Authority

What makes Jesus different from all the other great religious leaders that started major religions?

There are many things, of course, first and foremost the fact that Jesus is God, and that he rose from the dead. All the others have this one thing in common: they’re all dead. Which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that they weren’t God.

But as we look at this passage, we see another difference between Jesus and them: authority.

It was the thing that struck the Jews immediately when they started listening to him teach from God’s word.

All the other teachers they heard would preface their remarks with phrases like, “So-and-so said this about this passage.”

Or “According to so-and-so, this passage means…”

Jesus never said that. Instead, he would repeatedly tell them, “I say to you…” or “I tell you the truth…”

The people marveled at this. “This man speaks with authority. It sounds like he actually knows and is confident about what he is teaching.”

As a teacher myself, I think I would marvel myself. While I of course do my own studies and ask God for insight, nevertheless, I wouldn’t pretend to have a fraction of the authority that Jesus Christ has. It must have been marvelous to hear him speak.

He then backed it up with his works, casting out a demon from a man in the synagogue. Is it any wonder that word about him spread like wildfire throughout Israel?

But what does it mean for us?

I suppose the question you need to ask yourself is, “Do I accept the fact that Jesus does indeed speak with authority? Or do I just think he was giving his own opinion, and my opinion is as good as his?”

Too often, though we may give lip service to Christ’s authority, nevertheless we do not obey him. Either because we think it’s too “pie-in-the-sky,” the ideals of a man who didn’t have a grasp of “real life,” or because we simply don’t want to do what he has said.

But if we claim Jesus as our Lord, we can’t think this way. And we certainly can’t live that way. Jesus said,

Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but don’t do what I tell you? (Luke 6:46)

If there are two words that are oxymoronic, they are “No” and “Lord.”

How about you? Do you accept Christ’s authority in your life?