Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Pileated Woodpecker at MSF

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. 

No one can take them out of my hand. 
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. 
The Father and I are one.”

Americans are genetically suspicious of authority. It goes back to our Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Carta. We’re sure of the English Catholic Lord Acton’s dictum, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He made this remark regarding papal infallibility, and avoided censure only by withdrawing from religious controversies.

But Jesus too claims an absolute authority far more radical than that of the Pope: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Can an American Catholic accept such a teaching from a man who lived and died in our world, within our own history? In many ways the crisis of John’s gospel is just as real today as when it was written.

I find my answer in contemplating Jesus’ death. He insists on his authority and he demonstrates it not by shoving me around but by obediently offering his life for mine. He is “meek and humble of heart.” He goes to Jerusalem like a lamb led to slaughter. No complaint was in his mouth.

My God is an obedient God. I would not obey him if he were not.