“The Authority of Jesus”
Mark 1:21-28
2/1/09
Like it or not, we all live under someone
else’s authority. Whether it’s your parents,
grandparents, teachers, or the police, you can always find someone who
has both the right to tell you what to do and the power to enforce your
obedience with threats of punishment, which they are more than capable
of carrying out. For this reason, many people hate those who have
authority over them and want to rebel against them. To add to the
problem, earthly authorities often abuse their powers. Human
authorities are, after all, infected with sin. And so we hear of
abusive parents, crooked police, and corrupt governments and governors.
Unfortunately, the way we look at human authorities
carries over to the way we look at Jesus and His authority. If
authority is a control word for us, if it simply means the power to
enforce good behavior and to punish bad behavior, then we are going to
see Jesus as nothing more than a morality police officer. What He
says, you must do, no questions asked, or else! He has the power
to throw you in hell, and He’ll do it, if you don’t obey
Him. And in today’s Gospel text, this is the kind of
authority Jesus displays, but He displays it against the demons.
Jesus speaks to them with an authority that makes demands which must be
obeyed. Jesus commands, and the demons have no choice but to
submit. They are told to leave the man that they have taken
possession of, and they must go. They recognize Jesus’
authority. They know who He is - the Holy One of God - and they
know that He has the power to destroy them. His authority trumps
theirs, and they are forced to leave.
This is a great comfort for us, because it means the
demons are a defeated enemy. Though they attack and oppress us,
they must submit to the authority of Jesus, who with His Word drives
them out and will someday cast them into the lake of fire. But
what about Jesus? He’s stronger, more powerful than the
demons. But what if He’s our enemy? Does He use the
same kind of authority on us? If that’s the case, then
we’re just as doomed as the demons are, because we’re in
league with them on account of our sin. With one word Jesus could
send us to hell, and rightly so, since we have disobeyed every one of
His commands. What does Jesus’ authority mean for us?
We have to move beyond our understanding of
authority as merely the power to enforce rules and to punish
misbehavior. Authority means having the right to do
something. The police, for example, have the right, given to them
by the city and the state, to enforce the law. Jesus, however,
has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. His right to
do trumps all others’ right to do. With the right that
Jesus has been given by the Father, He can do anything. But what
He can do and what He does do are two different things. He could
sentence you to hell, as He does the demons, but He
doesn’t. He has the authority to condemn you, but instead
He uses it to do something else. He uses it to die for you on the
cross, to rise again from the dead, and to proclaim the forgiveness of
sins to you. As He Himself says, “I have authority to lay
[my life] down, and I have authority to take it up again. This
command I have received from my Father.”
But how could Jesus’ authority be given to
Him? As God, authority was His from eternity; it had never been
given to Him. As Man, however, this authority was conferred upon
Him by the Father at His Baptism where He was anointed by the Holy
Spirit to carry out His office as the Messiah. Jesus’
authority was no controlling, manipulative, oppressing authority, but
the authority to be the Savior of the world. His authority was
not asserted in His putting Himself over people, but in putting Himself
under people as the servant of all, in order to save us from the
usurping authorities of sin, death, and the devil.
Jesus’ authority was His authority to preach
and teach, His authority to forgive sins, His authority to cast out
demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, His authority to die on the
cross, to rise again from the dead, and to judge the living and the
dead. It includes His authority to give us the authority to
become sons of God, to feed us on His body and blood, to make us
fishers of men, to preserve us in the faith, and to raise us from the
dead.
Jesus has the authority to preach and to
teach. His words are the words of the Bible and they are preached
by faithful pastors. Jesus’ words are God’s words,
and as God’s words they carry God’s authority - they do
what they say; they do what God sends them out to do. His words
speak both Law and Gospel. His words subdue all false words and
reveal them as the lies that they are. Jesus’ words have
authority over man’s words. Man’s words will not
last; Jesus’ words will remain for all eternity.
Man’s words fail; Jesus’ words never fail. Every man
is a liar; Jesus is the Truth. You can trust His words.
With His words Jesus forgives your sins. Jesus
has the authority to forgive sins. He told a crippled man one day
that his sins were forgiven. Some scribes were there and
concluded that Jesus was blaspheming. “Who can forgive sins
but God alone?” they asked. But Jesus showed that He had
this authority by asking the scribes which was easier - to say to the
crippled man that his sins were forgiven or to tell him to rise, take
up his bed and walk. “’But that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ [Jesus] said
to the [crippled man], “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and
go home.’ And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and
went out.” Jesus showed that His words carry God’s
authority, so that just as His words healed the crippled man, so His
words also forgave his sins. And now when you hear me, your
pastor, speak the words of the Lord’s forgiveness by the
authority He has connected to this holy ministry, you can know for
certain that your sins are forgiven too, just as if Jesus Himself were
speaking to you.
With these loosing words of forgiveness, Jesus
looses you from the devil and all evil. He showed He had this
authority by casting out demons, healing the sick, and raising the
dead. It may appear to us sometimes that these authorities are
invincible; they always seem to have the last word. But their
authority has been taken away from them by Jesus, who overcame them
through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the
dead. Our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus, and there He
made a public spectacle of our enemies, putting them to shame,
triumphing over them with His cross. At the cross of Jesus the
authority of sin and the devil was broken. And at the
resurrection of Jesus the authority of death was broken.
The authorities of sin, death, and the devil were
broken, because Jesus had the authority both to lay down His life and
to take it up again. This is the ultimate authority, the
authority that God in the flesh had to give His life for the salvation
of the world. If you ever want to know what it looks like to have
authority, look to your Savior, Jesus and how He practiced His
authority. It was an authority to give Himself into death for
you, an authority that came not to be served but to serve, an authority
to give His life as the ransom for many and to rise again from the dead
on the third day. With this authority Jesus has conquered all
abusive and usurping authorities.
Now, by His authority He has given you authority to
become children of God. With the authority of His Name and His
promises connected to your Baptism, Jesus has cleansed you from all
your sins and clothed you with His righteousness. By the
authority of His words connected to the bread and the wine in His Holy
Supper He gives you His body and blood to eat and to drink, which by
His authority gives you the forgiveness of your sins, life, and
salvation. By His authority Jesus has made you fishers of men
with the authority to be salt and light in this world, so that you
might tell others about Jesus crucified and risen for their
salvation. By His authority He will keep you in the faith into
which you were baptized and raise you from the dead on the last day,
and by His authority He will judge the living and the dead, taking all
those who believe in Him with Him into His heavenly kingdom.
By His authority Jesus has conquered all abusive and
usurping authorities and has given His authority to you. In Him
you have authority over all authorities that would try to keep you from
Him. Now, it’s just as the Apostle Paul says:
“neither death nor life, nor angels nor authorities nor things
present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything
else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The authority of Jesus means
salvation for you. Amen.