Saturday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time

“…for I too am a man subject to authority with soldiers subject to me.”

Recently I cited Woody Allen as an authority in theological matters. “Eighty percent of success is just showing up!” has deep roots in Jewish and Christian doctrine.

In today’s gospel Jesus discovers another brilliant theologian in a most unexpected person, a Roman centurion. This rough soldier has astonishing insight into the mystery and mission of Jesus. He hails Jesus as a man of enormous authority; and he recognizes a man who is under authority.

The centurion knows what our contemporaries have forgotten. All legitimate authority comes from above.

The Enlightenment principle of Democracy establishes the governed -- the people -- as the source of authority. The people elect their leaders according to their constitution and laws; that is, by the social contract they have made with one another. But the law is always subject to the will of the people and may be amended, discarded or ignored. Democracy recognizes no higher authority than the people. 

The recent financial crises and the catastrophe in the Gulf should remind us how easily legitimate laws can be ignored when people choose to, and how little a democracy can do about that. Typically, the worse criminals, like Jack Abramoff who bilked the system for millions of dollars, get off with light sentences. Mr Abramoff is already out of jail and on the road to rehabilitation. 

The philosopher Bertrand Russell described how a “free” people give their freedom first to the State, and then to the Man who represents the State. He alone is free, and he does whatever he wants with the inexhaustible resources of the nation. Hitler was only one of many tyrants and we’ve not the seen the last of his breed. A legitimate democracy must recognize that its authority to govern itself comes from above. Otherwise, it must fail.


The Roman centurion knew instinctively the transcendent source of Jesus’ authority. He comes from somewhere else; he is subject to Someone Else. He is worthy of our love, confidence and worship only because he is subject to the Father – who has given him a name above every name. Come let us worship.