By definition, authority is “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.” In a democracy like the US, we both respect and hold in suspicion those “in authority.” We are fond of our independence and are inclined to argue, perhaps behind closed doors, with those who give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. At the same time, we value expert opinions and respect leaders who lead with integrity. But authority does not necessarily stem from expertise or integrity, just the legitimacy of a particular office. The people of Capernaum, a small town in Israel, circa 30 of the common era were not so different from us in this regard.
While Jesus teaches in the synagogue in Capernaum, a man with an unclean spirit cries out to him, the unclean spirit speaking: Have you come to destroy us? When Jesus commands the unclean spirit to leave the man, it does, and the people gathered in the synagogue are amazed at Jesus’ authority to cast out unclean spirits. Jesus’ authority stands in sharp contrast with the authority of the scribes. Mark tells us: “For Jesus taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
The Jewish religious institution of the first century grants authority to the scribes. In a largely illiterate world, the scribes are learned men, literate men, faithful men who read and interpret Jewish scripture. In the local synagogue in Capernaum, they exercise authority, teaching the law, preserving the religious traditions, and guiding their community in following the rigorous purity and food customs.
From the perspective of the scribes and all those gathered in Capernaum’s synagogue, Jesus at first glance holds no authority. He is like everyone else, a faithful Jewish man but unremarkable. When he begins to teach and then ousts the unclean spirit, all are amazed by his authority. All in the synagogue recognize Jesus’ authority even though they cannot pinpoint its source. Two thousand years later, we know that Jesus teaches and heals with the authority of the almighty God. While the scribes use their authority to enforce obedience to Jewish law and Jewish tradition, Jesus uses his authority to free a man from an unclean spirit, to liberate him from a power destroying his life, to restore relationships between this man, his family, and his community.
The authority Jesus harnesses, the very authority of God, has nothing to do with laws, traditions, or customs. He does not spend the short time he has on Earth occupied with maintaining the status quo and keeping people in line. Now, throughout his ministry, Jesus quotes Old Testament law—and not to quarrel with it. He teaches the people to love God and their neighbor as themselves—which is a law found in Deuteronomy. He invites the masses who follow him to live the law, not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law. So that justice is done. So that relationships are restored. So that forgiveness becomes the norm. While Jesus certainly loves God, neighbor, and self, he does not spend his time making sure everyone else follows the law. Instead, he uses his authority to free people from illness, from sin, from unclean spirits, from despair, from hunger. Jesus uses his authority to free people from all that binds them, from all that would destroy their lives.
We who follow Jesus may believe that religion means rules like: no dancing, no drinking, no swearing. We may have been taught that to be religious is to follow biblical law. We may see our walk with God as morals to live by. My friends in Christ, the One whom we follow had every respect for religious law but spent his time freeing people from all that bound them. Jesus exercises authority in our lives not through demands or orders but by freeing us. From what has Christ freed you? When Jesus releases the man of the unclean spirit, we learn Jesus’ authority to free not only this man but us. We are free, free from the opinions of others, free from values that don’t resonate with us, free from all that destroys our lives, whether substances or materialism or shame. We are not bound even by the law of our gracious God. But let us use our freedom to love and serve God and our neighbor. Now that sin has no power over us, now that we’ve left behind our “should”s and “ought”s, let us use our freedom to love and serve God and our neighbor. We don’t have to follow the law of love; we get to follow the law of love.
A dear friend of mine recently received her first Covid-19 vaccine shot. Her young son has a chronic disease, so she has been incredibly careful to shield him from exposure to Covid, including quitting her job and getting a new one that allows her to work from home. She wrote me: “I don’t even know what I will do with myself once I am fully vaccinated. It’s great to have options again.” My friend is probably not alone in feeling bound by this time of pandemic—and likely not alone in wondering how she will use her freedom once she is vaccinated. The restrictions of the pandemic have given us an opportunity to consider freedom anew. For us in the US, freedom so deeply shapes our lives, we may not even realize how much freedom we enjoy. And now that our freedom has come into relief—both mundane freedoms related to travel and social interaction as well as spiritual freedom from guilt, shame, sin, despair, and the like—now that our freedom has come into relief, how will we use our freedom?
In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul writes of the freedom we see Jesus gift the man with an unclean spirit. Paul writes: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Thanks be to God! Amen.