Respect for authority is a rare commodity in our society today: children fail to respect their parents or their teachers; the police no longer enjoy public trust; even figures of authority in the Church find that their teachings are not always accepted by their flocks. Politicians seem to get less respect than almost anyone else. Rightly or wrongly, this is because the public do not believe that they will deliver on their promises. Fine words proverbially ‘butter no parsnips’ (although why anyone should expect them to, I don’t know!).

OPENING THE DOOR TO TYRANNY

But this ‘crisis of authority’ is not new. Four centuries before Christ, the Greek philosopher Plato commented on the decline of respect for authority in Athens and saw it as opening the door to tyranny. In the 20th century, Jewish American philosopher Hannah Arendt, herself a refugee from Nazi tyranny, saw totalitarianism as the consequence of the breakdown in authority. In the present political climate these warnings still have urgent relevance.

A PROPHET LIKE ME

In the first reading, we hear that God told Moses of a future prophet, another Moses who would speak words that would deserve respect because their authority would come from their being the words of God himself.

ONE WHO HAD AUTHORITY

In today’s Gospel Jesus spoke words that commanded respect. They made a great impression because, unlike the scribes, Jesus spoke plainly and taught with genuine authority. However, none of this would have been any use if he could not deliver on what he said. Even devils obeyed him and his power over unclean spirits was just one example of the way in which his words issued in effective action. Only in Mark’s Gospel does the exorcism of a demon come right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, thus emphasising that the preaching of the kingdom and the mission of Jesus were first and foremost a struggle with demonic forces. Jesus opposed them with divine authority.

DEVILS AND EXORCISM

But what do we make of devils and exorcisms? For many in our modern Western culture they seem quite alien to a scientific outlook. However, Pope Francis surprised many by reaffirming his belief in a personal devil and linked it with corruption in public life. Pope Leo XIV, too, has expressed concerns about the spiritual and social challenges posed by the devil. Today in the Catholic Church every diocese has at least one priest authorised to perform exorcisms on the minority of afflicted individuals whose symptoms go beyond normal psychiatric explanation. This is also the case in the Church of England.

THE DEMONS ARE REAL!

Whatever we may think about such things, the power of evil is not in doubt. We need to constantly ask ourselves whether we fully accept the authority of Jesus in our lives. This is perhaps a more important question than whether we regard ‘devils’ as a figure of speech or as personal agents of evil.

As we consider preaching politics in the public square, we become aware of many demons. The demons of inequality are evident both in our nation and in the world at large. Human beings are devalued, neglected, and suffer hunger. Refugees are rejected as a threat. The demons of violence and war kill innocent civilians with impunity, hospitals are bombed, and children are buried alive under the rubble of their homes. The demons are real!

HIS REPUTATION IN OUR HANDS

However, if we accept the authority of Jesus, he will cast out both personal and political ‘demons’ and show his power over the evil in our world.

Christ invites us to accept his authority. When we do, we will find that we too will speak with authority, proclaiming his good news in a way that earns respect and acceptance from those who hear. We need to silence the voices of selfishness and lack of faith in our hearts and then allow Jesus to cast them out. So too, in the
world around us, the unclean spirits of war and violence, hatred, prejudice and injustice, have nothing in common with Jesus of Nazareth, and we should seek to oppose them resolutely with the authority of Jesus himself. 

In today’s Gospel we heard that
‘at once his fame everywhere.’

Today his reputation is in our hands.