Mark 1:22 - Homiletics

"Having authority."

St. Mark's Gospel has been characterized as the Gospel for the Romans, as the Gospel of Power, as the Gospel of the Resurrection. The symbol denoting this second evangelist is the lion. There has always been a feeling that the dignity and majesty, the might and victory, of Emmanuel are in an especial manner set before the reader in this one of the four Gospels. Certainly the first chapter strikes the key-note of this strain. Jesus appears as the mysterious Lord, who with authority summons fishermen to forsake their nets and follow him; who teaches with authority in the synagogues, and awakens the amazement of his hearers; who with authority commands the unclean spirits, and they obey him; whose authority rebukes the fever and heals the leprosy; who by the magnetism of his power and love gathers the people from every quarter into his gracious presence, to hear his authoritative voice, and to receive a thousand blessings from his beneficent and powerful hands. In one word, he appears before us, at the very outset of his ministry, as "One that had authority."

I. How CHRIST 'S AUTHORITY WAS ASSERTED . That we may understand that Christ claims authority, we must refer to the gospel narrative, in which his words are recorded, his character delineated, and his ministry related. Does he assert authority? Is he such a Being that his claims demand attention? Was his authority for a season only, or was it intended to subsist through all time and in eternity? Was his an authority local in its range, or universal as the presence of mankind on earth? That Christ possessed and exercised authority during his earthly ministry admits of no dispute or question. Satan himself confessed it; for Jesus spurned his assumptions, resisted his temptations, and sent him who claimed the lordship of the earth defeated and uncrowned from his holy and authoritative presence. Angels recognized it; for they came to minister to his wants, and stood in countless legions ready, at a word, to rescue and to honor him. Demons felt it, and quailed beneath his glance, did homage to his supremacy, and fled at his rebuke. Nature knew it; and the winds were hushed and the sea was calmed at his authoritative word, bread multiplied in his hand, and water at his bidding turned to wine, trees withered at his breath, the very grave gave up its dead at his command, and the gentle air floated his gracious form to heaven. His enemies were conscious of his superiority; for they were abashed and silenced by his reasoning, they fell backward at his look. Men generally acknowledged him to be other and higher than themselves; " Never man ," said the officers sent to apprehend him—"never man spake like this man;" Pilate and Pilate's wife were under the mysterious spell of his Divine authority; and the Roman centurion was constrained to exclaim, " Truly this was the Son of God!" His friends were sensible that he was to them more than a friend; at his summons they forsook their callings and their homes, they attempted impossibilities with confidence, they consecrated their powers and they hazarded their lives for the mission to which he called them. But he had greater witness than that of man. The works which he performed, they testified to him. The seal of God was set upon his actions. The voice of God honored the Holy One and Just; heaven itself was opened, and from the excellent glory came the attestation and the approval of the Most High, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!" and there was added the demand which sanctions the authority of Emmanuel over universal man, "Hear ye him!" The Jews sometimes felt that Jesus of Nazareth was laying claim to a special and unrivalled authority. His bold and thorough cleansing of the temple is a case in point. How came he to take upon himself so remarkable a function as this? Who was he that he should do what none of the great officials ventured upon? We cannot wonder that "the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority?" The only explanation was that Jesus was lord of the temple because he was the Son of God. And this lordship he asserted when he predicted the destruction of the material sanctuary, and when he, using it as a symbol of his body, foretold the rebuilding of the temple of God in three short days. Another case in point is his assumption of the Divine prerogative of pardoning sin. When Jesus publicly assured the believing paralytic that his sins were forgiven, this language aroused the indignation of the scribes and Pharisees. "This man blasphemeth! Who can forgive sins but God only?" The only reply of our Saviour to these insinuations was the performance of a miracle, that, as he phrased it," they might know that the Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins."

