Jesus and authority

Introduction We all interact with authority on a daily basis. Many of us work under the authority of our governments, teachers and employers, some of us may have authority over employees or students. There is also authority within our personal and family relationships. In some ways, a person's authority is a construct, limited by how much people are willing to submit to it, and how effective an authority figure is at enforcing their authority. This is something I realised when leading as a volunteer on a year 12 study camp. As a leader, I was responsible for ensuring that the year 12 students were quiet during study time, that they got to the study hall on time, that they got to bed on time, and that they stayed in that bed. The students seemed to respect me and therefore respected my authority. But all it took was for a couple of students to realise how limited my authority and the authority of the other leaders was, for chaos to ensue! The students realised that we were unable to issue detentions like their teachers, or remove privileges like their parents. Once the students realised this, our authority evaporated very quickly. This meant that there was not much we could do when at 11pm 30 boys burst out of their cabins and ran screaming across the campsite in their pajamas and balaclavas. In contrast to our limited authority, we have Jesus' authority. In Jesus, we see absolute authority and power. Setting the Scene Firstly, let's set the scene. This passage is contained within the first chapter of the book of Mark, the shortest of the four gospels of Jesus' life, also colloquially known as the "Film-Script Gospel" because it launches straight into the action. What? Am I the only one who calls it the "Film-Script Gospel?" Come on guys, you're giving me nothing! Our passage, starts at verse 16 along the shores of Lake Galilee with Jesus calling his first disciples. Mark paints a beautiful and commanding picture as we see Jesus seek out and approach the fishermen Simon, Andrew, James and John. As an employment lawyer, I notice here that there is no interview process and no discussion of terms, but Jesus clearly has work for these first disciples to do. These first disciples must have seen something in Jesus because they immediately stop what they are doing, leave their nets and follow Jesu s. It is not long at all before they see Jesus' awesome work and authority displayed firsthand. I am going to focus on 3 aspects of Jesus' authority: (1) Jesus teaches with authority; (2) Jesus acts with authority; (3) Jesus tears down authority. 1. Jesus teaches with authority Firstly, Jesus teaches with authority... and it's amazing! Let's pick up the story at Mark Chapter 1 verse 21: "21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law." We get an idea of what Jesus is teaching earlier in Mark chapter 1, in verses 14 and 15, which we heard about last week: "Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 'The time has come', he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!" It is not hard to see how Jesus' teaching amazed the crowds. Jesus preaches of the kingdom of God coming near to a people under the rule of the vast and mighty Roman empire. To a downtrodden and seemingly forgotten people, Jesus offers a far mightier authority as His teaching speaks of God's ultimate authority. Jesus' teaching is also amazing in the simple clarity of its message - repent and believe the good news! To the Jewish listener, used to hearing a message of rules and obligation, this simple message would have been striking! Jesus told people that a restored relationship with God was achievable because it is not dependent on compliance with the law, it is a gift of grace to those who repent and believe. It is the same message to us today! When we repent of our wrongdoing and ask God to be the centre of our lives, God shows us mercy and forgives us for hurting him. Mercy is costly, whichever way you look at it, whether you are receiving mercy or showing mercy. It is very easy to recognise when you have been wronged by someone, isn't it? It is even harder to forgive someone when you get nothing back in return. On the other hand, I think it can be hard to receive mercy because receiving mercy forces us to recognise that we have wronged someone else and that we can't repair that wrong on our own. Jesus' message is amazing in its content, because Jesus freely offers mercy to those who choose to receive it. Jesus' teaching is also amazing because of the way that he teaches, as someone with authority. What does this mean? We're going to dip into Colossians 2 a little bit, which gives us a vast picture of Jesus' authority. Let me read verses 9 and 10: "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority." Jesus is both fully God and fully man, which means that in Jesus rests all God's authority - sovereign, supreme, unchallengeable. This gives Jesus an unparalleled authority to teach God's message. Imagine a book club that meets every month to read and discuss their favourite book - not hard for me to