Sermon Talkback—February 1, 2009
Acting on Authority—Mark 1:21-28
Beginning
Who holds authority in your life? In the end of any issue, what authority would you root your final decision?
Jesus’ Authority
Although it is the exorcism that usually attracts our attention, the authoritative quality of Jesus’ teaching is central to the story.
1. Authority over the demon
When Jesus rebuked the demon to come out of the man, the people said, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Jesus expels the demon with only a command, employing no incantations or ritual actions is illustrative that Jesus speaks and acts with authority, signifying that he speaks and acts directly for God.
Although there is only one unclean spirit in the man, it speaks of itself in the plural: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” This may represent that Jesus’ ministry is to encounter the whole demonic world. On this first day of his messianic activity, Jesus confronts head-on the forces that oppose him in a life-and-death struggle.
The demon’s identification of Jesus as “the Holy One of God” suggests that Jesus will have conflicts in cosmic proportions beginning with his own temptation testing in Mark 1:12-13.
2. Authority over the scribes
Verse 22 notes that the people in the synagogue are astounded because “he teaches as one with authority and not as the scribes.” The contrast with the teaching of the scribes does not yet issue in an explicit conflict, but it does prepare us for the scribes’ challenge to Jesus’ authority in the story of the healing of the paralytic (2:1-12). In this healing it is precisely Jesus’ acting on God’s behalf that becomes the issue.
Also, by Jesus taking upon himself the role of casting out the demon, he bypasses the Temple centered establishment, of which the scribes are a part that presides over the purity system.
3. Authority over lives
Jesus’ healings and exorcisms play a crucial role in defining the character of Jesus’ messiahship in Mark. Just as Jesus’ death will function as a ransom (10:45), the healings and exorcisms signify his power to liberate people from all that oppress them. The man with the unclean spirit would have been considered impure and thus forced to the margins of society. To release him from the demon was to restore him to his place in the community.
Thought for the Week
How might you begin to make decisions in life by acting on the authority of Jesus Christ? How might these decisions look differently when acting on the authority of Christ?