“As One With Authority”

The gospel lesson a few Sundays back was from Mark 1:21-28. On the surface what Mark records is a common enough occurrence in the gospels. Jesus teaches in a Synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath, and a man who is possessed by a demon is healed. Pretty common fare for Jesus. But look deeper and you’ll find that Mark is still setting the parameters for Jesus’ ministry. It wasn’t uncommon for Synagogues to host visitors on the Sabbath, or for them to invite those visitors to read the scriptures and expound upon what they have read. But Mark tells us that the gathered congregation senses something different about this guest, for He spoke to them “as one with authority,” and not like the scribes. And it seems to me that in a world that is unraveling around us, and where folks are increasingly searching for a voice of truth, that it might behoove those of us who are seeking to offer truth to ask where Jesus’ authority came from, and what made His words so different!
In most cultures authority is granted to us for a variety of reasons. For instance, it can accompany a position. Visit a courtroom and you’ll find that when the Judge enters and departs the Bailiff will say “all rise.” There’s a certain authority that is invested in a Judge’s position, and his or her authority in that courtroom is nearly absolute. We find that type of authority in the military too, as well as in the workplace. You may have heard about the boss who hung a sign in the office that read:
Rule #1: The Boss is always right.
Rule #2: When the Boss is wrong, refer to rule #1.
Mark’s gospel doesn’t really make it clear whether or not Jesus was invited to speak as an itinerant Rabbi or as a laymen, but neither situation would have made Him particularly unique - in other words there was nothing unusual about His position that would have explained the aura of authority that accompanied His words!
Authority can accompany our expertise in, and our grasp of, a subject! A group can be gathered around the open hood of a car broken down along the highway, speculating on the problem, but when the mechanic arrives the group will defer to his expertise. And it’s the friend who is a computer science major, or who builds her own computers, who is called upon when our own machines are not working properly.
But there were other experts in the law who had spoken to the people of Capernaum in the past, without this response, so this must not be our answer either!
It some places authority can accompany our age. Asian cultures in particular operate under the assumption that wisdom is acquired with many years of experience, and so the elderly have traditionally been greatly respected. But here again Jesus really doesn’t qualify. He’s a relatively young man still, only around thirty years of age, so His authority can’t come from the wisdom that (sometimes) is gained over many years!
In some cases authority can be given to us by another. In ancient times a King could give his Signet Ring to a trusted aid, and that ring would authorize that aid to carry out whatever the King wished. Today when law enforcement agencies want to conduct a search of private property, they first acquire a search warrant from a Judge. If the property owner refuses to grant access law enforcement can then conduct the search under the Judge's authority. That doesn't always work so well. You may have heard about the government surveyor who brought his equipment to a farm, called on the farmer, and asked permission to go into one of the fields and take some readings. The farmer objected, fearing that the survey would ultimately result in some highway being built through his land. "I will not give you permission to go into my fields," said the farmer.
Whereupon the surveyor produced an official government document which authorized him to do the survey. "I’ve been given the AUTHORITY," he declared, " to enter any field in the entire country to take the necessary readings."
With that the farmer shrugged, open the gate, and allowed the surveyor to enter the field - and then he promptly marched to the far end of the field, and opened another gate-- which allowed his fiercest bull to charge forward into the field!
Seeing the bull, the surveyor dropped his equipment and began to run for his life. As he did he could hear the farmer shouting after him, "SHOW HIM YOUR PAPERS! SHOW HIM YOUR PAPERS!"
In the gospels Jesus does state that "all authority" has been given to Him, and he fully vested his disciples with that authority. But I’m convinced that the “authority” that Jesus spoke with in Capernaum came not from His position, or His knowledge of the Law, or His age, or even because God gave it to Him - but for another reason - because of His personal intimacy with the One of whom He was speaking.
Scott Hoezee recalls a charming anecdote involving the Pope John XXIII. One day the pontiff was having an audience with a group of people, one of whom was the mother of several children. At one point the pope said to this woman, "Would you please tell me the names of your children. I realize that anyone in this room could tell me their names, but something very special happens when a mother speaks the names of her own children."
The Pope was right. There is something different about the way we speak of another, or even utter their name, when we have an intimate connection with that person!
I think that's what made Jesus' teaching so different from that of the scribes. They knew something about God - but Jesus knew His Father intimately!
So it is with us. Our words will carry far greater weight when they are backed by lives that demonstrate Christ’s presence in them!
In the end I’m convinced that others will listen to us not because we know about our subject - because they think we know something about God - but because they sense that we know God!