These past weeks, various academic departments have been interviewing perspective candidates for teaching positions here at the University. Besides their credentials, they are invited to give a lecture, from their field, to a class of students in that subject-area. This is quite a challenge for the person and sometime for the students.

Credentials is the first big question. “Where have you studied? What degrees and from where have you graduated?”  The questioners have already studied carefully the person’s areas of studies, professional experiences and publishing. Obviouisly, the questioners had gone through the same interrogation themselves years ago. What they are investigating is the same session the Jewish leaders are conducting in the temple area with Jesus in today’s Gospel from Mark. By what
“authority” are you doing and teaching such things? They do not want an answer, but a dis-credentialling of Jesus.

The Pharisees had the books of the Sacred Word, through Moses, from God. This Jesus had to be questioned and diminished in popularity and attractiveness. He was, in their eyes, deposing them from the chair of power and judgement. This is not the first and definitely not the last such confrontation presented in our Gospels.

I urge the reading or listening to how Jesus wiggles out craftfully from this public pickle. He uses a Jewish argumentative art; answer a question with an equally pickling response.

I also highly encouraging the short First Reading for today’s Eucharistic liturgy. “Build yourselves in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.” “On those who waver have mercy;” what does “waver” mean? In one of our final classes this semester in the course on the Spiritual Exercises, there was quite a discussion about having questions and doubts meaning one did not have faith. Faith needs questions and doubts! Not all in the class were satisfied with this kind of statement.

Now back to the interrogation parlor in the temple area. Here’s my reflection for this day. I came up with this. Yes, Jesus got His authority from God, too easy and not Jesuit enough. How about this? Jesus got His authority from experiences of being tempted in the desert, challenged by religiously rigorous rulers and by His own human intellect wanting comforting answers to good human doubts and fears. We hold sacredly to His being fully human and does not that imply doubts and questions as you and I have, while remaining people of faith? Stay faithful to questions and do not settle for easy answers. Jesus did not hand them out like political flyers.