With Certain Authority

“They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22)

What is the authority that Jesus offers in this situation? And not just in this situation—what is the authority that Mark is attributing to Jesus right at the beginning of his ministry? Because this passage is certainly about Jesus’ authority. The story of Jesus exorcising the unclean spirit is bracketed by observations about precisely that—Jesus’ authority.

They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22)

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." (Mark 1:27)

What was this authority?

My friend and I have a set of code words for the kind of authority that often engages contemporary Australian society. We call it the “brash young man syndrome”. It’s an authority that is often given to extrovert young men (and not so young men) who offer opinions with confidence. Sorry guys, it is predominantly males because most women who behave in the same way are treated quite differently. These certain men have very charismatic presences; and attract the loyalty of people who are seeking certainty, seeking reassurance, seeking the confidence that they need to face a difficult and messy world. We’re very prone to the syndrome in the church. We will often pick out “brash young men” over quiet ones or talented young women as potential leaders. We will see them as our great hope—the ones who will make everything different; the ones who will make us super-successful; the ones who will turn everything around and make everything right. The authority of the “brash young men” is a mesmerising authority—it is one that captures and captivates, dominates and manipulates. It is not one that frees and empowers. I do not believe that it was Jesus’ kind of authority.

Jesus’ authority is not a mesmerising authority that takes people in. It is not an authority that offers quick and easy solutions; or one that is content to deliver pronouncements without every putting anything of himself on the line. It is a recognisable authority; but is not a recognisable authority that ensures loyalty or commitment. It is just as likely to attract opposition and condemnation as it is to receive honours and accolades. It is a certain authority; and an authority of a certain kind.

This authority is a liberating authority, a freeing authority—a power that does dominate or seduce; one that opens up, empowers and sets free.

Liberation is the essence of the story of the exorcism of the unclean spirit by Jesus—liberation of a person; liberation of a spirit; and liberation of a synagogue; a personal liberation; a spiritual liberation; and a systemic liberation. This authority is an extensive one indeed—extensive and comprehensive; and it shows. This is a demonstration of certain authority and authority of a certain kind.

Theologian Walter Wink observes that the “language of power [and authority] pervades the whole New Testament” (Naming the Powers, p. 99). There is a cosmic struggle going on and Jesus is at the centre of it. Jesus’ certain authority and authority of a certain kind is an immense challenge to the authority of domination and manipulation. It is an authority that liberates, and liberates across the whole gamut of created life. Jesus’ authority liberates spiritually and personally, politically and systemically. It exposes the misuse and abuse in the powers and persons and systems of our world, and invites all of them, including us, to choose life.

For Wink,

despite its sober exposé of the Domination System, the New Testament is … free of gloom or quailing before the Powers! From beginning to end, there is only the note of victory [of a certain authority]—a victory in the unknown and open future, for the whole human race and the universe, and victory even now [the present moment], in the midst of struggle. There is an absolute and unshakeable confidence that the System of Domination has an end… (Engaging the Powers, p. 319)

Surely, this is the certain authority of Jesus’ teaching!

Jesus’ confidence that even socially conditioned and bewildered people can act freely to choose God’s reign is a consequence of God’s reign actually having drawn near in Jesus’ own acts and words. He brings a counterreality that makes choice possible, exorcises the old conditioning, and holds out to us a new world waiting to be claimed by us. And we can begin living that new reality now… (Engaging the Powers, p. 319)

Faith does not wait for God’s sovereignty to be established on earth; it behaves as if that sovereignty already holds sway… Like God in the creation, faith calls into being what does not yet exist, and races ahead to form something new that never was before. (pp. 323-324).

Jesus’ certain authority empowers us to act with authority of a certain kind as if the reign of God is fully present, as if all Creation is fully liberated, as if the dominating spiritual and personal and systemic powers do not and cannot hold any sway in our lives. It empowers us to act as the fully redeemed, fully free people of God.

… what we can become is much more wonderful than we ever imagined. The obstacle between us and god is not what is imperfect in us—the fragility, the truculence, the dithering lust and outbursts of rage [the seeming madness] (God can deal with all that)—but … [we believe] that we are unworthy of being loved, incapable of [real] greatness, people of little value, [little] power, [little authority] (Engaging the Powers, p. 319).

Jesus invites us to claim with confidence his authority—the authority that frees and liberates… everything—not just persons, but spiritual powers, not just spiritual powers, but systems and structures. And we can only do that by fully accepting and acting out of the liberating freedom that is offered to us.

"What is this? A new teaching--with authority!” Yes, and it is for us a people in need of liberation, a people hoping for reconciliation with God, a people wanting the power and authority that operates in our world to be freed itself—freed from domination and manipulation—freed for empowerment and liberation of everything and everyone for God’s purpose—relationship with God and with each other.

