“Authority” is a dirty word. We don't like it. We don't trust it. We don't want to have anything to do with it.
You just have to say the word and It makes us think thoughts of domination. Oppression. Even lies & mistrust. If I were to yell out, “The authorities are coming.” and our first instinct would be to run away. At the very lest it might raise our blood pressure a bit.
We don't like authority. We don't trust those who have it or those who want it. We all have a natural impulse to get out from under someone else's authority. For the most part, we think of authority as something to be feared and something to be avoided.
How strange then that the thing setting apart our savior, as He begins his ministry of teaching, is that he does so “with authority”. In our text, the people remark that Jesus is not like the other teachers. He is not like the scribes, the pharisees, the temple rulers. Jesus is a teacher, for that matter, Jesus is a god who has authority.
And for you and me, we have a problem with authority.
We would like to say that it's not our fault. We would like to say that we can't help it, that we are victims of our environment and culture. After all, nobody likes authority. Nobody likes to be told what to do. This past week, President Obama gave his state of the union address. How many of you liked what he had to say? Likely there are those of you who did not. Perhaps you did not trust him, perhaps you thought him to be disingenuous in his words. And for those did like the speech and do approve of the president, the chances are good that you did not trust the words of our previous president. Maybe you don't trust any president. It would be only natural. After all, we don't like authority. We call police officers pigs. We call our Fathers “the old man”, we call our spouses “the old ball and chain”. We call our employers, we call corporate America “the Man”. Meanwhile we celebrate those who disobey authority. We think of them as heroes. The movie Avatar, the highest grossing movie ever that has already won a golden globe and is favored for an Oscar is about a soldier who breaks rank with the military in order to fight on the side of the native people of a far away world. The soldier who disobeys authority is the hero! The guy we are supposed to root for. Even the guy the film portrays on the moral high road. Yes. You and me, every single person on the planet – we've got a problem with authority. And that means, we've got a problem with Jesus.
We've got a problem with Jesus because Jesus has authority. When Jesus came, he came with authority. Everyone realized it and everyone knew it. The crowds knew it. They said as much in our text - “what is this teaching? Where does it come from? This guy has words we haven't heard before and we are perplexed by it because these word are words of authority.”
the disciples also realized it. After all, when He commanded them to leave behind their entire lives – everything; their families, their jobs, their homes, their plans, their past and their future – they did. Jesus commanded them to follow and they get up and they followed.
The pharisees realized it. After all, they perceived him to be a threat to their own authority. They were set off guard. They were uncomfortable with his authority, they even came to despise his authority. So much that they plotted to get rid of him and his authority.
Even the devils and demons recognized his authority. When Jesus commanded them to leave those they possessed, when Jesus commanded them to shut up and be silent, they obeyed. At Jesus' command, they released those they had enslaved, without even a scratch.
And so Jesus, the Son of God, came with God's authority. And the world did what the world has always done – they cut him down. Isn't that what you are supposed to do? Isn't that what we believe? Kingdoms are made to topple. Rules are meant to be broken, authorities are meant to be challenged. And so Jesus the Son of God who came with God's authority to bring near God's kingdom was crucified. He was arrested, beaten, stripped naked and shamed so that the world could show him who's boss.
But there was a fly in that ointment, a fatal flaw in the plan. There was a rule in the game that they hadn't quite counted on. This one who came with authority, this one they did not understand and could not comprehend – his authority was not just over the living. His authority extended even into death. The had forgotten, perhaps they never knew; that this one whom they hated and despised and killed, this one who possessed such authority would come as the judge; and not just of the living but also of the dead.
You see, death is final for us, for us it is the end, for us it is the great equalizer and the final arbiter of justice. But not for him. He was Lord and not just of the living he was Lord even of the dead. When he was alive, he could command even death to set free those it had taken captive. A widow's son, a little girls, even his friend Lazarus, Jesus set them free from death. And then, when he himself was killed, when he was nailed to a cross and died and placed in a tomb he was still Lord. And he proved it. He demonstrated his authority even over death when he was raised to life three days later. Death could not hold him because he held the keys to death and hell.
