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02.02.03 Colin A New Authority Deut 18: 15-20, Mark 1: 21-28

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Mark’s Gospel is almost certainly the oldest account of the life of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark is a fascinating one, for it wastes absolutely no time in getting down to the business of establishing why he is writing. Mark’s Gospel exudes a breathless excitement that allows no room for digression from beginning to end. His message is that God has come into the world, and the message is good: God is here AND he is on our side. So, there is no time in Mark’s Gospel for details or digression, no time for the growing up period in Jesus life. He gets straight to the point of why Jesus is on earth. Mark wants us to know, as fast as possible, that God is passionate to save us. So, in the first 20 verses, Mark lays out the basis of the authority of Jesus:

Ų 1 single verse introduction to announce the good news of Jesus,

Ų 8 verses to summarize John the Baptists role in preparing the way for Jesus

Ų 2 verses to describe the Baptism of Jesus, his anointing with God’s Holy Spirit and being described by God’s voice from Heaven as ‘my beloved Son’

Ų 2 verses to describe the temptation of Jesus and to show that Satan’s power had no hold over Jesus

Ų 7 verses to describe Jesus starting to preach the Gospel of God, calling on people to repent, and calling his first disciples.

So, in 20 short verses, Mark has:

Ų Identified Jesus as having the authority of God, since he was anointed by God’s Holy Spirit, and described by God as ‘my beloved Son’

Ų He has also made it clear that evil has no power over Jesus and

Ų He has established Jesus preaching the gospel of God and calling disciples to follow him

Mark leaves no doubt in our mind that Jesus is a man who carries the personal Authority of God himself.

The Gospel reading today establishes a further aspect of the authority of Jesus:

Ų Mark has already established in verses 12 & 13 that evil has no power over Jesus.

Ų Now, he establishes that Jesus certainly has power over evil. Mark firstly establishes the authority of Jesus. Now, he goes on to establish that the authority of Jesus extends even into the world of evil spirits.

It's a very neat juxtaposition of the authority and power of God versus the power of evil, and Mark leaves us in doubt about that it is Jesus who has the real power and authority.

Jesus then goes on to teach in the Synagogue as a ‘lay person’. He is not one of the learned scholars, though he is well versed in the scriptures. Those who heard Jesus teaching are astonished because he taught them as “one who had authority” and not as the scribes”. The scribes or rabbis loved to quote their predecessors. They had learned the scriptures and could interpret them. But, it is clear that Jesus’ authority does not come from his learning of the historic scriptures. His authority is not that of a learned scholar. Jesus speaks with the personal authority of God. People listening instinctively knew that Jesus authority is not just that of a learned scholar. The authority of Jesus is personal.

Immediately, the man in the synagogue with the unclean spirit identifies Jesus as the ‘Holy One of God’, and then Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit and commands it to come out of the man. Those watching are astounded. But, they are not astounded that the man has been cured. They are astounded that Jesus ‘commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him’.

Now at the time of Jesus, dealing with unclean spirits required a process of exorcism, and the power to do this was by no means uncommon. The normal procedure was to make the spirit confess who or what it was, and then to invoke the name of a mightier power in order to drive it out.

Clearly, in Mark’s understanding, the authority of Jesus was different. He had no need to invoke any mightier power apart from his own: the spirit instantly recognized him and submitted. So this incident in the Synagogue falls into place - after the trial of strength with the devil himself (verses 12 & 13), Jesus authority is now reinforced and made explicit when he shows his mastery of the devil’s agents - the evil spirits.

The authority of Jesus is different in kind from most authority in the world today. He does not command authority:

Ų to secure his own personal safety

Ų or for the purpose of raising his status and importance

Ų or for accumulating power for himself for its own sake

Ų or to gain control over others.

Jesus uses his authority power to liberate and to heal others. In these first 28 verses of the Gospel, Mark establishes Jesus as a symbol, and a reality, of God’s presence here in the world.

Ų Jesus is here to preach the Good News that God is passionate about saving us.

Ų He is here in person, to show his passion for bringing people back into a relationship with God himself.

Authority today is widely mistrusted or ignored.

Ų At an individual level, it is clear than many do not respect authority, are willing to challenge it for their own benefit and are willing to break the power of the law over matters that they consider are individual choices e.g. the widespread use of illegal drugs.

Ų At government level, there are a large number of people who mistrust their politicians. Michael talked last week about his view that governments regularly lie to people. Many people no longer trust the authority or integrity of governments because they believe that they are not telling the truth, or that they are using their authority wrongly.

Ų At international level, we see authority and power used mainly to ensure the security of rich countries.

For example:

o The EEC e.g. has established an economic regime designed to enhance and protect the well being of the people within its own boundaries. The authority to create those boundaries by definition keeps out others.

o The rich western countries use their economic authority and power to maintain an economic system, which severely disadvantages the poorer countries of the world.

o The military might of the rich countries is used mainly to protect ourselves against the threat of terrorism or other belligerent countries

Our use of authority and power in this world is clearly designed to benefit and protect ourselves. It is clear this way of using authority and power has little relationship to the way in which Jesus used his authority and power. Jesus used his authority and power to liberate and to heal the people that he met each day in his ministry - not to enrich or protect himself.

So, lets apply the way in which Jesus used his authority and power to life today. To:

Ų the international community

Ų ourselves as individuals

Ų St James Church!

The international community needs to look very hard at the way in which it uses its authority and power. It is clear, that in almost all the rich countries of the world, we spend infinitely more on military power to defend ourselves against others, than we do to bring about freedom and liberation from poverty and starvation.

We use our authority and power in the world to benefit ourselves, rather than others. If Jesus were on this earth today, I have no doubt that he would be telling us in the strongest possible terms to reverse those proportions, for his way of love is to use his authority to free others, not to benefit himself. I have no doubt that at this moment this is precisely what God wants us, and the international community to work for!

But, it is too easy for us to be critical of the international community. They are an easy target for us because the contrast between the actions of rich countries and the teaching of Jesus is so clear. As individuals, I suspect it is not too self-critical, to say we use our authority, power, wealth and time predominantly to benefit ourselves. Jesus did not use his power to enrich himself, or protect himself. As individuals, we each need to seriously challenge ourselves about the proportion of time that we give to working for the freedom and liberation of others e.g. Steve referred at the A.G.M. to how few had responded to the job list on the wall.

Lastly, how do we as a church use our authority and power in this world? Jesus used his authority and power to enable people to be liberated, freed from domination by the spirits of the time. For us as individuals and for us as a church, that has great significance. We are called, like the early disciples, to live the life of people who have been freed from domination. We are called to share the Good News that God is here with us; that he is on the side of human beings; and that he still wants to liberate us and heal us and free us from the evil spirits of today such as selfishness and the demands of materialism.

Let’s pray then that we can re-focus our life, so that can use our authority and power, to bring about the freedom and liberation of people across our world.
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