Authority
Scripture References
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
A New Prophet like Moses
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[6] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Food Offered to Idols
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Mark 1:21-28
Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit
21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
Sermon Script
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. AMEN
Authority
Authority. What is your first reaction when you hear that word… “authority.” I’m guessing that some of you might have a negative reaction to it. Our culture in America is seeing more and more resistance to authority. With all the differences of opinion and anger in our society, those with authority are getting criticized. Today people just do not like anyone telling them what to do, “You’re not the boss of me,” … I know I was floored when my 4-year-old granddaughter told me that. Hmmmm… Really?
Our Gospel lesson in Mark 1 today, we will find the real meaning of “authority.” In this reading we heard the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue and rebuking an unclean spirit, and the people’s reaction to what He was doing. They rightly saw that this was “A new teaching of authority.”
Jesus’ Authority
“Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching,” our text says. We sometimes forget that Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. During his ministry, he would travel around to various places and teach. And one place where he regularly went was to a synagogue.
This synagogue was a local place of worship in Capernaum, and the Jews would go there every week on the Sabbath. This is the place they went to hear the word of God. They would sing psalms, hear readings from the Scriptures, and listen to a rabbi preach on some point from the Law or the Prophets.
So, Jesus and his first disciples went there and soon Jesus began to teach. However, there was something different about His teaching… It says the people were “astonished” because “he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” … The astonishing thing about the teaching of Jesus, the thing that was so different from what they were used to… was… His “authority.”
Jesus “taught them as one who had authority.” What kind of authority was this? Where did His authority come from?…
It was divine authority, coming from God himself…. Remember what God the Father said to Jesus at his baptism? “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Listen To Jesus
God was pronouncing Jesus’ authority to speak and act for God himself. For Jesus is the eternal Son of God… come from the Father… come to do his Father’s will. He is the very image of God… When Jesus speaks, he speaks with authority, because his words are Spirit-filled… life-giving… powerful… essential… words of God. His words come to life. When Jesus spoke with divine authority, people listened.
There are some of you that can remember a commercial in the late 70’s when two individuals were talking about their brokers, when one says… “Well, my broker is EF Hutton, and he says….” Then everyone in the room stops their conversation and tunes in… Then a voice announces… “When EF Hutton talks, people listen”. I suspect this might have been the same scenario when Jesus started speaking that day in the Temple.
In our Old Testament reading for today, from Deuteronomy 18, God said that he would raise up a great prophet from among the people of Israel. The Lord said, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
That great prophet is Jesus Christ, the Son of God come in the flesh. “It is to him you shall listen.” For Jesus knows the will of His Father perfectly, and He was sent down from heaven to proclaim it and to teach it… indeed, to do His Fathers will, to carry it out, to bring the will of God to fulfillment.
Yes, Jesus was well known as a teacher and people were drawn to Him, but something different was going on that day. While most other teachers spoke based on the authority of the law or other traditions, Jesus spoke of one who possessed authority within Himself.
Repent and Believe
We know from Mark 1:14-15 when Jesus started his ministry, that He called out to all people to “repent and believe”…. That was, and still is, the teaching of Jesus. That’s what he was saying then and to all of us today, calling us to repent from our self-chosen ways and to receive the life that he gives.
That voice of authority… and that authoritative teaching was what astonished the people in the synagogue that day.
What Jesus was teaching was new to them, and it came with divinity. Those people in the synagogue were used to the teaching of the scribes. Their scribes… their religious experts so to speak… taught that if you follow a certain code of behavior… that if you do certain things… then God will be pleased with you and you will earn his favor.
So there was a focus on particular points of the law. And not really even God’s law. It was their own man-made additions to the law that they emphasized. All sorts of little regulations that they came up with, which ironically made the law into something they thought they could accomplish.
For instance…. how many steps can I take on the Sabbath? Or… How many tassels should I have on my prayer shawl? The scribes and the Pharisees defined the righteous life by this kind of controlling behavior… all the while, ignoring the deep-rooted pride and hypocrisy within their hearts.