Here and Now!

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:14-15) 

This is the place and this is the time! Here and now God waits to break into our experience… (Adapted from Be Our Freedom, Lord, ed. by Terry Falla, p. 20.)

Now is the time!

After his baptism, Jesus begins his ministry in proclamation and the message is simple: “Now is the time! God is here! Turn around. Commit yourself to the good news!

It is meant to be like one of those big signs on the entrances to freeways which warn motorists that they may have erred: “Wrong way! Go back!” “Stop now and think about what you’re doing!”

It’s an ancient proclamation—one uttered by many prophets before—great prophets like Isaiah, weird prophets like Ezekiel, minor prophets like Zephaniah, and reluctant prophets like Jonah.

And it is a proclamation for all people everywhere, not just for the people of Israel—Jonah found that out!

The book of Jonah ends with a question, a question posed by God to Jonah: “Shouldn’t I be concerned about Nineveh too? Isn’t Nineveh part of my Creation too? Shouldn’t this message, this gift of insight be offered to all my people everywhere?”

That sign on the highway is there for everyone. “Wrong way! Go back!” “Stop! Turn around! Go back!” “Stop now and think about what you’re doing!”

It’s a strange message. It’s a very different message from most of the messages that surround us: “Bigger. Better. Best” “Faster. Higher. Stronger.” “More, more, more.”

“Stop! Turn around! Go back!” “Stop now and think about what you’re doing!”

We humans are very stupid creatures. We are always looking for the next big thing, the really great hope, the ultimate salvation; and all the time what we are looking for is right beside us, right among us, right between us. “Stop! Turn around! Go back!” “Stop now and think about what you’re doing!”

Go back to who you are and what you need to remember. Go back to first principles, back to basics, back to the foundations of the faith. You belong to God and nothing can change that. Hear this good news! Don’t go looking for fantastic dreams! God is in your midst, now! Stop! Turn around! And look at what is already here! “Stop now and think about what you’re doing!”

But it is not just the people of God who are called to repent, to turn around, to change their minds. In the prophetic books of the Hebrew Scripture, God also repents. God also changes God’s mind. Confronted by the reality of a people who recognise their God, God recognises them. The dance of recognition comes full circle. God recognises us. We recognise God. God recognises us. Here and now! Right now! “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15)

Here and now, God invites us into relationship, asking us to stop and think about what we’re doing, stop and know who we are, stop and recognise who God is; and understand that the future is now! Whatever we hope for, whatever we dream of is right here beside us, among us, around us. God is in our midst, inviting us to be in God.

It all seems too easy, doesn’t it?! Like Jonah thought God was being too easy on the Ninevites. There must be something we have to do; something we need to strive for; something that is required to earn this gift.

But that is precisely God’s point to Jonah: “Who are you to say who belongs to me or not? I am Creator, Redeemer and Give of Life. These people are my people; and I am their God.”

Who are we to question whether we are good enough for God; or whether the journey is too easy or too hard? God is God and we belong to God. We need to stop now and think about what we’re doing. We need to recognise God who is in our midst, not over the next horizon, or caught up in the next great plan. And maybe, just maybe in heeding the message, we will accept its hold on our lives. The time is fulfilled. God’s realm is here. All we asked to do is to stop, turn around and accept the good news.

We, the Baptised Ones

Baptism—it’s the word we use for the rite that sets new members of the church off on their journey in the Christian life. It is one of the church’s jargon words, but jargon words are actually important in helping us to understand who we are and what we are on about. Jargon words tell us about ourselves. They tell our story. Every community of people have their own jargon words, their own “in-words”, their own particular and peculiar ways of communicating big ideas with one another.

Think about your family conversations. When you were reminiscing with everyone at family gatherings over the Christmas/New Year period weren’t there occasions when someone just had to say a few words and everyone knew what you meant (and knew far more than what the words literally meant)?

In my extended family, we have a particular set of code words for family gatherings. That set of words is “the Grand-pa speech”. When someone says those words, we know that they are conveying the sentiment that my mother’s father always conveyed in a speech when we gathered as an extended family. The sentiment went something like this: “Isn’t it great for us as family all to be here and isn’t great to have each other as family!” Oh, the Grand-pa speech definitely went much longer than that, but these days, and now that Grand-pa isn’t around we usually get away with just saying “the Grand-pa speech”. Oh, it’s not that it’s not important to let other people in on the meaning of those words sometimes—children as they grow up; friends who might be visiting with us; new partners who might come into the family—but the explanation is not quite the same as just saying “the Grand-pa speech”. Those few brief words hold a lifetimes of family experiences.

