A New Teaching with Authority

Summary

Throughout our lives we have all had people in authority over us.  Some are political, like our various government officials, some are civil, like the police or judges, there are religious authorities like pastors, or Sunday School teachers.  When we are younger, educational authorities have a lot of power, be them teachers, principals, or professors.  There are informal communal authorities, like when you are a kid and older neighbors yell at you for stepping on their lawns.

When I was young, my family shared a driveway with an older couple, and Frank, the husband, scared me every time he looked at me.  I never touched a blade of his grass, unless one of our balls ended up in his yard, and then I was as quick as possible in retrieving it before he might notice. He was a communal authority in my life.

Then of course there are the parents of our friends, and finally the familial, our own parents, grand-parents, siblings and extended family.

As I think we all know, not all authority figures are equal, be them official or not.  For instance, there are various levels of police in many countries, and in my own, I would much rather be pulled over by the county sheriff’s deputy, than the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  As well, as when I was a child I would rather have my uncle Chuck tell me to behave, than my uncle Virg.  Even familial authorities differ, don’t they?

Sometimes it is fear of consequences that creates the difference in types of authority.  At other times it is the contrast in the personalities and ways of using their power that becomes the difference between two individuals.  Yet, most of all I think it also comes down to trust, and loyalty, meaning that what they have done in the past, plays into how you listen to them in the present.

For me, one example of this is from my years in seminary when I was training to be a pastor.  In our system, at that time, you took two preaching classes, that sandwiched your internship year.  So, you started to learn to preach before your practice year of internship, and then you went and put into practice your learning as a student pastor in front of a congregation for a year, and then you went back to seminary and refined your preaching before being ordained.

The professor I had for my first preaching class was all right, but I had heard him preach and was not overly impressed.  So, when he spoke to us of changes to be made, and suggestions to create a better sermon, I listened, but only half-heartedly.  One thought I had was, do I want my sermons to sound like his?

Upon my return to seminary for my senior year, I of course took my senior preaching course.  My professor was new that fall, and this was one of the first classes he had ever taught.  Being new, the seminary asked him to preach in chapel.  When I heard him preach, I knew that I had things to learn from this man, and that I wanted to learn.  His authority grew in my eyes, because I trusted him, and I became loyal to him as well, because of the way that he treated me and my classmates, with respect and kindness.  I soaked up every hour of class, and any suggestions he had for me after listening to me preach, I noted and tried to incorporate into my own preaching.

Another way of saying all of this is, the first prof I had, held authority over me because of the grade that he gave to me, but it did not extend much into what he said to me. In contrast, I wanted to hear what my second professor had to say, when it came to not only preaching, but theology as a whole.  In fact I still care, and often read what he writes on-line with interest, concerning the Biblical text for the week, because I trust his authority.

So, why am I speaking so much of authority?

Well, twice in today’s scripture the gospel writer uses the word authority.  Listen, “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”, and again later, “What is this? A new teaching-with authority!  He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Isn’t that interesting?  The reactions of the people are not focused upon Jesus’ exorcism of the demon, but rather upon his voice of authority.  They hear it first in his teachings and then see the effects of it with his spiritual authority over the unclean spirit.

Again, and again, we read of how people are struck by Jesus’ powerful teaching and preaching.  His voice, and manner of teaching is commands respect, but what he teaches is unlike anything else they have heard.  Unlike like the teachings of those they are normally listening to, the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus speaks with a clarity and humble power that they have never encountered before.  Jesus does not just recount the law, but he informs his listeners why the law was given, for the people!

Remember the power of Jesus’ parables.  From, The Good Samaritan, to the Prodigal Son, to the Gracious Landowner, Jesus teaches the people something new about how God loves them, and the grace that God wants to give them, and wants them to give one another.

Of course they not only heed Jesus’ words, but they see in Jesus’ powerful actions that love and grace in action when Jesus frees the man in the synagogue from the unclean spirit.  They see the authority that Jesus has over even the spirits, casting them aside so that the possessed man may be free.  And as we saw, it is the authority that Jesus wields, that brings the people to him; to listen, to learn, to be healed, to be fed, to believe, and to be championed.

What I mean is that Jesus is the one that the people came to listen to, and follow, because he was willing to stand up for them.  He was willing to take on even the demons, as well as the false-prophets, and the weak scribes and Levites, and the self-righteous Pharisees, and the self-seeking priests, and yes, the oppressive and deadly Romans.  Jesus was willing to stand up and speak for the people, and more importantly to, and with the people, that they might come to know and understand the truth.  They understood that Jesus was there for them, and offered them something new, faith in the Kingdom of Heaven alive and active on earth, in their hearts.

And is this not the very thing that we are seeking when we come before Jesus in belief?

Jesus speaks with authority still today.  Jesus does not only teach us the ways that we should know and go, but that he himself is the way.  Jesus is the one whom will set us free from the bondage, from the chains that hold us.  Jesus is the Kingdom of Heaven present here, on earth, in our hearts, and in the world.  Jesus is whom we need, and whom we need to follow.

For Jesus’ authority must still speak to us today.  Not simply as rules, as the Ten Commandments but in the spirit in which they were given. We need to listen to Jesus’ authority as we seek to live our own lives.  Jesus’ teachings, and his commands are not for us to keep so that we might get to heaven, no, Jesus gives us heaven by his death and resurrection and our belief and faith in him.

No, we seek to live out the full spirit of Jesus’ teachings and commands, the very laws of the Bible, so that we might truly live as, be seen as, and be effective as Jesus’ people, as Christians here on the earth.

I don’t keep the commandment to not murder, so that I can go to heaven, no!  I keep the commandment not to murder, so that my neighbor upon this earth can live his or her life.  And then, as Jesus showed us, the commandment not to murder actually extends right down to what feel in our hearts.  For Jesus said, and this is now where we’re looking at his authority in the most real way, Jesus said, “If you look at another with hate in your heart, you have already killed him or her.”

So, the letter of the law is to not murder.  We all understand the authority that is present in that command.  Yet, look then at Jesus teaching, and see the great authority living in his words.  Jesus has come, that all people might have life, and life abundantly.  Yet, no one can have life abundantly when they are either being hated, or living with hate in their hearts.

Jesus is the authority when it comes to life, for he is life, the Resurrection and the Life.  So, stop resting in self-righteousness upon the literal interpretation of God’s law, and instead listen to Jesus’ authority, his authority based in his love for you and all people, seek each day God’s spirit in the law.

Did God give the laws simply that you can use them to get ahead, to try and do the minimum?  No, the laws were given that we might live together justly, with forgiveness and in love.

Do we fail at this?  Yes, time and time again.  Do we succeed at this?  Yes, time and time again.  In other words, we can never stop trying to live out Jesus greatest commandments, the commandments upon which all the other of God’s laws hang.

To paraphrase:  Love God.  Love your worldly neighbor.  Love yourself.

And when you fail, try, and try again.  Listen to Jesus words, spoken in authority, and in love.

Amen.

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