Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 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." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee
There are any number of themes once could pick up on here. What is "authority"; why does Jesus seem to have it but the regular religious leaders don't? Is it the content of Jesus' teaching which astounds them, or simply the way he presents it? After all, wouldn't they be teaching out of the same text? But perhaps Jesus is a bit more familiar with the subject matter. Then, here we are in the season of Epiphany - getting to be shown who Jesus is - and we have the demon telling us about Jesus' identity.
Authority leads to the question of revelation. How is it that the unclean spirit knows Jesus' identity, but the rest of the people don't. If you are into the messianic secret, this is the place to start.
The violence of Jesus: "Have you come to destroy us?" Well, in a word, yes. It is interesting that destruction is here at the beginning of the gospel. We (or at least I) don't think too often of the "destroying" role of Jesus - but certainly from this perspective, Jesus is the spiritual Chuck Norris (who, by the way, does not do push ups; Chuck Norris pushes the earth down). Jesus who gives life is also one who comes to destroy. Wonder how many will take that approach. Well, maybe another time...
Then we have the relationship between theory (teaching) backed up or illustrated or reinforced, by the action of healing/exorcising. It seems that the second use of teaching/authority has to do with the results, with the difference in the real world (or at least the real life of one man) which Jesus makes.
If you are following the lectionary, it is fairly easy to let the lesson from Deuteronomy point the way for the Gospel. DT 18:18: "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command." So we have the scene set for someone new to come into the picture. There is an emphasis on the "newness" of Jesus' teaching; it is unlike (and yet must somehow be like) everything which has come before. Jesus begins in a traditional enough setting: the community gathered in the synagogue, on the Sabbath. So in one sense Jesus preserves the customs, or at least he uses the traditional forms to begin his public teaching. But something in his "teaching" makes the average listener suddenly become aware that this is different from the stuff they get from the scribes. But what exactly is this business about authority? What is it to teach with authority? And does this passage seem to indicate that the average congregant was already aware that the scribes were offering them rather poor fare? That the scribes and the leaders did not speak with authority, even though they had the positions of authority? Interesting that the question of authority provided bookends for the gospel story - think of Jesus and Pontius Pilate facing off over that question. And how our ideas of authority/autonomy affect how we receive Jesus.
Now we have a lot of trouble with the relationship between authority and autonomy. It might be too simplistic to say that we love autonomy and we hate authority, except when we ourselves get to exercise the latter. Is recognizing Jesus’ authority the first step in the process of faith? Or does it come later on in the process? What is the relationship between accepting the authority of Jesus and becoming a follower? Do you have to recognize his authority first? Well, not exactly. While this passage comes at the beginning of the gospel, and obviously has something to say about the authority of Jesus which will colour the rest of the story, the people understand that Jesus has authority but it does not say that they accept that authority. It merely says that they were amazed that someone would get up and teach this way.
I have some thoughts on the demon-guy, but I'll wait til after dinner. One of the bottom lines for me is that Jesus teaches with authority on the subject matter at hand because He is the subject matter at hand.
mmm.... spaghetti... pinot noir...
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