Saturday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time, Year II — the last weekday of the week before Trinity Sunday. The Gospel is short, a single dialogue in the court of the Temple, the day after Jesus has overturned the tables. The leaders return with the question the readers expect: by what right does he do these things?
"And they went again to Jerusalem. And when he was walking in the temple, the leaders of the priests, and the scribes, and the elders approached him. And they said to him: 'By what authority do you do these things? And who has given you this authority, so that you would do these things?' But in response, Jesus said to them: 'I also will ask you one word, and if you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John: was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.' But they discussed it among themselves, saying: 'If we say, "From heaven," he will say, "Then why did you not believe him?" If we say, "From men," we fear the people. For they all hold that John was a true prophet.' And answering, they said to Jesus, 'We do not know.' And in response, Jesus said to them, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" (Mk 11:27-33)
The scene is precisely composed. The leaders ask a question whose only purpose is to set a trap. Jesus does not refuse the question; he changes the order of the conversation. He asks one of his own, and he asks it cleanly. John the Baptist's ministry of baptism — the most public, most undeniable religious phenomenon of the previous generation — came from heaven or from men? They cannot answer not because they do not know, but because the answer they actually hold cannot be spoken. To say "from heaven" would commit them to a prophet they did not receive. To say "from men" would lose them the crowd. So they say "We do not know."
The dialogue is, in Mark, a portrait of how authority is actually discerned. Jesus does not give them the answer about himself because he has already given it. The man who looks at John, who weighs what he hears and what he sees, and who lets the answer cost him something, will recognise Jesus by the same vision. The man who keeps his answer back because he has too much to lose by saying it will not recognise Jesus either — and Jesus refuses to give him a shortcut. Authority is not transferable as information. It must be received by someone whose eyes are willing to see.
The first reading from Jude, the last of the New Testament letters, asks the small Christian communities — those scattered along the trade routes of the first century — to do precisely what the leaders in the temple would not do. "But you, most beloved, are building yourselves up by your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, and anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life... save them, seizing them from the fire. And have mercy on others" (Jude 17, 20-23). The contrast is sharp. The leaders' question was self-protective; Jude's instruction is outward. The shape of an authority that has been received is generosity — mercy on the wavering, rescue for those near the fire.
Jude closes with the great doxology that the Church has not let go of: "Now to him who has the power to keep you free from sin and to present you, immaculate, with exultation, before the presence of his glory... to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord: to him be glory and magnificence, dominion and power, before all ages, and now, and in every age, forever. Amen" (Jude 24-25). The doxology is the answer the leaders refused to give. It names where authority comes from and where it is going.
In the spirit of Bethlehem, this is the saturday question on the eve of Trinity. Are we asking by what authority — or are we letting ourselves be authorised? The smallest fraternity that gathers around a praying community and an opened Word is already inside the answer. Tomorrow's solemnity will say it most clearly: authority has a Father, a Son, and a Spirit, and they share it.
Scripture text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), public domain.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, when the leaders asked you by what authority you acted, you did not give them what they refused to look for themselves. Keep us from their cleverness. Give us the eyes of those who weighed John at the Jordan, who saw what they saw, and who let the answer cost them something. By the doxology of Jude, build us up in the holy faith, that on the eve of the Trinity we may stand ready to receive the One who sends us. Amen.
For Meditation
- What question are we asking that we already know the answer to — and refusing to say?
- Where in our life do we want authority without receiving it?
- "Save them, seizing them from the fire" — who is near the fire today whom we have not yet reached for?
