Here is a soliloquy, which may help our understanding:
“Honestly, Jesus, I really do not know who you are. My life is so busy with making a living and just getting through each day that I do not have the time or the energy to really get to know you. Just getting up in the morning and putting my socks on is a major project, and when I am through,
I fee exhausted. My faith is weak. My love is centered on the people I live with and work with. I rarely if ever pray and when I do, it seems that no one cares anyway. I suspect if I knew you, there will be things you would expect and demand of me – like coming to Mass every Sunday and quit drinking – and I would see you as more of a burden and a bother than a blessing. Deep in my heart I know that sooner or later I have to know you better than I do now. So, please, keep asking me, “Who do you say that I am?” I really want to be reminded.”
Well, Jesus reminds me today to answer honestly and truthfully: “Do I really know Jesus?”
Peter gave a good answer two thousand years ago and he became the rock of the church, and in the course of 2011 years, these words “You are Peter,” have been spoken 266 times to the ears and conscience of the Popes from Peter to Benedict XVI. The question Jesus asks is rather scaring and challenging, because he doesn’t want the answer already recorded in the Bible and in the catechism. He wants “your answer.” Our lives are made of questions, some are good, some not so good. It is not bad to ask “who, what, where, when, why, how.” There are questions with little or no consequence at all, like “would you like French fries with that?” or the question may have a life time consequence, for instance “will you marry me?” So, the question, “Who do you say that I am” will shape our identity and relationship with God and one another and definitely includes the notion of authority, which is needed at every level of our personal growth. We do know that authority may be associated with power, but they are different. For example a mugger with a weapon has power over me, not authority. On the other hand, genuine authority does have power, even if power means service not control. As a matter of fact, the word AUTHORITY comes from the Latin AUCTOR, which means helper or author. We also know that the authority may be de iure (connected with power and office), for instance a police officer or a judge has de iure authority. Authority de facto means that authority is there, we like it or not. A political columnist whose writings influence government policies has de facto authority. Now, what’s the authority of the church? The model authority in the church is not political, sociological,structural, but rather one of KOINONIA, that is “union based on mutual loving service in the truth of Christ, activated by the Holy Spirit in order to create community with God and all persons.” (An agreed statement on Authority in the church, 1997).
