"With Authority" (Mark 1:21-27)

If the story of Jesus were to take place today, where do you think it would be located? Where would you start telling this story? Would you start at someplace important? At the Vatican? At some denominational headquarters? At the White House or United Nations? After all, these are the places of power and authority in our world.

But Mark’s gospel begins in a place you might not expect. It’s not the synagogue; it’s not the temple; it’s not the palace… It’s not anyplace that represents established authority.

The story begins as far away from the establishment as possible, way out in the wilderness, where a far-from-the-mainstream preacher known as John the baptizer was proclaiming a baptism of repentance, a baptism of a new beginning, a baptism of turning away from the established order and embracing an alterative way of living.

Jesus of Nazareth then appears for the first time in Mark’s gospel, to be baptized by John. In doing so, Jesus affirms for himself that this new, alternative way is his way… and the voice of God voices its approval.

Then the Spirit drives Jesus even further into the wilderness, where he spends forty days. When he returns, he himself begins proclaiming the news about this alternative way of living, which he calls life in the kingdom of God; and he calls people to repent, to turn away from the mainstream way of living, and begin living in the kingdom of God.

And then he arrives at the synagogue, the place of authority, the place of the establishment… and begins teaching there his message of repentance and living in the kingdom.

The crowds in the synagogue were blown away by what he said. These people had been coming to the synagogue day after day, week after week, year after year… and NEVER had they heard anyone teach the way Jesus taught. NEVER had they been so convicted of the truth of message they were hearing. NEVER had they recognized such authority in one of their religious leaders.

I have to admit, I do kind of feel sorry for the scribes, the teachers who had been teaching in the synagogue forever and ever. Every preacher worries, just a little, that the guest preacher will be liked better than the regular preacher who has been there for many years…

That certainly seems to be the case here; Jesus “blows away” the congregation, because he taught in a way that was so much better than their normal teachers and preachers.

But it wasn’t because Jesus was new and different; it wasn’t because he was young and full of life; it wasn’t because he was good-looking, with a fantastic Gilderoy-Lockhart-smile.

It was because Jesus taught them as one having authority.

Have you ever wondered what it means: “he taught as one with authority”? I have.

Does it mean Jesus came with a badge, like a policeman’s badge, showing that he and his message were officially approved?

No. Quite the opposite, really. Jesus had no official approval.

It was the scribes who had that official approval. They, and the high priests, and the Pharisees. Those who were the leaders of the established church taught and led the people with the official approval of the state, the official approval of Herod and Caesar and the Roman Empire.

Walk in to their office, and you’ll see, hanging on the wall, the seminary diploma and the ordination certificate, and you’d know they had authority.

But no; scripture says that it was Jesus who taught with authority. Apparently, scripture defines authority a little differently. And judging from the changes in society today, it seems that we, too, are learning to judge authority differently.

It’s no longer enough to have certificates hanging on the wall. For emerging generations today, that is no longer a sign of one’s authority. Emerging generations today want to see someone living an authentic life.

Authority doesn’t come from having diplomas and certificates; authority comes from living an authentic life.

This kind of authority is accessible to anyone. For the scribes and other religious leaders, what good were seminary and ordination certificates if one wasn’t living authentically?

Now you may wonder, “Why didn’t they live authentically?” Here’s why…

The temple in Jerusalem was built by Herod. The Roman Empire tolerated the Jewish faith, and even encouraged it, because it saw the temple and established religion as a way to keep the Jews in line. If Herod could control the message given out by the temple, then he could control the people.

Herod gave significant amounts of power, influence, and wealth to the leaders of the established religion. In a world where most people struggled just to survive, the scribes and other religious leaders were well taken care of.

If you were in their position, would you dare teach anything that challenged Herod, or threatened the Roman way of life?

Probably not. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

It makes me feel sorry for these religious leaders. They had to guard carefully what they said, to be sure that it wasn’t upsetting to the Roman leaders.

They had to compromise their message. They had to teach the official, state-approved religion, rather than what they knew in the deepest levels of their soul to be true.

This kept them from living fully authentic lives.

