They came to Capernaum and on the sabbath. Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority.
Mark 1:21-28
Among the many religious teachers of his day, Jesus stood out like a sore thumb. I am not talking here about his oratory skills or his ability to understand the Hebrew texts he could read so easily. I am talking about his ability to connect with people and their needs and issues. I am remined of that line in the story of the call of Samuel where it says, “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.” When we hear the words “Jesus taught them as one having authority and not like the Scribes,” they mean that Jesus had an amazing ability to “connect” to people and his words had “effect.” The Scribes, on the other hand, said all the right words, but their words were as dry as sawdust and they kept missing their mark leaving the people disappointed with their empty words.
When I was teaching at St. Meinrad, I talked a lot about the difference between a “designated spiritual leader” and a “real spiritual leader,” one who speaks “like a Scribe” and one who speaks “with authority like Jesus.” In another words, spiritual leadership involves a lot more than a title, a theology degree or even a valid ordination. It involves the ability to influence people to move from where they are to where God wanted them to be! As St. Gregory the Great wrote so insightfully in his handbook ON PASTORAL CARE, that I used to quote all the time, “Although those who have no knowledge of the power of drugs shrink from presenting themselves as physicians of the flesh, there are those who are utterly ignorant of spiritual precepts but not afraid of professing themselves to be physicians of the heart.” Father Donald Cozzens said so convincingly at the time I was teaching, “The most pressing need facing Catholicism today is the quality of its priestly leadership.” We need to pray for more than just “more” priests, we need to be praying for “more effective” priests – priests with a convincing voice and credible spiritual leadership abilities, like Jesus in today’s gospel!
When I was teaching at St. Meinrad, one of the most fundamental issues I tried to address with them is that simply being a priest (as a noun) is not enough. They needed to know how to priest (as a verb). In other words, a valid ordination is not enough in today’s church. They also need to be effective as priests. They needed to be able to move hearts! As St. Gregory the Great knew, a designated spiritual leader does not mean that one is a real spiritual leader. A Roman collar and a title alone, does not make a real or effective spiritual leader!
This is a vital distinction because I believe that seminaries are still overly focused on a seminarian’s personal piety and not enough on developing effective spiritual leaders for our faith communities. As I liked to joke, their job will not be in having people see golden light come out of their rectories, but in seeing golden light come out of the homes of their parishes. It is not good enough today for them to be pious champions of the “truth,” they must have the skills to lead others to want to accept and live that “truth!”
In that course, I defined “spiritual leadership” as the ability to influence people to move from where they are to where God wants them to be through invitation, persuasion, example and the skillful use of the Church’s rites, rituals and rules. The focus of “spiritual leadership” is on an internal movement to deeper discipleship. That’s exactly what Jesus was able to do from the pulpit in Capernaum in today’s gospel, leaving people delightfully astonished and amazed at his preaching! He did not just spew out facts about God as they were used to hearing from the Scribes!
This idea is confirmed in Scripture in Jesus’ teaching on the “Good Shepherd.” In the Greek text, there are at least two possible words for “good,” agathos and kalos. Agathos means “good” as in “morally good,” while kalos means “good” as in “good at” or “effective at” something. The “Good Shepherd,” in the gospel” is said to be kalos, as in “good at” shepherding. Personal holiness and goodwill alone, in a designated spiritual leader, are not good enough, I don’t care how personally pious and sanctimonious they may appear to be! They must also be able to effect internal change in people if they are to be known as real spiritual leaders. In other words, today’s “good shepherds,” must not only appreciate and value green grass and flowing water and how vicious wolves can be, they must know how to find green grass and flowing water is, how to lead their flocks to it and be able to handle vicious wolves who attempt to decimate the flock! Spiritual leadership is ultimately not about their personal piety, but "know how!"
My friends, there is no doubt that organized religion has lost its ability to impose unquestioned rules on behavior on our people and that one of the most pressing needs facing Catholicism today is the quality of its priestly leadership. No amount of ranting and raving about how we ought to be listened to will change this situation. We simply must get better at our ability to influence and persuade instead of blaming and condemning people for their lack of faith and the culture for its secularism and moral relativism.
My friends, I believe that our people “want their visions lifted to higher sights, their performance to a higher level and their personalities stretched beyond normal limitations.” I believe that our people want to become holy, but they are often left “like sheep without a shepherd.” We need effective spiritual leaders, spiritual leaders who are more like Jesus, and less like the Scribes who were “all bun and no beef” as the old 1984 Wendy’s commercial used to say! More and more Catholics today are asking, “Where’s the beef?”
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