do as it sometimes feels like there are more book clubs than people at our evening congregation. Special shout out to all the Summer Hill book club junkies! However, imagine for one moment that this book club meets only to discuss one book. There might be some parts of the book or storylines that members of the book club disagree about. Some might raise one interpretation, whilst others might raise an alternative interpretation. Some of the interpretations are clearly wrong, whilst others sound right, but the members of the book club can't be sure. Imagine then that in secret, the author of the book starts to attend the meetings and share his view. At this point in the story, the members don't yet know the author's identity, but everything that the author says resonates, it rings true and explains parts of the book that had previously seemed unclear. This is a bit like what it would have been like for the crowds to hear Jesus teach and explain and summarise the Jewish scriptures. This is also the privileged position that we are in to read the Bible today and its record of Jesus' teaching ministry. The crowd thought that Jesus' teaching was amazing with its simple message of hope and salvation, and Jesus' ability to authoritatively explain scripture, as only the son of God could. Do you see Jesus' teaching as amazing? Does the Bible amaze you? 2. Jesus acts with authority Point 2, Jesus acts with authority. It is one thing to speak in an authoritative manner, but it is another matter to back that up with action. There are plenty of people out there who talk big, but when it comes to the crunch are nowhere to be seen. This is something that frustrates us about politicians, they promise much but do not deliver. They talk the talk but do not walk the walk. In some ways, we expect too much of our politicians. We ascribe to them a power that they simply do not have. Perhaps our politicians make the same mistake and fail to recognise their limited ability to back up their words with action. If this is something that frustrates you, all I can say is look no further than Jesus. All throughout his ministry, Jesus is someone who both speaks and acts with authority. Let's pick up the story at verse 23. The crowd is amazed at Jesus' teaching because Jesus speaks as one with authority, and so it seems that Satan is determined to throw a spanner in the works. From verse 23,: Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" 25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek." This impure spirit asks some interesting questions, "What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us?". Let's leave these questions to one side for the moment because Jesus ignores the spirit's questions. Instead, without breaking stride, Jesus silences the evil spirit. "Be quiet!". And then, "Come out of him". With six words, Jesus both silences and drives out the evil spirit. Notice here that it is Jesus' words, the Word of God that silences the impure spirit. Further, Jesus does not appeal to a higher authority for power to drive out the evil spirit. Jesus exercises his own authority to silence the demon. As the Son of God and God himself, Jesus drives out demons on his own authority. How awesome is that! Why does Jesus silence the demon? Don't the evil spirit's words help Jesus' cause? The evil spirit describes Jesus as the "Holy One of God."! This is good, right? One of the truisms of our media culture is not to turn down free press. So why does Jesus turn down free press? Well, when you read the books of the Bible about Jesus' life, it becomes very clear that Jesus is a man on a mission, and that mission works towards the goal of death on the Cross, the defeat of death and the redeeming of sins. It is therefore important that Jesus' plan works within God's timing and is not dictated by Satan's minions. The message here is that Jesus will reveal who he truly is according to his timing and his plans. Today, we are in the privileged position of having God's big plan laid out before us. We can see how this passage fits within Jesus' bigger plan of redemption. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to earth to live as a human, that in his humanity, he resisted sin, that because of his humanity he could represent us by taking up our sins on our behalf, that Jesus died on the Cross for our wretched, shameful sins. Jesus was more than the ultimate martyr, he didn't just die for us, he rose to life and now lives for us. Jesus has done all this and more. Jesus is holding out his hand and waiting for us to respond to him. Jesus is one who not only teaches with authority, but acts with authority and Jesus has the same power to act today. Do we let Jesus act within our own lives, to shape and transform us, or do we resist his authority? Do we doubt that Jesus is acting or will act? We should be confident that Jesus will act in our lives for our good! 3. Jesus tears down authority Despite having access to all the knowledge that the Bible makes available, I think we do not fully appreciate all of who Jesus is. This passage