Mark 1:21-26

Mark 1:21-26  They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.  The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “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!”   “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”  The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 

Jesus taught them as one who had authority not as the teachers of the law.  The teachers of the law taught about material they learned.  Jesus taught from his inner being, from his essence, from his intimate experiences and relationship with his Father, God.  Jesus tells Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.  I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man.  (John 3:11-13)  Later on in the third chapter of John, we see John the Baptist instructing his disciples about Jesus: “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.  (John 3:31-32)  Jesus not only taught differently from the teachers of the law, He revealed his power and authority through his miracles.  No wonder the demons everywhere in Judea recognized him as the Holy One of God!  They knew He had all power to control all things, and that their existence was literally in the hands of the Son of God.  Jesus came in the authority of the Father to do his will and to complete his plans.  From the time we hear Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray when He says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, (Matthew 6:9-10) until we see his agony in the garden when He prays, My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done, (Matthew 26:42) we know Christ came to do the perfect will of God.  We know He will not waver; He will not turn off the pathway to the cross.  He came to die for our sins.

Today, believers sometimes get confused about spiritual authority, placing their trust in people who dress in a way that indicates holiness or authority in this world, or individuals who speak dynamically or with biblical knowledge, or people who perform amazing healings, or performers who play instruments or write music or sing in an "anointed way."  Believers oftentimes behave as sheep without a shepherd.  They look for the latest book, speaker, or revival meeting in a far off place to support their spiritual lives.  "If I could just go to Florida, then I could receive special prayer and financial blessing."  "I hear there is an evangelist in Southern California with a special gift.  I know God would touch me in his services."  People look for something outside of their natural environment--something different or out of the ordinary.  People even attend large churches, believing God's authority must be there or the congregation would not be so large.   Surely, God's authority must rest more in a church of six thousand parishioners than a church of sixty.  But, all of these considerations or evaluations are generally based on fleshly ideas, self-centered ideas.  We read a report recently that the head of one of the large healing ministries on TV when questioned by an investigator was not able to document even one healing with medical records of a person's physical status before and after the so-called healing.  Yet this person influences people's lives all over the world, telling them he has a special anointing and claiming people are healed of various diseases in his services.  The spotlight is on him, people flock to receive his touch.  

Jesus knew who He was, but He depended on the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  He knew the voice of God in the flesh because He had emptied himself and had become as we are.  The gospel of John says, The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. . . (John 1:14)  As fleshly human beings, we must also have the same awareness of the Spirit or we are like Nicodemus and the other teachers of the law, saying what we learned and not what the Spirit is saying to us in a contemporary, extemporaneous way.  We will be like actors playing out a script, repeating what has been written for us rather than what the Spirit has revealed to our innermost beings.  The experience of Christianity confounds the most rational and wise among us, for Christianity is based on faith alone.  Christianity must be a foundational reality in our thinking processes, in our spiritual DNA.  The Bible calls us a new creature, created in Christ.  Our faith cannot be a mere longing or a desire to go to heaven based fear of death.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.  (Hebrews 11:1)  

Yes, Jesus performed miracles, but his homilies were often confusing, for He spoke in parables, in metaphors: become fishers of men, drink of my blood, eat of my flesh.  His sermons often were misunderstood by his disciples.  His words sometimes confused his own followers.  The miracles were fine and wonderful, but they were not sufficient for the apostles when they would face their own violent deaths.  They were not able to comprehend what Christ had done in the miracles.  Following the miracle of feeding thousands of people with a few fish and seven loaves of bread, the disciples are in a boat with Jesus and they think Jesus is upset because they have only one loaf of bread.  Jesus says, Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not see or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?  (Mark 8:17-18)  They needed something more than just information they had learned in the temple or inspired words they had heard.  They needed something more than the miracles they had witnessed.  They needed the still, small voice of the Spirit that abode with Christ through his whole ministry.  They needed the authority that resides in each believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Each of us will wander and fail without this authority in our lives: God's living Word as the Holy Spirit gives unction and power.  No other life will suffice; no other substitute will anchor our souls.  No church, no song, no word, no book, no person, no holy man: only the still, small voice of the heavenly dove will lead God's children along.  When the soldiers were paid to lie and say that the disciples had come in the night and taken Christ's body away from the tomb, the eleven went to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them for ministry.  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.  (Matthew 28:17-20 )  Go in his name and his authority!