WE HAVE ALL DEALT WITH AUTHORITY FIGURES IN OUR LIFE. SOME WE SEE AS NOTHING BUT PAPER TIGERS WHO HAVE INFLATED THE VIEW OF THEMSELVES, BUT WITH NO REAL AUTHORITY TO GET ANYTHING DONE. IN OUR TEXTS FOR TODAY THE WRITERS ALL POINT TO THE PERSON THE LORD WILL SEND WHO WILL HAVE UNDISPUTED AUTHORITY TO SPEAK FOR GOD, THAT PERSON, AS WE SEE IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK, IS JESUS. THOSE WHO ENCOUNTERED JESUS WERE SOMETIMES QUITE SURPRISED BY HIS ABILITY TO TAKE OLD TEACHINGS AND MAKE THEM COME ALIVE. WITH NEW RELEVANCY. REAL AUTHORITY IS ABLE TO CUT THROUGH RED TAPE AND GET THINGS DONE, AND JESUS THROUGH HIS AUTHORITY OVER SIN AND DEATH, HAS DONE EXACTLY THAT. HE HAS SWEPT AWAY EVERY IMPEDIMENT THAT WAS IN THE WAY AND HAS GIVEN US THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS, WHOLENESS, AND THE PROMISE OF EVERLASTING LIFE.
AS CHRISTIANS WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD, WHICH IS SCRIPTURE; THE SPOKEN WHICH IS THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL; AND THE WORD MADE FLESH, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.
JOHN GIVES PERFECT TESTIMONY TO THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF THE WORD WHEN HE WRITES: "IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. ALL THINGS CAME INTO BEING THROUGH HIM, AND WITHOUT HIM NOT ONE THING CAME INTO BEING.
WHAT HAS COME INTO BEING IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE. THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS DID NOT OVERCOME IT" ( JOHN 1:1-5).
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 HAS AUTHORITY, NOT AS 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 ISRAEL. (JESUS IS NOT GOING TO WAIT FOREVER ISRAEL).
"BE QUIET" SAID JESUS STERNLY. " COME OUT OF HIM" THE EVIL SPIRIT SHOOK THE MAN VIOLENTLY AND CAME OUT OF HIM WITH A SHRIEK. THE PEOPLE WERE ALL SO AMAZED THAT THEY ASKED EACH OTHER, " WHAT IS THIS TEACHING? A NEW TEACHING- AND WITH AUTHORITY! HE EVENS GIVES ORDERS TO EVIL SPIRITS AND THEY OBEY HIM. NEWS ABOUT HIM SPREAD QUICKLY OVER THE WHOLE REGION OF GALILEE. JOHN TELLS US THAT AFTER PERFORMING HIS FIRST MIRACLE IN CANA OF GALILEE TOGETHER WITH HIS MOTHER AND BROTHERS MOVED TO CAPERNAUM, IT'S SITUATION ON THE SHORE OF TE SEA OF GALILEE AND THE INTERSECTION OF SEVERAL IMPORTANT TRADES ROUTES MADE CAPERNAUM AN IDEAL BASE. FOR CARRYING THE GOSPEL INTO THE REGION OF GALILEE AND BEYOND. BESID
ES, CAPERNAUM WAS ALSO THE HOME OF ZEBEDEE AND HIS SONS. JAMES, JOHN, AND THE HOME OF PETER, WHOSE MOTHER-LAW- WAS LIVING WITH THEM.
