Daily Devotion – January 27, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Mark 1:21-28
1:21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.
1:22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
1:23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,
1:24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
1:25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
1:26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
1:27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching–with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
1:28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
How do we know when someone or something has authority? Webster defines authority as “power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.” Most Americans are in the habit of limiting others’ authority over us, and not believing just anything we hear. We like to think we control our own thought, opinions, and behaviors. “Don’t you tell me what to think or what to do!” we say.
Recently we have all been thinking about what people read or hear. In our multi-sided politics we know that some folks tend to be influenced by scientists or persons with university degrees, while others do not trust people bearing those labels and instead are influenced by individuals and groups who send out different kinds of messages. We are sometimes at a loss to know why “those people” on the side opposite to ours can believe what they believe. And the thing is, each of us is quite sure we are right.
So then we have this story in Mark 1 about Jesus of Nazareth, visiting Capernaum, and, on the sabbath, entering the synagogue and teaching. He is heard by the residents there, and they notice that Jesus has authority over the texts. He has the “power to influence or command thought or opinion.” And a little while later, when a demon speaks through one of their own neighbors, Jesus hears the demon and casts him out of the man, and the demon leaves. Jesus is seen by all as having the “power to influence or command behavior.” In Jesus’s presence the gathered persons are struck by his authority.
Mark says the gathered group was “astounded.” That sounds good. Jesus began gathering larger and larger crowds because the word about him spread. That may have also been the beginning of Jesus’s persecution by those who had “positional authority” over the Jews – the leaders of the church and the political state. Because anyone who is perceived to have authority becomes a threat to anyone else who already has authority. Power always rivals other power.
How does Jesus have authority over us? Do we ever let the power of the triune God come over us and usurp our own personal authority? Do we, like Samuel from some days ago, ever say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listing”? Do we watch for God’s action in the world and say, “God is using God’s authority here or there, and I want to be a part of that action”? If we are the Church, the Body of Christ in this world, we need to seek discernment of God’s movement. We follow our discernment with action as our proof of devotion to God’s authority. How do we do that right now? How might we do that?
Dear Lord, Thank you for loving us. Help us to notice your authority. Help us to work at discerning your call to us and to follow your call. Help us to be your body in this world, using the bodies you give us. Amen.