II. Upon WHAT IS CHRIST 'S AUTHORITY BASED ? It is not all authority which the enlightened and the free, the honorable and the just, can regard with reverence. Much that bears the name may fairly be treated as usurpation. And even just authority may deserve only a partial reverence; it may be admitted, but admitted with reserve. Authority is of different kinds, for it rests on different bases. The authority of the tyrant over his subjects, of the conqueror over the vanquished, rests on force and fear the authority of the priest over the devotee rests on superstition and assumption; but the authority of the teacher over the scholar is the authority of wisdom, and that of the potent over the child is the authority of care and love. There is authority which is natural, and authority which is conventional. Some authority it is virtue to recognize; other authority it is baseness and dishonor not to resist. Authority is excellent and admirable when there is a right to command, when there is an obligation to submit and to obey. To understand aright the authority of the Lord Jesus, we must divest our minds of their habitual notions of civil authority. Government is not only right, it is necessary, it is ordained of God. But it has regard only to human actions. It is not the business of the civil ruler to influence men's beliefs upon science, or philosophy, or religion, but to induce them to industry, independence, order, and peaceableness. And the sanctions governors employ are not so much moral as external and physical. Fine, imprisonment, death,—these are their weapons. Occasionally rewards, in the shape of distinctions and honors, may be added, but the system is mainly one of penalty. A submission to Christ's authority is nothing if it is not willing, cheerful, cordial. Too often human authority is asserted with harshness, is acknowledged with slavishness. None of our Redeemer's subjects bow the knee whilst the heart is unyielded, offer the homage of the voice whilst the spirit is in rebellion. Men may do this under some influences; but let them not be deceived; it is the authority of men to which they bow, not that of Christ! By virtue of what quality, of what possession, had Jesus Christ authority? For us there is one great and all-sufficient answer—He was the Son of God. It was upon this ground that he based his own claims. "I and my Father," said he, "are one." "Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest! because! said, I am the Son of God? "The works which My Father hath given me to do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me." In fact, Christ so often and so plainly asserted his unique authority that he came to refuse any further explanations or formal claims. He answered inquiry by inquiry, and boldly declared, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." Truth has authority over man's understanding, and Christ's words, his declarations and revelations, have the authority of truth. He claimed to have told them the truth which he had heard of God. Our nature is framed to recognize and to rest in truth; and, since Christ is "the Truth," he is exactly adapted to our mental necessities and desires, to afford them full and final satisfaction. Christ wields the authority attaching to a holy and benevolent character. The human heart always renders homage to goodness, though there may be motives which prevent that homage being manifested and expressed. We instinctively honor and reverence those whom we feel to be better than ourselves. Now, in the case of our Saviour, it was Divine, incarnate goodness which appeared before men and moved among them. A perfect man, he went about doing good; and, both by his pure and gentle character, and by his unselfish, compassionate life, he commanded the reverence and constrained the allegiance of men. An authority this far nobler and worthier than that derived from a splendid retinue and a glittering throne, a mighty army and a sounding name. The conscience of the Christian acknowledges the claims of the sinless Emmanuel. The heart confesses the unrivalled authority of his tender pity, his unselfish love. Power, apart from righteousness, enkindles resentment and arouses resistance. But goodness and benevolence, with the resources of Omnipotence at their command, summon our hearts to a willing surrender and our lives to a glad obedience. Our will, our whole nature, acknowledge the authority of the Saviour ' s law. When he was upon earth his disciples obeyed unquestioningly the mandates they could not always understand, and undertook with alacrity service for which they felt themselves utterly unqualified. And each awakened and enlightened hearer of the gospel gives utterance to his foremost and earnest desire in the words of the trembling rabbi of Tarsus, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" When once we know ourselves and him, we feel that none other has the right to our loyalty, our love, our devotion. When we hear his voice, it carries with it its own authority to our heart.