And perhaps they had been doing this for so long, ignoring those deeper truths for so long, that they all but forgot about those deeper truths.

I suspect it still gnawed at them. It takes a lot of effort to keep submerged and hidden that truth that wants to come to the surface. It’s exhausting. To live and speak in such a way that contradicts some of your most deeply-held beliefs… it wears you out.

And, it keeps you from being authentic. It keeps you from having real authority.

I sympathize with the scribes. I know too well how challenging it is to actually live out one’s deepest beliefs completely and wholly. Every day we all compromise our beliefs.

I don’t know about you, but here are some of the compromises I make, many on a daily basis:

I believe in clean energy and taking care of the environment… yet I still use a gas-powered car for transportation.

I believe in supporting locally-owned businesses because they create better communities… yet sometimes I can’t pass up the low prices at the box stores.

I believe people who are down and out should be treated with kindness… yet I often walk past beggars without even acknowledging them.

I believe Jesus calls us to nonviolence… yet I dutifully pay my taxes, half of which is spent on preparations for war.

I believe in living simply, for my sake as well as the planet’s sake… yet I continue to clutter my life with more possessions and gadgets than I need or even want.

Deep down, in the heart of my soul, I know that life would be so much better if I focused less on the things society tells me I need, and more on the things God tells me I need.

There is a disconnect between what I know in the deepest level of my being, and how I live and act in the real world.

And yes, that makes me a hypocrite. It undermines my authority. It compromises my integrity. I only hope that my efforts to improve, and my honesty about my shortcomings, can help me as I journey on the path to authentic living.

Jesus had no disconnect. He never lacked integrity. He never said something because people expected him to say it, and he never kept quiet just because he was expected to keep quiet. He always spoke the truth. With kindness, he always spoke the truth.

Frank Thomas, who I spent some time with during the Pastor’s Summit that preceeded last week’s Regional Gathering, says in his book The Choice that speaking with authority is “not simply a matter of style and form but a matter of belief and conviction.” To speak with authority, to live with integrity, you have to first know what is true. You have to get in touch with those deeply held beliefs and convictions… You can’t live by what is true if you don’t know what is true.

That might not be easy, if you’ve been supressing those beliefs and silencing those convictions. It may have been a long time since you’ve paid attention to truths that you’ve buried so far down. That wisdom has been suppressed for so long, you may have forgotten it was there. The expectations of society and culture are pervasive, and all but drown out those alternatives ideas that we know, deep down, to be true.

So you have to spend some time searching your whole being, bringing into awareness that knowledge that is within you. You need to spend some time away from all the messages of society, away from the news media, away from your laptops and cell phones and social media.  You need to spend time in prayer and reflection, do some soul-searching, some self-evaluation.

Is it any wonder that Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness before he began teaching? It took him forty days to get in touch with the wisdom that was within him, to raise it up from the unlit levels of the mind, bring it to the surface, and get a grip on it.

Our world provides very few opportunities like that, opportunities for us to get in touch with the wisdom within us.

You ever wonder why some of your best ideas come as you’re falling asleep, or in the shower, or – let’s be honest – sitting on the toilet? For some of us, those are the only times when we’re likely to be away from the voices of the world, the voices of society; the voices of the media. Those are the only times when we are left with only our own voices, the inner voice that speaks to us in whispers, in sighs too deep for words.

Listen to that voice. It is the voice of wisdom. It is the voice of the Spirit within you. It reveals to you what your heart knows to be true, the truth that will set you free, if you allow it to; the truth that will challenge you by helping you see the disconnect between what you believe and how you live.

Once you get a grip on that truth, that wisdom… then you’ll know: it’s time to change. Once you realize that there are parts of your life that aren’t in line with what you deeply believe to be true, it’s time to change.

That’s repentance….That’s repentance.

Repentance is discovering what is true, and then re-orienting your life so that it lines up with what you know is true.

Which brings us back to the message Jesus taught in the synagogue. He said, “the kingdom of God is alive and present; repent! Repent! And believe this good news.”

And the crowd, recognizing in him an authority that was lacking in the scribes, was blown away.