The Source of Authority
Tuesday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time
1 Thes 5: 1-6, 9-11; Lk 4: 31-37
Jesus spoke with authority, felt the people. Infact the Scribes and pharisees too spoke to them from pedestals and pulpits. They found a qualitative difference in what was said by Jesus and the way he said it. They saw persons cast out demons but never the way Jesus did it. There was something peculiar about Jesus and the people noted it. Jesus' authority came from within, from his self realisation of who he was in the core of his being. The source of his authority was not some where out in the wilderness or in some far away reality. It was from God whom Jesus felt right within him, present so faithfully and powerfully.
In the first reading St. Paul reminds us of the fact that we too, possess the same authority because the source of all authorities resides within us. 'Alive or dead, we should always be united in Christ' says Paul. And our authority would come from this union at the core of our beings.