WITH AUTHORITY

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Message preached by Esther Baerends
Mark1:21-28
Deuternomony18:15-20


A poetic telling of Mark 1:21-28:
  What is this?
  A new teaching, they cried.
  Who is this man,
  who commands such respect?
  What were their clues,
  how did they know
  to trust the words he spoke?
  Was it the way he walked?
  Or the look in his eye?
  Could it have been his clothes, or friends,
  or the way he talked?
  A new teaching! They cried,
  and with such authority,
  unlike the scribes we know so well.
  What as their manner, I ask myself,
  what made them so different to Jesus?
  Did they squabble and quibble over points of law?
  Did they talk a talk that looked nothing like the walk they walked?
  Who is the man, they asked each other- could he be- could this be him?
  The man to follow, after so much time, the one who fulfills those prophecies.
  God told Moses there would be another, another just like him.
  Could this, at last, be him?


When I first saw the topic for today’s service, “With Authority”, it made me step back a little, debating whether I should pick a different topic. At first it seemed so serious and kind of daunting. It made me think, how could I, a youth of 21 who is planning, but has not yet had any theological background, talk to a congregation about authority? What kind of authority do I have to do this? Why would anyone listen to me? This is not just a question that I ask myself but that many of you have probably asked yourselves at one point or another as well. It is a question that applies to many situations be it ministry, business, school, or even just socially. We constantly question if what we say has any merit; will someone believe us, will they understand us? Can they trust what we say?

In today’s society there are many different ways of looking at authority. So what does it really mean to us? How do we choose which authority to follow?

In the passage from Mark we hear about Jesus coming to the synagogue to preach. He comes to Capernaum as a visitor, an outsider of sorts, yet when they go into the synagogue, Jesus starts to preach. Now I can only imagine that the scribes were not too happy. In walks a stranger, and though the details of whether he asked to speak or not are lacking, Jesus somehow takes over and starts teaching in a completely new way. And for them, probably the most frustrating part of all is that people are actually listening to him! They like this new teaching! So we wonder, what is it about Jesus that gives him such authority? Is it only the words he speaks? Or is it perhaps his manner of speaking?

These questions bring us to the second passage from Deuteronomy where Moses relays the message from God about a coming prophet. That he will raise one up from among them and put His words into the prophets’ mouth who will speak them. This passage, though fairly straightforward brings us to another question though, is it purely God’s words, spoken through Jesus that gives him authority? Does all the authority come from God or does Jesus possess some himself as well?

Mark’s passage becomes more interesting. Not only does Jesus command authority by his teachings, but he goes on to perform a miracle as well. A man, possessed by an unclean spirit, confronts Jesus. The dialogue in Mark between the unclean spirit and Jesus paints a strong picture. What stands out is the fact that the unclean spirit recognizes Jesus and kind of goads him on, immediately asking if Jesus has come to destroy them. Talk about coming straight to the point. What amazes the people further is that in one short command, the unclean spirit is sent out of the man’s body. Now of course there is some debate as to how accurate that account really is, what was the unclean spirit exactly and whether it took a short time or long time to rid the man of his demons, but the point is that Jesus had now also shown his authority through actions and not just words. The people were left in awe of Jesus, the scribes were most likely not. To them Jesus did not seem like a true teacher, for instance breaking the rule that the Sabbath is a day of rest because Jesus performed a miracle.

Nico Ter Linden, a Dutch minister and theologian writes about exactly this; what set Jesus apart from the scribes that day. Whereas the scribes taught the Torah, the law, that which was written, Jesus taught from the heart. He did not preach words that were already written but words that came from the heart, but not only did he talk but he also embodied faith through his actions. Jesus gave life to the written word and this resonated with people. Ter Linden goes on to say that text can be dangerous. If that is all we focus on then it becomes dry, lifeless, something only of the mind and no longer of the heart. Faith needs to be alive, to be lived and Jesus showed that to the people that Sabbath day in the synagogue. It is no longer just about words but also about actions.

This discovery, for us, is not something new. We make decisions about authoritative figures based on their words and actions in our world today as well. For example at election time; we listen to the speeches of the candidates, get a feel for their charismatic characteristics but also we look at their actions during the campaign. How do they talk to others? How do they deal with issues? And a lot of the time that says a whole lot more than the words they address us with, which may even have been written by third party speech writers.

Even in our own lives, though there are varying degrees, we show our authority by words and actions. Living our lives in certain ways, trying to show those around us who we really are. In that way, Jesus truly was an example that we should follow; in words and in deeds.

Amen.