One With Authority

Shocking Power

Jesus early ministry led him to the city of Capernaum. While there, he went to the synagogue to teach. While the audience there may have heard of him, they certainly wouldn’t have considered him a foremost authority in the synagogue.

The religious leadership of that time was centralized in a council called the Sanhedrin. Those who were teaching and leading throughout Israel would have answered to them. Jesus was an outsider, which would make his style of teaching even more shocking.

And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:21-22

The scribes would have taught by citing other teachers and interpretations. Always, they would have appealed to a man of higher esteem. Jesus came to the people with authority, giving teachings directly, without any appeal to any authority of man.

This authority was then demonstrated when Jesus commanded unclean spirits in their midst.

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried 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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 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.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Mark 1:23-28

He was not a person too bold for his station, speaking out of turn. His authority was evident.

Who Gave Authority?

This authority was attractive to the people. Instead of appealing to the teaching of man which primarily held sway because it had withstood the test of time and survived the political mechanizations of leadership, he was speaking with authority of new things without the need to appeal to others.

However, not everyone was happy about it. Those who depended upon the power they inherited through the religious system didn’t want to recognize Jesus. Therefore, they confronted him.

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”

Mark 11:27-28

They knew they hadn’t blessed his ministry, so what gave him the right to go around teaching these things?!

Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 

Mark 11:29-32

Jesus cut to the heart of the issue. The teaching and power of God was not a matter of hierarchies and institutions. If his (and John’s) authority was merely from man, then they had no right proclaiming what they did. They should have stuck to the approved message.

The problem for them was, it was clear they taught with authority but weren’t sticking to the establishment line! The people recognized that their teaching carried weight but the scribes had rejected it.

They had a choice. Would they admit they rejected a message authorized from heaven or would they tell the people that John was unsanctioned? Not liking either option, they refused to answer.

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Mark 11:33

Power of God

Jesus was not providing an alternative interpretation than what was intended by the text. He was providing them with the meaning for which he had inspired them to be written! If the teachers of their time contradicted him, it was they who were wrong.

Yet they couldn’t understand how correction could come from outside their ivory towers. They wouldn’t listen to anything unless it came with a bibliography thick with their favorite teachers (past and present). They were so busy with concerns of the authority of man that they thumbed their nose at God himself.

It is still possible today to get so wrapped up in the authority of man that you miss the correct understanding of God’s word. The Holy Spirit may not always illuminate the scriptures through multinational teaching ministries or even long time elders of your local congregation. Sometimes, you may be led to understand the word during your private reading time. Sometimes, it may be an immature believer who happens to have particular insight on a given topic.

To reject the right interpretation because it goes against the teaching of men of higher status is to reject the highest authority. Sometimes, the proper teaching will seem unprecedented and may come from a seemingly unlikely place. We must depend upon a spiritual discernment, knowing that those who are in Christ will recognize his voice, rather than depending upon the credentials granted by even well-meaning establishments of men.

Be careful not to be caught up in fame or degrees, or you may miss out on what God is doing entirely.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29