Power to transform

Mark 1 : 21 - 28

With authority he commands......

When Jesus taught or spoke he did so with clear authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had spoken it before. The religious teachers supported their teachings with references from other authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated authority: "Thus says the Lord". Jesus did not need to refer to others to back up his statements. He was God incarnate, the Word of God. When he spoke, even the demons obeyed. In fact, being part of the spiritual realm, they seemed to more easily recognize him than his human listeners.

He still speaks to us today, with as much authority. His Word has power to transform lives. Sad to say, we find it difficult to tune in to him clearly - there are just too many channels that compete for our attention. Maybe we are also not as open to 'wonder' - times when his word breaks through in an unexpected way. We would explain away many such epiphanies and prefer to carry on with our dulled lives.

We need to remember that Jesus is not to be turned into a mild gentle figure......safe and easy to turn into someone matching our own wishful imagination. He did speak with much authority, with strength and conviction about the ways and purposes of Abba. His strength however did not manipulate or threaten others- instead it was to awaken the attention of dulled minds and hearts, like ours today. Maybe it would be good if we 'woke' up from time to time and asked each other with greater amazement "What is this? A new teaching?"