Word to the Wise
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 - Tuesday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 1:9-20 and Mark 1:21-28]Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. [Mark]
With the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord yesterday, we have begun the story of Jesus' ministry and the long road to Jerusalem. In the three synoptic gospels [Matthew, Mark and Luke], this journey lasts about a year. The Gospel According to John spreads the story over a roughly three year period. The Gospel According to Mark is featured in Cycle B on Sundays, and begins the Year II daily cycle. This gospel is the oldest of the four, the simplest and more direct in many ways. Jesus' identity and his struggle with the Jewish religious authorities of his time come on right from the start. The struggle will show up soon. Right now, Jesus' healing and teaching ministry is establishing him as a powerful figure.
With regard to the teaching ministry, people are astonished for a couple of reasons. First, Jesus was a carpenter who came out of "nowhere" and began to teach. He was not a scribe or a Pharisee. He had not "studied" with them. Scribes were knowledgeable in the scriptures and interpretation, but their style was to quote "authorities" for anything they taught. Jesus did not do that. He spoke on his own authority - basically, "Because I say so..." and not because Rabbi So-and-So once said so. Secondly, he casts out the demon in a possessed man in the synagogue by his own authority and the onlookers respond: "What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him."
What "authority" does Jesus exercise in OUR regard? What authority do we respect and obey? Why? AMEN!