There is authority and authority. When Jesus walked this earth, people were amazed because he spoke with authority. What made his exercise of authority so special? He did not speak like the professional teachers of the day, the Scribes and the Pharisees. So then, what was it about his teaching that was so different? Why were the people so astounded by His message? And why did they say He offered “a new teaching with authority?”

The word ‘authority’ is derived from the Latin word ‘auctoritas’ and has several meanings: invention, advice, opinion, influence, command or power. People usually associate authority with power, and people in positions of power are said to exercise authority over others by their statements, commands, influence or laws.

What made Jesus’ exercise of authority so different from all other exercises of authority was that, for him, authority is synonymous with service. He refused to lord it over others like those who condemned him, such as the crafty King Herod, the nasty Pontius Pilate, and the self-righteous pharisees. Nor did he speak like these professional rulers and teachers who quoted from other authorities for their own benefit like the prophets, the Scriptures or Caesar. No, Jesus spoke from the heart, and His words had power to penetrate the hearts of His listeners, and bring them, not only to awareness but to conversion. His words in a Synagogue were so powerful that they drove an evil spirit right out of a man (Mark 1:26).

Jesus changed authority from attachment to positions of power to service of others. Would that people today who possess power over others, exercise it in the true spirit of service. The abuse of authority is one of the greatest evils in Church and society today. It was behind the sex abuse crisis in our Church; it was what triggered the global financial crisis of 2008; and it is the reason why so many people distrust political, business, and ecclesiastical establishments. True authority has the power to set people free because it is geared to serve the common good rather than the self-interest of those who exploit their positions of leadership. Jesus’ authority flowed from the purest truth which He possessed as Son of God. No wonder He could convey His most sublime teaching of the Beatitudes in the simplest way; no wonder He could give us the Lord’s Prayer in words that even a child could grasp; and no wonder He taught by stories or parables that ordinary people could easily understand.

Jesus changed authority from the exercise of power to faithful service. He came, not to be served but to serve. This is the kind of authority we need to imitate.

Fr. Hugh Duffy