As One Having Authority.

Mark 1:21-28

They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath. He entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."

Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

Several years ago I began to realize that I always seemed to be in a self-judgment mode. I would be intensely watching myself and my life closely to see if all my thoughts, actions and responses measured up to the accepted spiritual standards and ideals. Somehow, even inspiration would rapidly turn into law and there I would be trying desperately to make it all work. I would try to grab onto what I thought was my spiritual authority and use it to bring shape and meaning to my inner life. It was exhausting, really. I had not yet learned that the Authority of God is not something that can be apprehended by a force of the intellect or will. We can only be absorbed into it by knowing the Author.

Scribes had a huge amount of authority in the Jewish culture. The scribes were the copyists of Scripture and teachers of the Law. Their functions were to copy, read, amend, explain, and protect the law. They were scholars learned in the law, who lectured on it in synagogues, taught it in schools, debated it in public and private, and applied it in judgment on specific cases. (dictionary definition of a scribe.)

Jesus was also very familiar with God's law. He, too, was able to quote scripture, apply it and debate it. But when Jesus taught the people, they were amazed at his authority which was nothing like the authority they were used to. Jesus' authority brought change and healing. It brought light where there was no light and freedom where none existed. Jesus 'knew' the scripture in the same way the scribes did but his knowledge went deeper and was more intimate. His knowledge of all things to do with God wasn’t based on principles and laws or a myriad of interpretations of that law; his knowledge was based on relationship. When he taught the people, he wasn't simply quoting something he had learned by rote; he was talking about someone he knew intimately. When he spoke of God the Father, he spoke from experience and from his constant connection with the Father. He spoke only about what God had spoken to him. He could teach love with authority because he was knew the Author of Love. He could heal with authority because he was one with the Author of Healing. He could bring deliverance with authority because he lived within the heart of the Author of freedom.

Christ's authority naturally flowed out of his knowledge of the Father. The scribes knew everything there was to know about the law but, as St. Paul was fond of pointing out, the written word is dead and cannot bring life, only awareness of sin and failure and condemnation. Jesus' intimate knowledge of the Father astounded and amazed the people because he spoke of things he really knew, not just things he had read about or heard about.

It is interesting to note that the unclean spirits were completely freaked out by Jesus' authority but those same spirits couldn’t have cared less about the scribes' authority. The spirits knew that dead knowledge (law) regulates and controls people only on a surface level but living knowledge goes deep into the inner heart and sets people free. That's why they wanted nothing to do with Jesus.

The lovely thing about Jesus is he not only was able to share his knowledge of the Father with the people, but he wanted everyone to have the same experience of the Father as he did. In fact, that was one reason Jesus came – to show what it was really like to walk intimately with God. He came to share the good news that God is indeed a Father and that God wants a close relationship with each one of us.

We are all called to share in Christ's authority. But what does that mean? What did it mean when I realized that I was trying to manufacture and use authority to shape my life without having any idea what it meant to have authority? How does one get to a place of true authority? For me it meant letting go of all the ideals, goals, precepts and standards that I thought I had to make work in my life and be totally poor before God. I had to admit that in spite of all the spiritual knowledge I had built up in myself over the years, I knew nothing, could do nothing and had no idea where to go. Furthermore, I told God I was not going to do anything about it. I was going to wait on him. I wasn't going to seek him in more books or more speakers and continue to add to the useless and weighty type of knowledge authority I thought was necessary. I was going to wait for him to speak the living word to my heart.

What a relief that was to my whole being. It was like I had been carrying a mountain of useless and heavy knowledge, knowledge I didn't even know how to use or apply properly let alone gain authority from it. All it did was sit on my shoulders and condemn me for never quite getting it right. When I said, “I'm not carrying this anymore,” it was as if God answered, “Yes!! I've just been waiting for you to say that and to drop that load. My burden - my authority – is the yoke of lightness. Just walk with me and stop worrying about 'application' and 'succeeding' and 'doing it right'. Take a break from having to find the right spiritual tool for every situation. Just walk with me.”

It is always good to regularly review your spiritual life and ask the question: Do I have a primary relationship with words, principles, precepts and rules or do I have a primary relationship with the living God? A relationship with rules and principles is a complex and heavy burden, one that always seems to point out one's failure. It often involves lots of guilt and self-criticism. It seems when we start trying to wield what we think of as authority, all we do is become heavy authoritarians.

A relationship with the living God is a vacation. The Latin for 'be still' is vacate. Simon Tugwell O.P., in a book on prayer writes, “God invites us to take a holiday [vacation], to stop being God for a while, and let him be God…God is inviting us to take a break, to play truant. We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and leave it to him to be God.”

Being loved, not being in control, is powerful kingdom authority.