gives us a teaser into a third way that Jesus interacts with authority. Point 3, Jesus tears down authority. Remember the demon possessed man's questions, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?". The simple answer to this question is yes. Yes. Jesus came to destroy Satan's hold on the world. We see this very clearly in verses 13-15 of Colossians 2: 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." I find that it is easy to focus on what God has done for us- New life, forgiveness, cancelling our legal indebtedness. There are two aspects of Jesus' work here. Firstly, a relational aspect - God forgives us through Jesus and restores our relationship with him. A relationship that we are incomplete without, but powerless to fix on our own. Secondly, a legal aspect - Jesus' blood cancels our debt of sin and satisfies the requirements of God's perfect justice. These are wonderful truths about who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Without them, those who don't call for forgiveness are still dead in sins and destined for eternal death. Dead people walking. But we also see a third aspect of Jesus' work and Jesus' relationship to authority. Verse 15, "and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Jesus' work of overcoming the powers of Satan is absolutely critical. If you think of Jesus at war with the forces of Satan, make no mistake, this is not a bitterly fought conflict, no, it is a humiliating defeat of the forces of Satan. An absolute victory and a public display of Jesus' absolute authority. Ironically, it is at the cross, when Jesus is seemingly at his weakest, human, frail, beaten mocked and scorned... when Satan is gloating that the Son of God is about to be delivered into his hands, that Jesus reveals his true and ultimate power. How does Jesus defeat Satan once and for all? By conquering death and sin. In dying and being raised by God to life, Jesus removes Satan of all power, he disarms him. This is why Paul can sing in 1 Corinthians 15: "Death has been swallowed up in victory, Where O Death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?" The one seemingly immutable aspect of human existence, that we are destined to be born and die has been shattered at the cross. This is wonderful news for us, for whom death does not need to be the end. But it is more than this, by defeating Satan, Jesus displays his true glory, demonstrating that God's authority is supreme in all the heavens and the earth. Let us first look to Jesus and who he is before we look to ourselves and what we get out of it. I invite you to look upon Jesus now. Do you see how glorious he is? Our great vanquisher of death. Our glorious Saviour King. Conclusion Our passage concludes with two very touching scenes in verses 29 to 39. In the first scene, Jesus finishes teaching in the synagogue and, even though it is still the Sabbath, he breaks Jewish tradition and performs the compassionate work of healing Simon's mother-in-law. Jesus then continues to work after sunset, which marks the end of the Sabbath as Jesus works into the night healing various diseases and driving out more demons from people who are not yet comfortable enough to seek out Jesus during the day. Scene 2 takes place the morning after Jesus' big night of healing. You would think that Jesus would feel entitled to a bit of a sleep-in, but no, Mark tells us that very early in the morning, Jesus gets up and goes outside Simon and Andrew's home to a solitary place to pray. Jesus puts aside his physical comforts to seek out quality time with his Father. This hints at a fourth aspect of authority - Jesus' submission to his Father's authority, which is something we share with Jesus. If you recall, our passage begins with Jesus seeking out his first disciples, several humble fishermen that under God helped change the world. Now, our passage concludes with a small reversal of roles as those same fishermen seek Jesus out in the early hours of the morning. There is a palpable sense of excitement as the disciples tell Jesus that everyone is looking for him. Jesus replies "Let us go somewhere else". There is much work for Jesus to do, the disciples are part of it and are yet to realise where Jesus will take them. Like the disciples, we need to recognise Jesus' authority and seek him out again and again because he has work for us to do. If you have not yet reconciled your relationship with God, please give this serious thought. If you know others who have not yet reconciled their relationship with God, please earnestly pray for them and for opportunities to show them our magnificent Jesus. Jesus who has authority over life and death, eternal judgment, is patiently waiting, giving us an opportunity to repent and return to him before it's too late and to do his work of proclaiming the kingdom of heaven. And after that final day, Jesus will reign forever in utter majesty. So to conclude, we have explored how Jesus: 1. Teaches with Authority; 2. Acts with Authority; and 3. Tears down Authority. In the words of the crowd, this is truly amazing.