Baptism is like that for the church, the people of the God, the communion of the Spirit, the body of Christ. Baptism tells us something about ourselves that we could try to explain in lots of words but still we would never quite explain enough. You have to be a part of the action to experience it and to understand it; and we have to keep reminding ourselves of that action and what that really means for us as God’s people.

In today’s readings, we have two references to Baptism. In the reading from Acts, the storyteller is distinguishing between the baptism of John the Baptist and the baptism into Jesus Christ. In the Gospel reading, we have the story of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan.

The word ‘baptism’ comes from the Greek word baptizo which means ‘to dip’ into water or liquid. A related word form, bapto, is used for dipping something into dye, and for drawing water. Baptizo may also mean ‘to cause to perish by drowning’. The imagery is vivid. It is about being immersed, about changing colour, about life and death. But, for the Christian church, Baptism is not about human life and death. It’s about Christian life! It’s about being born into the life of the body of Christ, the church.

Going under water and coming up signifies that a newly baptised person is incorporated into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The person may be immersed in water or have water poured over them. The meaning is still the same. From this time forward, the person is a member of the one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic church, the body of Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit, people of God.

The Uniting Church’s baptismal service puts it this way:

Baptism is Christ’s gift.
It is the sign by which the Spirit of God
joins people to Jesus Christ
and incorporates them into his body, the Church.

In his own baptism in the Jordan by John,
Jesus identified himself with humanity
in its brokenness and sin;
that baptism was completed in his death and resurrection.

By God’s grace,
baptism plunges us into the faith of Jesus Christ,
so that whatever is his may be called ours.

By water and the Spirit we are claimed as God’s own
and set free from the power of sin and death.

Thus, claimed by God
we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit
that we may live as witnesses to Jesus Christ,
share his ministry in the world and grow to maturity,
awaiting with hope the day of our Lord Jesus.
(‘The Meaning of Baptism’ from ‘The Sacrament of Baptism and the Reaffirmation of Baptism called Confirmation’ in Uniting in Worship 2, © 2005 The Uniting Church in Australia, p. 74) 

But even before Jesus and the Christian church, baptism (immersion in water) was used as a religious sign to indicate a major spiritual life change, a religious conversion, a dying to a former way of life and understanding and a rising to a new beginning. That’s why, in the Gospel reading for today we encounter the story of Jesus being baptised by John in the Jordan.
The story of Jesus’ baptism in the Gospel of Mark signifies a very important beginning—not just for Jesus, but for the people who follow him, as his body, the church. Jesus’ baptism signifies the beginning of Jesus’ intentional ministry for the sake of the world.

It is the ministry of Christ that we are incorporated into in our baptisms: the very life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism enfolds us into what God in Jesus, has accomplished and continually accomplishes for us. God in Jesus came into our world to overcome the power of sin and death in our lives and that that overcoming was accomplished in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. In a special way, the sign of baptism makes present the reality of God’s love and God’s gracious gift to us.

In the act of his baptism, Jesus is identified as the one into whom we are baptised, God’s chosen one. In our baptisms, God graciously calls us not just to new life, but also to new work in Jesus.

A request for baptism is a big thing for us. Baptism is a covenant made between God and the person being baptised. Baptism isn’t about our relationship with the human community; it’s about our relationship with God and God’s community. For this reason, we call Baptism a “sacrament”. It is one of two sacraments that we believe are God’s gifts to the church; the other is Eucharist or Holy Communion. Sacraments are about how the church, the people of God, is formed and shaped by God.

Being baptised is about being called to live an intentional Christian life, as part of a Christian community. Giving your allegiance to the Christian faith is about seeking to order your life according to Christian practice. That life and practice is one of worship, witness and service. Christians are called to meet regularly together to worship God. They are called to witness to their faith through their worship and in their daily lives. They are also called to serve people in the name and the way of Christ. Baptism is the beginning of our participation in the ministry of Christ… as Jesus’ baptism signified the beginning of his intentional ministry on our behalf. Australian Anglican priest, Janet Gaden, talks about baptism as the breaking of the waters, signifying that the “labour of giving birth has begun in earnest” (“The Waters of Birth”, Initiation in Australian Churches ed. By William Tabbernee, Victorian Council of Church, p. xiii).

Christian Educator, Debra Dean Murphy puts it this way:

Baptism… confers an identity at odds with the ways we are named and claimed by family, nation and ideology. Baptism is the constitution of a new people whose prior loyalties and allegiances are exposed, named, and radically reconfigured. (Teaching That Transforms: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education, Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004)

Through Baptism, God claims us as God’s own for God’s mission in the world. Baptism is about beginnings—new beginnings in God as the people of God engaged in God’s work. This is who we are. This is what we’re on about. And the act of Baptism tells us about the depth of what our new relationship with God means far better than any long explanation might do. But in order to understand, you have to be involved, you have to experience it, you have to live out your Baptism as God’s people, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ.