In
last Sunday’s gospel we had the Pharisees putting Jesus to the test
about his understanding and interpretation of God’s Law. Today we have
Jesus putting the Pharisees to the test – or maybe I should say, putting
them on the hot seat, because there’s nothing that Jesus says about them
- or to them - in today’s gospel that is the least bit flattering. “Do
what they tell you,” Jesus says, “but do not follow their example. For
they preach but they do not practice; they tie heavy burdens hard to
carry and lay them on people’s shoulders but they will not lift a finger
to move them… All heir works are performed to be seen.” Pretty strong
stuff! And it’s directed toward the highly respected religious leaders
of the land: the teachers, the authorities who sat on the chair of
Moses.
If you want to get some idea of how gutsy Jesus
was in taking them on, just imagine someone taking on today’s religious
leaders in that way - people like me - or others higher up the
ecclesiastical food chain. Well, you don’t have to imagine it because
it’s something that happens quite regularly and the one who does it is
none other than Pope Francis! In some of his weekday homilies – and in
his formal addresses to the Roman Curia – the Pope goes after a certain
type of religious leader - he calls them “Doctors of the Law” (and he
doesn’t intend that as a compliment!). He has in mind the rigid,
holier-than-thou, highly clericalized careerists who parade their
pieties and use their authority as a weapon against people. They live
their lives at a far remove from the people, and they impose heavy
burdens on them that they themselves would never think of carrying.
In one particularly memorable homily he gave at
a morning Mass, Pope Francis contrasted real authority - the kind of
authority Jesus exercised - with the false authority of these “Doctors
of the Law.” Real authority, he said, has three characteristics: it’s
humble, it’s in touch with people, and it’s consistent. A word about
each.
First, real authority is humble. Jesus may have
been Lord but he never ‘lorded it over’ others: he taught with humility
and he wanted his disciples to do the same. “Let the greatest among you
be as the one who serves,” Jesus said. In commenting on that, Pope
Francis observes that, “unlike the Doctors of the Law who have the
mindset of princes – issuing commands and demanding obedience – Jesus
earned his authority, and he did so by putting himself humbly at the
service of people.” So that’s the first thing: real authority is humble.
And the Pope says the second characteristic of
real authority is that it’s in touch with people. Here’s how he puts it:
“Unlike the Doctors of the Law, Jesus was not allergic to people.
Reaching out and touching lepers and sick people did not disgust Jesus.
It’s what he did and it’s what endeared him to the people. Being close
to the people, having the smell of the sheep – that’s another thing that
gave Jesus true authority.”
And the third hallmark of Jesus’ authority,
according to Pope Francis, is consistency. That’s another way of saying
that Jesus practiced what he preached – that he was transparent and
believable, that there wasn’t an ounce of hypocrisy in him. Unlike the
Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was never one to say one thing and do
another.
Now, none of this is terribly surprising, I
suppose. What is surprising is where it’s coming from: that it’s coming
from a Pope willing to take on church leaders – willing to call them to
account, call us to account. And he can do it because, like Jesus,
there’s really nothing he says that he doesn’t do. And how refreshing is
that! How refreshing to have a Pope who is not afraid to depart at times
from the expected papal script, not afraid to ruffle some feathers, not
afraid to expose hypocrisy wherever he finds it, not afraid to condemn
things like clericalism and careerism in the Church for the cancers they
are. In doing so, Pope Francis is really doing nothing more than taking
his cues from Jesus’ own playbook: Jesus who never hesitated to boldly
confront the religious leaders of his day.
My friends, normally I try to draw from the
scriptures of the day lessons that speak to all of us, but today I think
the lesson is quite pointedly for me and for all who, like me, are
called to leadership in the Church. We shouldn’t hear those scriptures
without being challenged by them: without examining our consciences
about how we go about our ministry.
But maybe it’s not too much of a stretch to say
that everyone who exercises authority – and that includes people like
parents, and political leaders, and people who are managers in the
workplace – everyone in authority can be challenged by what Pope Francis
has to say about authority because things like humility, and closeness
to one’s charges, and consistency are important there, too. The Church
has no monopoly on “Doctors of the Law.” They can show up just about any
place!
So, there is some takeaway here for everyone
and, as always, it’s Jesus who shows the way: Jesus who never preached a
word he didn’t practice, Jesus who never lorded it over anyone, Jesus
who was meek and humble of heart, Jesus who washed the feet of his
disciples and told them to do the same, Jesus who is ever in our midst
“as one who serves"!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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