Where's our lighthouse?

By Tim Trainor

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052921.cfm
Sirach 51:12cd-20
Mark 11:27-33

In our study this morning, Mark 11:27-33, Jesus opens a window of understanding for us about where His authority came from. Mark wants his readers to know that Jesus’ authority, though doubted and questioned by many, is from God and that he can therefore be trusted. He wants us to know that the authority of Jesus is in fact the authority of God. This causes me to wonder if and how this same 'authority' might be present in our world today.

“The baptism of John” that Jesus mentioned in verse 30 refers broadly to John’s preaching of repentance as a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins and his message that one mightier than he would come after him. But did Jesus have more than this in mind when He cited it to those we see challenging Him in our reading? I think He did.

Jesus’ question here may explain why Mark begins his Gospel the way he did. Let’s go back and read the account of John’s baptism of Jesus (Mk. 1:4-11). It was at Jesus’ baptism by John that the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, and God declared that Jesus was His “beloved Son, with whom He was well pleased” (Mk. 1:10-11).

This means that the baptism of Jesus was the event that inaugurated Jesus’ authority, His sovereign freedom to act and speak on behalf of God as the Son of God full of the Spirit of God. Jesus’ baptism was the launching pad of His authority.

So what does the baptism of John have to do with Jesus’ authority? Everything. The Sanhedrin needs to reconsider John’s baptism of Jesus if they want to understand Jesus’ authority. The implied point of Jesus’ question in verse 30 is that John’s ministry was from God. If John’s ministry were “from men,” or fully explainable by empirical means, then the Sanhedrin is justified to accuse Jesus of not having the proper credentials to do what He did in the temple. But if John’s ministry were “from heaven,” or given by God, as the people believed and the Sanhedrin feared, then Jesus has also been authorized by God to do what He was doing.

Instead of giving them a direct answer, Jesus tells them that his authority is from the same source as John’s. If John’s was from God, then so is His. So - Jesus’ question was a subtle, though veiled, declaration of His divine authority. The religious leaders don’t like His question and don’t know what to do with it.

In verses 31-33, we see an answer that’s not an answer. After hearing Jesus’ question, the Sanhedrin automatically starts strategizing about how to get around Jesus’ question. His question was meant to reveal His authority. But the Sanhedrin only hears it as an intellectual challenge. They reason that if they answer “from heaven,” they’ll have to support Jesus. If they answer “from man,” they’ll have to deal with the crowds. They decide to answer - by not answering, “We do not know” (v. 33).

Their answer of “not knowing”was probably not entirely true. They probably had some suspicions about who Jesus was, and they could easily learn more if they entered into honest dialogue with Him. Their problem is that they were unwilling to know where His authority came from. In other words, they, like we so often do, decided to ignore the truth right in front of them because it would mean giving up things they didn’t want to give up.

So their spiritual blindness keeps them from seeing what Jesus was really trying to do. They assume Jesus’ counter-question means that He was only interested in an intellectual match to see who can trap and contradict the other. So they voted to suspend judgment and opted for self-preservation.

Can you imagine how Jesus felt? He loved each of them and wanted them to see Him for who he was! But sadly that was not to be, as each of them freely choose to do otherwise.

 If there’s a spiritual deafness to the voice of God in His word or a spiritual blindness to the light that the Holy Spirit gives us – then no earthly miracles will reveal the truth of a situation to us!

I believe that only the illuminating work of God, operating through the Holy Spirit, can give us eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to understand and hearts to love and accept Jesus’ authority.

Well - what about the resurrection you say? Doesn’t Jesus’ resurrection make it clear that Jesus’ authority is from God? Yes, of course I think it does - But remember that Jesus himself said that if we don’t believe God’s word, then we’re probably not going to be convinced even if someone is raised from the dead (Lk. 16:27-31).

Jesus’ point is that miracles by themselves won’t convince some of us of the spiritual beauty and truth to be found in Him. If there’s a spiritual deafness to the voice of God in His word, miracles may not cure that spiritual deafness!

The only way we’ll see the glory of God in the word or work of God is by a gift of God. Paul says it this way, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit) in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

So - only the illuminating work of God can give us eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to understand and hearts to love and accept Jesus’ authority.

Thus – we need to draw on last Sunday's teaching on the Holy Spirit (remember that it was Pentecost Sunday) and lean forward to this Sunday's teaching on the Trinity to help get our arms around what it takes to overcoming this spiritual deafness/blindness that we find in our Gospel reading today.

And now a short story to help us better picture this:

Have there been moments in your work place or personal life when you thought you were right, and did not see the need to change, only to face a big disaster? Many of you have heard of the following anecdote story, which illustrates the perils of stubbornness and the need to change.

In U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, is said to have carried it under what the Navy calls the Laws of the Lighthouse.

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge, keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”

“Is it steady, or moving astern?” the captain called out.

The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: ‘We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’”

Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees.”

The captain said, “Send this: ‘I’m a captain, change course twenty degrees.’”

