THE AUTHORITY OF LOVE
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. PHILIP NORTH
AT ALL SAINTS’, SAN DIEGO ON JANUARY 29, 2006
I have a very naughty nephew. When he was 2 or 3 years old my sister had taken him shopping in the super market. Walking out towards the car, for some reason Adam had been given the car keys to play with. When my sister asked him for the keys, Adam said No! Somehow he used the control in the key, got into the car and closed the door. My sister said “Adam don’t press the button again.” And he said No!, pressed the button and locked himself inside the car. My sister said “Adam unlock the car”, and Adam said No! The standoff lasted 35 minutes. Adam locked inside the car, my sister outside, shivering with all the shopping.
Why is it that children always do the complete opposite of what they are told to do? The Mary, Mary quite contrary syndrome begins at a very early stage in life. Quite frankly I am still in it! Probably we all are. We hate being told what to do. We all at some level resent authority in our lives. That’s why people are so rude about their bosses at work. That’s why people are so constantly critical of any form of government. We know that just authority is necessary for society to cohere and communities to function - but that doesn’t stop us resenting it, often quite bitterly.
That is why I’ve always been puzzled at the way in which the crowds in Capernaum greeted Jesus when he taught them in the synagogue. The moment they started hearing him they were wild with enthusiasm. They took to him at once. And the reason: A new teaching, they proclaim, ‘with authority’. Jesus stands out for them because he speaks with authority. The funny thing is that these crowds in Capernaum were hardly looking for authority. In fact they had more than enough of it. On the one hand they had the Jewish religious authorities: the scribes, Pharisees, lawyers telling them exactly how to live, precisely what they must do to be righteous in God’s eyes. And on the other hand they had the secular authority. Capernaum was a key strategic town of Roman occupation. It had its own garrison, its own centurion - harsh penalties awaited anyone who did not comply. These people were under fierce authority already. They were hardly looking for more.
But when they encountered Jesus, at once they recognized a completely different kind of authority. One they had never seen before. Jesus’ authority they saw was not legalistic; it wasn’t hierarchical, nor bullying or power-based. His authority was the authority of love - not rule bowed or restricting, but liberating. And the moment of the realization was when that man with an unclean spirit burst into the synagogue and encountered Jesus. There is fear, there is recognition. And then Jesus’ light drives out evil in the man and fills the vacuum with his own life. At once that man is under a new authority, one that is life giving and joyous - the authority of love.
For many centuries Christians were seen as dangerous subversives because they lived under a different authority from anyone else. And you know they were quite right.
Jesus wants us to live under the authority of love. An authority that is greater than any earthly ruler - that actually subverts all human power structures, that brings hope out of despair and life out of death. And Jesus wants us to exercise authority differently too – never enjoying power for its own sake, never bullying or throwing our weight around, or belittling others. Our call is to live under the authority of love, to exercise authority with love.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in England is a place where the authority of Christ’s love is clearly on display. Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I mean. In August we have a youth pilgrimage for teenagers. Last year there was one boy who was causing problems for his group. He was refusing to do what he was told; he was getting into all sorts of trouble. Then after the late night liturgy he came to talk to me. A few months before he got his girl friend pregnant. She had an abortion. He felt absolutely dreadful, stricken with guilt about the irresponsibility of his actions, the trauma he put this girl through, and the waste of human life he had been responsible for. It all flowed out in tears - and I was able assure him of God’s forgiveness. On the holy ground that is Walsingham, that boy had been able to place himself under the authority of love.
Little did that boy know that he was part of a tradition going back nearly 1000 years. In 1061 a wealthy widow called Richeldis was taken in vision to Nazareth where she saw Mary’s house, the site of the Annunciation. Richeldis knew that God was calling her to build a model of that simple house in England. What better place could there be to have as the center of pilgrimage than where Mary placed herself under the authority of God’s love through her ‘yes’ to the angel? That original shrine was for many centuries England’s primary place of pilgrimage. It was destroyed at the reformation - but in the first part of the 20th century it was restored. Today more and more people visit it each year. More and more people discover the wonderful spiritual power of this little patch of holy ground. Those who go with open hearts will discover and acknowledge the authority of love in their lives. Some like that boy will receive the gift of forgiveness. Some will find healing of body or spirit. Some will find the strength to live with pain, or the encouragement to go on living out the gospel in midst of difficult or challenging lives. But all will be encouraged to make Mary’s yes their own, to acknowledge the complete authority of love.
Walsingham is a very long way from here. Perhaps some of you will one day have the chance to experience this amazing place. I would dearly love to welcome you there as you welcomed me so warmly to your parish here. But whether or not you visit, Walsingham is still your place. It’s there for you, praying for you. Every single day of the year a lamp burns in the holy house for your parish. We pray for your parish by name regularly at the shrine.
And whether or not you visit, Walsingham will still challenge you with its message - which is the message of the gospel. Under whose authority do you live? Your own? Someone else’s? Or that authority that subverts all human power, that authority which alone gives freedom: the authority of Christ’s love.