III. OVER WHOM CHRIST 'S AUTHORITY EXTENDS . The answer to this question is suggested by what has been already said regarding the instruments, so to speak, of the dominion of Jesus Christ. If truth and righteousness, love and sacrifice—spiritual influence, in a word—be the source of his authority, we feel at once that his reign is not primarily and chiefly one over actions and observances. It is far more deep-seated and efficient, far more adapted to the moral nature of man and the moral authority of God. Christ's authority is over the spiritual nature of man , and it is supported by spiritual sanctions. Not so much what men do, as what they are, and why they act, and how they feel, is of interest to the Lord of hearts. His appeal is to what is intellectual, to what is moral, in man. It is not his aim to induce men to wear one uniform, to utter one cry, but rather to share one spirit—his own, to live one life—that of God. He designs to bring every thought into captivity unto obedience to Jesus Christ, Yet it is important to remember that, constituted as man is, it is impossible that he should acknowledge an authority over his conscience and heart which will have no sway over the actions and habits of his life. The individual life will be cast into the mould of Christ's mind and will. Society will own practically the rightful and controlling sway of Jesus. "All power is given unto him."

IV. THE ADVANTAGES WHICH CHRIST 'S AUTHORITY SECURES . Is it to be desired that the authority of the Saviour should be generally and indeed universally acknowledged? What are the fruits of obedience? what the influences of his reign? Are they such that we may look forward with hope and prayer to the submission and subjection of mankind to him whom we "call Master and Lord"? When the authority of the Saviour has been acknowledged by the soul, and when he is habitually exercising this authority over the whole nature, the results are most blessed. Happiness is not in wilfulness and unbridled licence, but in subjection to a Law, holy, approved, and willingly accepted. This is true liberty, when the soul finds an authority it can bow before and obey with the harmony of all its faculties, Christ's is the perfect law of liberty, and where this prevails and reigns there is peace and joy; for there freedom and obedience are one, yoked together by spiritual and most welcome bonds. The widespread and universal acknowledgment of the Redeemer's authority is the one hope for the world's future. To thoughtful man can look forward to a universal empire of force, to the prevalence of a supreme military authority. What, then, is to put an end to wars and fightings amongst men? They are not for ever to afflict and curse the world. It is only in the reign of righteousness and benevolence that the dreams of poets shall be realized, the forecastings of prophets fulfilled, and the prayers of saints shall be answered. "In the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

V. HOW THIS AUTHORITY OF CHRIST AFFECTS THOSE WHO HEAR THE GOSPEL , To some the authority of the Redeemer may be an unwelcome theme. They would rather hear of his grace than of his dominion. Yet it is well to see and feel that each is essential to the other in a perfect and Divine Saviour. Instruction, to be satisfactory, must be authoritative. Consolation comes most effectually from him who wields the. scepter of dominion, and who is able to rebuke and to master all our foes and to sanctify all our trials. Many hearers of the gospel in these days think little of the rightful and supreme authority of the Lord Christ. Preachers and writers of religious books are accustomed, to lay great stress upon the love of the Redeemer, and to spend their energies in inducing sinful, weak, needy hearts to respond to Christ's love, and to accept his salvation. And this is quite right. But it is not right to overlook the just claim of Christ upon the faith and obedience of men, to keep out of sight the truth that men have no right to disbelieve and disobey the Son of God. No doubt it is for our interest and our happiness to be Christians. It is also our sin and our shame if we are not Christians. There have been parents among the poor who have thought that they were doing the teachers in Sunday schools a favor in sending their children to receive religious instruction; and this notion has arisen from the extreme and benevolent desire of teachers to bring the young into their classes. And in like manner it seems that there are many persons who think that they are quite at liberty to receive the Saviour or to reject him; that if they welcome the gospel and seek the fellowship of a Christian Church they will be bestowing an important favor upon those who present to them the invitations of the gospel. But, as the child renders no favor in doing his father's will, as the poor man renders no favor in accepting the bounty of his benefactor, as the subject renders no favor in obeying his country's laws, so the sinner, in listening to the gospel, obeying its summons and submitting to the Son of God, is far from rendering a favor. He is receiving a gift in his abject poverty; he is passing from the prison doors into light and liberty; he is acknowledging the just authority of an omnipotent Friend—a Saviour, not only gracious, but supreme, Divine!