ON THE SABBATH FOLLOWING THEIR SELECTION TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN, PETER, JAMES, JOHN, ANDREW, TOGETHER WITH JESUS ATTENDED THE SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. SINCE SYNAGOGUES HAD NO RESIDENT ORDAINED MINISTERS, THE RULERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE WOULD INVITE SOME RABBI (TEACHER) OR SCRIBE PRESENT TO TEACH THE LESSON. SO IT HAPPENED THAT JESUS WAS OFTEN INVITED
TO ADDRESS THE CONGREGATION. WHAT JESUS SPECIFIC MESSAGE WAS ON THIS PARTICULAR SABBATH MARK DOES NOT TELL US, BUT HE DOES TELL US ABOUT THE IMPRESSION HIS PREACHING MADE ON THE WORSHIPERS. THEY WERE AMAZED. JESUS DID NOT TEACH AS THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW DID. THEY ALWAYS APPEALED TO THE INTERPRETATION OF PAST RABBIS. JESUS IN.STEAD ALWAYS PROCLAIMED THE GOSPEL OF GOD. HE QUOTED NO EXPERTS, BUT PROCLAIMED THE GOOD NEWS ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY. THIS WAS ONE FIRST LESSONS THE DISCIPLES HAD TO LEARN, NAMELY, THAT CHRIST IS MORE THAN JUST A WISE TEACHER OR A MODEL TO PATTERN OUR LIVES AFTER. IT WAS THE DEVIL WHO CAUSED A MAN IN THAT SYNAGOGUE TO CRY OUT AGAINST JESUS. THE D
EVIL KNEW, THAT CHRIST IS THE FINAL AUTHORITY. HE IS THE ONE THROUGH WORD AND DEED REVEALS TO US THE UNDESERVED LOVE OF GOD FOR SINNERS INCORPORATED IN HIS OWN PERSON. HOWEVER SATAN AND THE EVIL SPIRIT WHICH POSSESSED THE MAN KNEW WHO JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS AND WHAT HIS PURPOSE WAS. THEY KNEW HE WAS THE SON OF GOD AND THAT HE HAD COME TO DESTROY SATAN HOLD OVER MANKIND. WITH HIS WORD"SATAN REVEALED HIMSELF WISER THAN MANY THEOLOGIANS. THIS KNOWLEDGE DID HIM NO SPIRITUAL GOOD. IT ONLY FILLED HIM
WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING. HE KNEW HE FACED HELL AND THE GOSPEL WAS NOT MEANT FOR HIM. OUR LORD HAD COMPASSION ON THE MAN POSSESSED BY THE EVIL SPIRIT," THE LORD COMMANDED WITH A SIMPLE COMMAND " COME OUT OF HIM, AND THE SPIRIT HAD TO OBEY.; JESUS WAS LORD. JESUS THE HOLY ONE OF GOD, POINTS TO THE SCRIPTURES AND TESTIFIES : YOUR WORD IS TRUTH." NEWS WAS MADE THAT DAY. SO AT THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY, THE CLUE TO ITS ASTONISHING HISTORY AND PERSISTENT POWER WE FIND A CONTRAST. A CONTRAST IS THAT BETWEEN, A TRANSFORMATION IS THAT OF MANS LIMITED NATURE. THE LIFE BEFORE CALVARY IS THE PASSION, THE GREAT GESTURE OF CHARITY IN WHICH ST. JOHN SAYS "WE KNOW LOVE." THAT MARKS THE TRANSITION AND MAN IS POSSESSED OF A MYSTERIOUS POWER AND FREEDOM.
A FRESH KIND OF LIFE, SPENDING THIS LIFE WITHIN OUR EVERYDAY EXISTENCE
TO SERVE AND SAVE MEN. THOSE WHO GIVE THEMSELVES TO THIS LIFE OF THE SPIRIT ARE BOUGHT, BIT BY IT, AS THEY CAN BEAR IT AND RESPOND TO IT. THEY ARE FACED BY THE DEMAND OF COMPLETE SURRENDER, AN ACT OF UNCONDITIONAL TRUST FROM THIS WORLD, GOD WILL SEPARATE YOU FROM THIS WORLD. WHEN YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE LORD, YOU LIVE A BETTER LIFE. ONLY THOSE WHO ARE GENEROUS UP TO THE LIMITS OF SELF-LOSS CAN HOPE TO BECOME CHANNELS OF THE GENEROSITY OF GOD. SO THE CROSS WHICH IS THE PERFECT SYMBOL OF GENEROUS SACRIFICE. HE WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED- ROSE AGAIN AND ASCENDED. AS DYING AND BEHOLD WE LIVE, DEATH AND LIFE IN AWFUL COMBAT. AN
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