Meditation: The Use of Authority
Meditation: The Use of Authority
In the temptation of the Lord Jesus on the mountain, the devil said to Him: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3). The Lord Jesus could indeed have turned the stones into bread, for He is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones, and He Himself said to the Jews on the day of His entry into Jerusalem — in response to their protest about the children’s praises — “If these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
But the Lord Jesus had set before Himself an important principle: not to use His divinity for His own physical comfort. By His divine power, He could have made Himself not hunger, not thirst, not tire, nor suffer. Yet if He had done that, His incarnation would have become merely symbolic! Therefore, the Lord refused to use His divinity for His own bodily comfort.
However, He used His divine power for the comfort of others — as in the miracle of feeding the multitudes with the five loaves.
Christ’s decision also carries another clear determination: to refrain from using authority except when absolutely necessary. The Jews attacked Him in every way — they insulted and mocked Him. They called Him a glutton and a wine-drinker. They said He cast out demons by Beelzebub, that He was a Samaritan and had a demon, that He broke the Sabbath, violated the Law, blasphemed, and led people astray. Yet He heard and remained silent. He did not use His authority to punish them.
On the contrary, when His disciples urged Him to punish, He refused, seeing in that a repetition of the mountain temptation — another attempt by the evil spirit to persuade Him to use His power for Himself. This happened when one of the Samaritan villages refused to receive Him. His two disciples said to Him, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He rebuked them, saying, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”
The Lord always prefers to refrain from using His authority. How many blaspheme against Him in our days! How many deny His existence! How many disobey His commandments! How many mock and accuse Him! Yet God leaves them all — without punishment and without destruction.
And to all who urge Him to send fire from heaven to consume this person or that, He still answers with the same words: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”
Article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education, “Meditation: The Use of Authority,” Al-Keraza Magazine, March–April 1967
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