And so he rose – victorious. Victorious over death and the grave, over Satan and hell, over all our earthly and eternal enemies. And he said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority. Authority in heaven. Authority on earth. Even authority in hell. There is nowhere that our Jesus is not lord. And believe me, that is a good message.
Because while you and I are running around wasting our time waging war against the authority of Jesus, telling ourselves that we are our own masters, that no one can tell us what to do, he has made himself busy turning His authority into our advantage. Jesus the Lord of life and death, the Lord of Heaven and earth and even hell, has used his authority to command those things that hold us captive.
We are captive to sickness. These days our world has made so many great advancements in medicine and medical technology. Illnesses that only 50 years ago would have meant certain death are today easily cured. Yet in spite of this great knowledge and wealth of information and technology and in spite of this great ability to heal, people die every day from diseases and illnesses where doctors simply throw up their hands and admit there is nothing they can do. Yet in our text, Jesus who has authority commands those illnesses, no matter what they are and how debilitating they may be, He commands them to release the ones they held captive... and the diseases, every last one of them, was no match for Jesus. Sickness and disease obey the authority of Jesus.
We are captive to this world. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms, floods, drought, famine, extremes of cold or heat; we are enslaved to these things. In spite of the foolish and idolatrous hearts of men that believe we can change the climate and kill the planet with our smokestacks and suv's, the truth is that we don't control the planet, the planet isn't enslaved to us. Rather we are enslaved to it. We are at it's mercy. We can't stop a hurricane from forming and flooding our cities and blowing apart our way of life. Nor can we stop an earthquake from shaking us down and breaking us apart. But God can. Jesus has authority over such events. Jesus has the authority to stop and the authority to start them. The world obeys the authority of Jesus.
Jesus also has authority over the devil. Try as we might, we do not have the authority to free ourselves from the spiritual strangle hold of the devil. Popular story tellers would tell us that we can defeat the devil with purity of heart or strength of hand. That we can thwart his plans and ruin his designs. But we cannot. We are powerless to get ourselves free from his grip. But the devil responds to the commands of Jesus. The devil obeys the authority of Jesus.
We can do none of these things. But Jesus can. Jesus has authority over all these things. He commands sickness and disease, he commands blindness, leprosy, viruses & bacteria, cancer, he commands broken bones to be healed and all of these illnesses and afflictions obey. They release those they hold captive and they set free their prisoners.
Likewise with the earth and the world around us. Jesus commands the winds. He commands the waves. He commands the movements of the oceans and the shifting of tectonic plates. And finally Jesus commands Satan and all his evil angels. He has authority over the powers of hell who would trap you and possess you and tear you apart.
And Jesus uses this authority for you. He uses this authority to set you free. To undo the bonds that hold you and release you from the grip of those things that would destroy you.
Of all of your enemies and all of your foes, the worst by far is death. Sin has destroyed this world and made a mess of God's good universe but sickness, disease, earthquakes and storms are the least of your worries. Your greatest enemy is death, because in death you receive the judgment of God. In death you are face to face with the your maker. It is dangerous for sinners to fall into the hands of an angry God.
So Jesus set you free,. Exercising all his power, all his might and all his authority he carried the full load of death's judgment on his own shoulders. He carried the punishment for the whole world when he died in your place for your sin on your cross. Jesus died your death and so now you are set free. Just as he commanded illness, and evil to release their captives so also he has commanded death to let you go. You are free. Free from death, free from judgment free from condemnation, free from sin. The doors to your prison have been flung wide open. Faith alone seizes the opportunity to walk through and be free.
And Jesus has given you that faith. He has accomplished your freedom and he has given you the gift to believe. There is nothing that holds you that Jesus cannot command. Live in the joy of your freedom.
Amen.
