Jesus’ power as authority and influence

In today’s Gospel reading, the people are astonished by Jesus’ powerful preaching, “for he taught them as one having authority” (Mk 1:22) and his power to exorcise demons, the “unclean spirit… with a loud cry came out of him” (Mk 1:26).  In preaching and exorcising, Jesus exhibits power. 

But his power is better understood in two senses.  First, power that is based not on political, military or economic might, but rather on authority.  Such authority is rooted in his identity and union with God the Father, which the unclean spirits recognized, “you are … the Holy One of God” (Mk.1:24).  Thus as God “rebuked” the primeval chaos in creating an orderly cosmos and “rebuked” the Red Sea to create a path for the Israelites to walk through, the evangelist Mark reports that in similar fashion Jesus “rebuked” the unclean spirit to depart from the man.

Second, Jesus’ power is also understood as influence. Power in the negative sense dominates and coerces, but power in the positive sense is influence which attracts and persuades. Power as domination forces compliance; power as influence evokes free and total submission. Thus Jesus’ power as moral influence drew crowds to him (Mk. 5:24), resulted in people leaving everything behind in order to follow him (Mt. 19:27), involved people turning away from sin and witnessing to the virtues of the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed (Jn. 4:39-42).

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During his recent visit to the Philippines, we witnessed the power of Pope Francis’ words and actions.  He spoke with authority. In Malacañang he proclaimed, “It is now more than ever necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good.”  He also compelled us to shun “social structures that perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption” and to “reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor.”

Such authority can only be rooted in a deep sense of communion with God, a profound experience of God, a sense of being commissioned by God in whose name one speaks.  This familiarity with God is rooted not in theological research but in daily prayer. Pope Francis begins his day at 4:30 a.m. and spends an hour alone with God. He ends his day communing with God in solitude.

But power in the good sense is also authority to influence others through one’s words and actions. One powerful symbolic act of Pope Francis for me was his unscheduled meeting with the father of Kristel Padasas who died in a scaffolding accident in Tacloban. Cardinal Tagle reports, “The Holy Father was searching for words. How do you console, with words, a father who just lost an only child? So the Holy Father did not apologize for his lack of words, he was there.”  

With his already jampacked schedule in the Philippines, Pope Francis made time to reach out to the grieving father of Kristel. While having to attend to the multitudes, Pope Francis exemplified that each person is important and that compassion is exhibited not only through programs for the poor but through face-to-face encounters with those in pain.  His actions challenge me to consider whether I make time or make excuses for those in need and whether I consider each person truly valuable.

So many of us are drawn to Pope Francis because we see in him holiness and goodness, truth and integrity. We want to follow Jesus the way he does. The Holy Father wields power as moral influence. Because of our encounters with him, we realize, despite our frailty, we are able to dream again; we desire to become holy and compassionate; we desire to fall in love with God again and witness to all that this communion with God entails.

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As we grieve and express indignation over the death of 44 members of the PNP SAF, we pray that both sides of the Government and the MILF wield their power with authority that is rooted in truth, authority audacious to mete out punishment upon betrayers of peace, authority to inspire our people to believe that this evasive peace is still attainable.

We pray also for ourselves, that the power of our righteous indignation not turn to violence, not wither into despair and cynicism, but be nurtured and channeled in forging, no matter how cumbersome, a culture of mutual respect and tolerance in our multi-religious society.