Dear
Friends in Christ,
It
is a clear difference most if not all of us have experienced. It is the
difference between one person speaking with authority and a group of people
mulling over their various opinions. The single speaker holds forth with
confidence in knowledge, and convictionof purpose. The group discusses a
variety of takes on the subject, and offers several possible conclusions. If
you are like me, the one who speaks with authoritymakes the greater impression.
We see just this difference in the synagogue
at Capernaum in Galilee. One spoke with authority as opposed to the customary groupthink.
Jesus’ teaching was “new” to the Galilean Jews;new not chronologically
but in quality. Their Savior made quite a better impression on the people than
the “teachers of the law.”Jesus’ authority amazed them.
There is our theme. A New Teaching-And with Authority. Jesus brought authority into the
synagogue at Capernaum. Jesus’ authority worked immediate results.
Our Savior did his work of teaching first
thing in his public ministry. Jesus was in the northern province of Galilee
where earlier he had called the four fishermen from their boats and nets to “Come,
follow me.” One Sabbath he went into the synagogue at Capernaum. There he
began to teach the people. Normally, the Scribes, or “teachers of the law”
would interpret the Scriptures for the people and teach them.
What the Scribes had been teaching the people
was a man-made legalistic misinterpretation of God’s Word. They emphasized outward
and narrow obedience. They argued about the smallest details and always
followed the letter of the law. Their teachings were human customs and the
antithesis of the gospel of love and forgiveness through the Messiah.
This
was beginning of three years of conflict between the teachers of the law and
Jesus. The Scribes were Jesus’ enemies throughout his ministry. They condemned him for
eating with sinners. They accused Jesus of blasphemy because he told the
paralyzed young man, “Your sins are forgiven.” They hated him for
exposing their hypocrisy. They were instrumental in the final push that,
humanly speaking, sent our Lord to his cross.
In opposition to the teachers of the law,
Jesus came with a new teaching-and with authority. Jesus spoke Words filled
with God’s power. He taught the people love and forgiveness that came through
God’s love and forgiveness for them.
Jesus held out to them the Word of life; spiritual life and eternal life
in him. Jesus taught the people law and gospel in their right meaning and
application.
Jesus brought authority into the synagogue at
Capernaum. He came to show that he is different, sent from God. Jesus’ new teaching-and with authority worked
immediate results.
These
results were unmistakable evidence that he is the Son of God, the long expected
Messiah.
The
Holy Spirit touched the people’s hearts through Jesus’ words and “the people
were amazed at his teaching.”Jesus words moved them, took them aback
because Jesus’ teaching was so different and greater than what the Scribes had
taught them. This teaching was from God and not from men. The Holy Spirit
worked in their hearts with the power only he wields. They asked each other, “What
is this?”
We
hear the same thing after Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. “When Jesus
had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
because he taught as one with authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
[Mt. 7:29]
Haven’t
you experienced this power? Haven’t you felt the authority of God’s Word? Aren’t
you amazed that God loved you and sent Jesus to save you? The Holy Spirit has
moved our hearts to know love and forgiveness in Christ. Jesus’ authority in
his Word has created faith One of the
ways we know the Bible is God’s Word is that it has worked in us the very thing
it is meant for, to reveal Jesus Christ as our Savior and move us to follow him
like those Galilean fishermen. The authority of God’s Word has led you to a
spiritual application of the law rather than a mere outward set of rules by
which to be holy in God’s sight.
Jesus,
our Perfect Prophet, continues to teach with authority through God’s Word as
opposed to the groupthink of human misinterpretations and foggy applications of
the Bible. Jesus’ words of authority, this new teaching of greater quality than
the falsehoods of men, continues to amaze us.
Jesus’ word of authority also manifested
itself as it drove out the evil spirits from a man in the synagogue where our
Savior was teaching. Note the back and forth between singular and plural
pronouns, “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.” Demons usually
possessed someone in number. They knew Jesus had come to destroy them.
Jesus used his teaching authority to silence
the unclean spirits. They had nothing in common with Jesus, and fully expected
what they got. They had to obey God’s Word, so with a final violent shake of
the man “came out of him with a shriek.” The people saw Jesus’ authority
work immediate results.
We see a similarity here to the miracle I
earlier mentioned. The teachers of the law accused Jesus’ of blasphemy when he
told the young man that his sins were forgiven. They questioned Jesus’
authority. To show his authority to forgive sins, Jesus enabled the man to pick
up his mat and walk.
In
this case, Jesus not only taught with authority that amazed them but did a
visible miracle that amazed them. “Who is this? A new teaching and with
authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”
Jesus’
word of authority has defeated all unclean spirits. His word has destroyed
Satan’s power so we no longer are slaves to temptation and sin. Certainly the
one whom unclean spirits must obey is our Epiphany Savior.
Epiphany
is revelation. This day in the Capernaum synagogue was all about the revelation
of Jesus as the Christ.We echo the people’s reaction. Amazing.A new teaching
and with authority. Amen. <SDG>