True Authority

Michiel Peeters - J.R.R. Tolkien—the author of the Lord of the Rings—once said that “the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.”

Nevertheless, there is a nasty tendency in us humans to want to boss others around. Young people may have less of this, but as they get older, there is a temptation to think that power to command makes one happy. Even though this is easily debunked in experience. Jesus’s disciples were not free from this temptation either.

However, the Lord does not approach their wrong attempt with a reproach, but identifies the true motive of it, its proper core: namely, the—right—desire to become “great.” We are made to be “great.” Recognizing that is a sign of realism, of humanity, of aliveness. The question then is: how do you become “great”? Then Jesus says: usually, those who seem to be great, those who appear to rule in the world (οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν), apply the following method: they impose themselves as “lords” (κατακυριεύω), they impose themselves as “authority” (κατεξουσιάζω).

But those are not real lords, not real authorities, they are not really great. “It shall not be so among you.” “Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” If you really want to become great—as you recognize me as great—then you must—as I do—not impose your authority, not impose your lordship (as I would have the right to do, but do not); but serve.

As I came to serve you: for I am your servant, your διάκονος, your “deacon.” What is serving? Let’s think of a restaurant where one is served really well. Serving means heeding someone’s needs and helping them with those. Serving is what good parents do with their children, what good teachers do with their disciples. Heeding their needs and helping them with those. This is what Jesus does: heeding our deepest, most important, most human needs, and helping us with them. This is how we recognize his greatness, his authority, his being “lord”—incomparable to all other proposals and encounters—even though he has no official recognition whatsoever.

How can we become great? How can we be “deacons” serve? How can we heed the deepest needs of our fellow human begins and help them with those? In the measure that we are aware of our own profound needs, and intercept what helps us with them. Any other way amounts to imposing and thereby makes us seem great at best, for a certain period of time. If you want to be truly great, serve, as I do. If you want to serve, to heed the needs of your fellow men and women, let Me help you to become deeply aware of yours.

The author has not revised the text and its translation.
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