The focus had moved away from the Lord God speaking to them and saving them…. to a God who watched what you might be doing, to make sure you did the right things… and if you tried hard enough and looked good enough on the outside, you could earn salvation.
This religion of the law, a religion that focuses on our goodness, will do one of two things. It will either puff us up with pride or drive us to despair. On the one hand, we may become proud, thinking that we are a good enough person, who deserves God’s favor. Or, on the other hand, if we are honest with ourselves, and we realize that we cannot keep the demands of God’s law, that we will never be good enough, then we will be driven to despair, losing hope that God could ever love a poor miserable sinner like me… And our enemy, Satan, knows that.
Fix Your Eyes On Jesus
The devil will try to keep us focused on ourselves… either to take pride in how good a person I think I am… or attack my assumed failures. Anything to keep my eyes off Jesus.
When our eyes are off Jesus, we go through many doors which do not lead to the Kingdom of God. We might try the door of good works. Might even say, “I can get to heaven if I only do enough good things, because God will honor all the good things I do.”… It is wonderful to do good things, but we cannot do enough good things to satisfy God.
God demands perfection, and we are not perfect. If we’re going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to be absolutely perfect. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, “therefore you shall be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,”
You ask, “Well, how will I ever be perfect?” We need to be clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. There is one door to the Kingdom and it’s Jesus. And we will never get to heaven unless we go His way.
God will show us this door. He loves us unconditionally! He loved us enough to send Jesus to be “good” for us. He took us, helpless in our wrongdoing, and gave us His righteousness. The best news we could get!… Then, when the thought, “I’m not good enough” comes back… remember… Jesus, who made you and me the way He wanted us to be, loved us enough to die for us and replace our sin with His righteousness. That… makes us priceless… and perfect in God’s eyes.
The astonishing thing about Jesus’ teaching was that He broke through the fog that the scribes had created, and He spoke with the bright clear beam of heavenly light. He spoke straight from God, with a voice that penetrates the heart…. Can you hear him today? He is speaking to you, saying… “Receive the forgiveness I bought for you with my blood on the cross…. And with that forgiveness, I am giving you the Spirit and the strength to live as a Christian as my precious child… Rely on me, day by day.”… Jesus astonishes us with His straight-from-heaven, straight-to-the-heart teaching! And that’s how He astonished the people in the synagogue… with His overwhelming authority.
Final Authority
And then, as if to further demonstrate the authority of his teaching, Jesus has an encounter with a man with an unclean spirit. This unclean spirit that had come into the poor man cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God.”… This demon knows who Jesus is!… He knows and is afraid, because the demon thinks that Jesus has come to destroy him.
Well, he’s right! Jesus did come to destroy the works of the devil. All the way back to the Garden of Eden, God had promised that an offspring of Eve would crush Satan’s head, even though Satan would bruise his heel. Of course, God was talking about Jesus, born of the virgin Mary… Jesus, who would destroy Satan, at the cost of his own life through His resurrection.
Jesus…The Holy One of God came down to earth for this purpose… our salvation. Christ came to crush Satan’s head and to redeem us, to rescue us and set us free… free from the snares and assaults of the devil…. Jesus, by his sin-atoning death on the cross and by his life-giving resurrection from the dead… Christ Jesus won the victory for us, as we realize our own helplessness…. It is victory over sin, over Satan, over death and the demons of hell. And he delivers this victory to all of us by his word, the very word you are hearing right now.
“A new teaching with authority!” Christ Jesus speaks and acts with astonishing, amazing authority. Jesus doesn’t give us the empty works and religion of the scribes… or the “good-enough” religion of our own time… a teaching that can only lead you to either pride or despair. No, this is a new teaching with authority. Jesus speaks straight from God and straight to your heart… and his words do what they say. They lift you up to heaven!
Jesus speaks the forgiveness of sins into your ears, and it is so… He speaks his word with the waters of our baptism… He speaks his word with the bread and wine with the blessed sacrament of his body and blood, giving us forgiveness, life, and salvation…. His precious word is His Authority…. Jesus speaks, and demons flee. Jesus speaks, and we are free! Truly, a new teaching with authority!
And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,
Amen