Authority versus Obedience. 3rd temptation
Manila Retreat 11
3rd Temptation and vow of Obedience
Mt 4:8-10 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he
said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down
and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!
for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'”.
Now the devil tempts Jesus promising him authority over all the
kingdoms of earth. Jesus had come just for that reason: to reunite
all Kingdoms, so this is a Messianic temptation. Eph 1:9-10 “he
has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of
time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on
earth.”. So the point is: should
Jesus have it in the easy way of the devil or in the hard way of God?
The power given by the devil is human because is not connected with
the will in heaven. How long can it stay? Authority on earth is valid
and enduring only if it is connected with the one in heaven.
Jesus and the devil are on a high mountain. Jesus the “Gatherer”
and the devil the “Scatterer”. Jesus will be again on a mountain
at Mt 28:16 and there he will say: “now all authority has been
given to me”. It is the authority of the risen Lord, but the
resurrection passes through the cross. There he really gathers all
nations: " ‘And
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to
myself.’ He
said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die."
(Jn 12:32-33).
There is an interesting passage connected to this: the episode of
Jesus and Barabbas. Barabbas was a political rebel so for the people
he would look a bit like a small Messiah (an earthly one, of course).
Barabbas means "son of the Father". It is a typical
messianic title. Now people are called to choose between two Messiah:
the earthly one and the real one, and they choose the earthly. On the
daily bases we choose human power, success rather than service and
humility. Do we really understand Jesus? Do we really know him? The
devil tempts us in small things. He is not so stupid to suggest to
you to choose the evil, but he suggests that you choose the
reasonable, the obvious, the one choice which will easily succeed.
We have also the episode of the Profession of faith of Peter. After
telling to Jesus what people think, Peter professes the divinity of
Jesus (see Mt 16:16). This separates them from the rest of the
people. Here we have the beginning of a new family, the family of
believers, and yet the devil comes in and spoils everything. As soon
as Jesus explains what "being the Messiah" means, which
includes the death on the cross, Peter exclaims: God forbids, Lord!
this shall never happen to you" (Mt 16:22). That is why Jesus
rebukes him: "Go away Satan!". It is the same temptation as
we have seen in the desert. We proclaim our faith in Jesus, we
surrender everything onto him, by words, but as soon as a problem
comes up we look for the human easy solution.
Look at the involvement of the Church with politics, compromises with
power, etc. Jesus has continually to remind his disciples that all
the prophets spoke of him, the meek, the harmless, crucified and
risen. "O foolish men, slow of heart to believe..." (Lk
24:25).
Everyone who claims that he can do a perfect world (a better school,
a better hospital) by his own power works for the devil.
It seems that Jesus didn't do much for the humanity. Wars are still
there, sicknesses are there, poverty is there and all of them seem to
be worse than before.
What did Jesus bring then? GOD!!!
Now we know him, we can call upon him, we know the way, the truth and
the life: The truth about our life, our destiny, and the way to
achieve it.
So the main task of our religious life is obedience to the plan of
God, giving up any earthly power in the name of the divine power
which means he is the boss and we the servants, in his name, in love.
This is an important topic because in my opinion
this is the most crucial of the three temptations.
In the view of St. Benedict, and of most of the
founders, the vow of obedience is the most important of the three.
Independence, freedom of choice are deeply rooted in our life, even
in the poorest person, and to give up that costs much more than to
give up material things and also than to give up a family. When I was
in India I used to say to sisters: think about a girl from a poor
family. She has in front of her the perspective of living in a hut in
a slum together with a drunkard husband, because her parents cannot
afford to pay the dowry to a decent man. She is surely willing to
join in a convent and become a nun. For her this is a promotion not a
sacrifice. But will she be willing to surrender her pride, her ideas,
her independence?
There is a second misunderstanding in many of our
religious. They create a contrast between the authority and the vow
of obedience as if superiors do not need any more to follow the vow.
Authority is given by God for a purpose and he can
take it away at any moment. See Jn 19:11. Jesus says to Pilate: “You
would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above”.
So in order to understand well
authority we have to keep in mind three points:
- Authority is at the service of the kingdom of God and subjected to it. Jn 18:36 “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
- Authority is at the service of the good of the Congregation and of the community and subjected to it.
- In spite of the work of the Holy Spirit in us, nobody can claim for himself to own the truth, so humility is of great help for superiors.
Consequence of these three points are the facts
that:
- Authority is not a matter of power, but of service. Mt 21:26-28 “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” We know how much Pope Francis insists on this point.
- Authority is served truly when is exercised in love. Jn 13:13-14 "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet”.
- Authority needs to combine the two aspects of dialogue and decision making; of humility and courage.
- Both obedience and authority, if lived in truth, do not bring glory but sacrifice, because they are based on the example of Christ. It is exactly this sacrifice which brings us the reward from God. Phil 2:5-9 “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name”.
- Both the one who takes the decisions and the one who obeys will face doubts, sometimes even deep doubts of faith or conscience, but Jesus faced the same in the garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want”. Mt 26:39-42.
- Authority and obedience will work only if in the community there is mutual trust among the members.
What are the challenges for religious today?
- We need to have always our mind focused on God and the search of his will, controlling our own interests. Mt7,21 “"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven”. This means that our obedience and our authority are both rooted in prayer and before taking decisions, we should spent sometimes in meditation. Remember that Jesus was spending nights in prayer before any important decision. 1 Cor 2:12-14 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned”.
- Have clear in mind that this search for the will of God is more important than anything else and must be the fuel that makes the engine of our apostolate move. Jn 4:34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.”
- In our examination of conscience we should check always how much our desires of fulfillment, power, being served, influence our choices.
- Regarding obedience we should avoid the temptation of falling in simple compliance: “I did my duty”. Many religious are afraid of taking up responsibilities, of being proactive, of being creative and limit themselves to do whatever is requested of them to do. This creates an atmosphere of master and servants rather than a family spirit where all are brothers. Jn 15:15 “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father”.
- We must build communities where there is family spirit, concern for each other, trust.
For personal work
- How active am I in the community? How busy in my life?
- Do I consider the community as my family, and the house as my home or do I have more a feeling of being in a hostel?
- What are the things I want to fulfil in life?
- How do I consider the work of God in my life, my society etc.?
- Is there something more I could do for the betterment of my community, and for the Congregation?
- How do I relate with rules and regulations?
- How do I consider our Constitutions: lax, strict, possible, idealistic?
- How much am I willing to sacrifice in order to remain faithful?