2024-01-09 10:40:38
Dear friends:
Today’s Gospel shows us another beautiful passage from the beginnings of Jesus’ preaching. The episode takes place in a synagogue, a place where Jews gathered to pray, to meet God. And compared to what others did, Jesus appears speaking and acting with authority. He does not belong to the ruling classes of the people. And yet, simple people perceive that his words and his actions have a special force… that attracts attention and that – we know – will bring them problems.
Authentic authority is that of those people who help others to move forward in life, to organize, to walk. Jesus is a man of authority. And he exercises it. Sometimes waking up the sleeping. Others, opposing opposing forces. Always looking for the good of the other. Until giving life…
Followers of Jesus are also called to have “authority.” An authority like that of Jesus: providing our criteria, our words and our actions so that the world looks like what God dreams of. In times where sometimes it seems that anything goes, or where the only criterion is sometimes the economic criterion or one’s own benefit, Christians are called to assert our authority… by giving our lives.
The question, then, is not to have authority or not to have it. The Gospel wants to be an “authority” in our world, among the rest of the voices that seek to guide people’s lives. The question is how to exercise that capacity. Faced with every temptation to authoritarianism – violent and inconsiderate authority – or permissivism – null or weak authority -, the right medium will have to be sought by looking at Jesus: the authority that looks at life, listens to all voices and, at a certain point, is capable of providing words and gestures that point towards the Kingdom. Sometimes even in the midst of conflict. Until giving life…
And you, how do you live this authority thing?
Your brother in faith:
Luis Manuel Suárez CMF (@luismanuel_cmf)
1704801308
#Gospel #Reflection #Homily #Tuesday #January