“I’m a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.”

By that time, the captain was furious.

He spat out, “Send this: ‘I’m a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’”

Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse – Your Call!”

Unlike the Sanhedrin in our Gospel reading today, the ship decided to change its course.

Smart move, huh? I like that title, the Laws of the Lighthouse. We don’t break the laws, the laws break us. Our hubris, determination, blinded vision, selfish search for significance, stubbornness, or ignorance running full speed ahead in our battleship of life is no match for the solid rock on which the lighthouse of each of our life's sit.

Author Max Lucado says: “The Laws of the Lighthouse contains immutable, immovable truths. Real lighthouses have four characteristics: They warn you of potential danger. They can signal that a safe harbor is ahead. They are stronger than the storm. They shine brightest in the fog.

“The Laws of the Lighthouse contain more than good ideas, personal preferences, personal quests and honest opinions. They are God-given, time-tested truths, defining the way we should navigate our life. Observe them and enjoy secure passage. Ignore them and crash against the ragged rocks of reality. The wise captain shifts the direction of his craft according to the signals received from the lighthouses he encounters. A wise person - like you or I - should also do the same.”

Yes, there are immovable, immutable truths in life we all need to be aware of them. Choices do have consequences. Many times, truth makes us feel miserable at first, but saves our lives later.

Someone once said, “You don’t break the Ten Commandments…the Ten Commandments break you.”

That’s hard on our hubris and current pop thinking, isn’t it? Many of us have been raised on with the attitude of: “I know everything and what I don’t know won’t hurt me.”

Sounds like the battleship's initial approach to life, doesn’t it?

Cardinal John O’Connor (who died in 2000) was the Archbishop of New York, and a former Navy chaplain, said it all best, I believe, when he wrote:

"Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time at sea knows how comforting is the light of a lighthouse. Despite all of the modern technical navigational instruments available, if you’re out in a storm, or if it’s a dark or foggy night, there’s nothing quite so comforting as seeing that light from somewhere on the shore. The wonderful thing about a lighthouse is that its light is for everybody. It doesn’t matter what nation you’re from, your color or your background, what language you speak. If you’re at sea, particularly if you’re lost, that light is for you. Each lighthouse has its own specific “character,” as it is technically called. For example, its light flashes at specific intervals and in different ways from other lighthouses. As a result, if you know the character of the lighthouse, you know exactly where you are….

The Church is more than a lighthouse; it’s the living, breathing, dynamic Body of Christ. The light of truth doesn’t come from the Church, it comes through the Church. It is Christ who enlightens the Church with the Holy Spirit. It is Christ who speaks to us through Church teaching. It is Christ who speaks to all, again regardless of who we are, what our backgrounds may be, what sins we have committed, whether we’re rich or poor. Christ is speaking to each of us, is calling each of us safely in out of the darkness, in out of the storm. It’s the character of the Church that serves as the living lighthouse. It is open to all. It preaches the same truth to all. It sheds the same light on all. We are sinners, many of us lost in the darkness, many of us suffering, many of us poor, many of us imprisoned by sin or by other problems. Christ comes for all of us, and the fullness of Revelation is in him….

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as you know, is the Lighthouse of Pharos on an island near Alexandria, Egypt. It was truly a wonder of the ancient world because it was five hundred feet high and its light radiated for forty-two miles. It was phenomenal! How many lives it saved. But the light of a lighthouse is in no way comparable to the Light who is Christ, radiating through His Church, making possible every day your salvation and mine."

In summary, in this week’s Gospel Jesus preaches in the Capernaum synagogue “as one having authority.” He did not teach as the scribes did, He had no conventional religious authority. The scribes would speak only when what they said could be backed up by past wisdom. So to speak - The scribes therefore only drew stale water from closed cisterns.

But the words of Jesus were a fresh spring, clear and powerful. Where did He get His authority? The listeners were amazed at His teaching, a new teaching. They did not dispute His words, so we know they realized He spoke the truth but in a way they had never heard before.

The authority of Jesus is the authority of God. To hear Jesus speak is to hear God speak. The unclean spirit knew this, and obeyed the simple commands of God, “Quiet! Come out of him.”

Jesus passed His authority on to His apostles, and they in turn passed this authority on to their successors, and so it continued all the way down to today, to our bishops. This is what we refer to as the Apostolic Succession.

Cardinal John O’Connor reminded us that when the Church teaches faith and morals through her bishops, it is not the voice of men telling us how to live our lives; it is the voice of God, the light grounded on the rock, telling us how to live.

In closing remember:

The reason God sent Jesus was so we could arrive in the safe harbor of our eternal life. Jesus warns you of potential danger. Jesus is stronger than the storm. Jesus shines brightest in the fog and assures us that a safe harbor is ahead.

And, just as a wise captain changes the course of his craft according to the signals received from a lighthouse, so should wise Catholics like you or I, use the authoritative teachings that have been passed to 'Our' God given Lighthouse, the Church, to light our way and guide us as we navigate life!