Tuesday, January 11, 2022

11 January 2022 - astonished


The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Imagine someone who could not only speak accurately about the pandemic, but by his very words free people from it and put it to flight. People were astonished at Jesus because his words had power that they didn't experience listening to other preachers. Scribes and Pharisees may have been knowledgeable and accurate to greater or lesser degrees. Even in cases like this unclean spirit they may have been able to help to some extent, for Jesus asked, "by whom do your sons cast them out?" (see Matthew 12:27). Yet there was clearly a difference so profound in there teaching and intercession and that of Jesus that it amazed the crowd.

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!  Come out of him!”

Jesus spoke and it simply was. He said it and it happened. This was the authority that the centurion recognized in Jesus. It was an authority such that he did not need to go to great lengths to close the distance to effect a healing. No preparation was necessary for his authority to work. Nor was it limited by those things which would constrain ordinary men and women.

Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes;and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (see Luke 7:7-8).

Jesus came to address something even deeper than disease. He came to destroy the works of the Devil (see First John 3:8). Yet he did not neglect even the bodily and emotional needs of those who came to him. They were symptoms of the deeper problem in the world that he came to solve. But they were symptoms that could be significant distractions. The words of Jesus powerfully worked on those who came to him, healing both body and soul. The one was ordered toward the other, but both were important for creatures of flesh and blood. 

Imagine if our own parishes still spoke with authority like this. It would give credence to the words we profess to believe if those words still had the same power of healing and freedom contained within them. Religion would then no longer seem to be merely a matter of talk, no longer one unfalsifiable opinion among many. It would no longer be merely "persuasive (words of) wisdom, but a demonstration of spirit and power" (see First Corinthians 2:4) just as Paul himself desired. The expectation would not necessarily be that every sick person would be healed. And yet we would expect Jesus to continue to work healings in our day through his Body just as he did in his own. More to it, we would expect people who heard the word proclaimed in our churches to grow in ever increasing spiritual freedom. We would expect the words would of themselves impart growth in virtue, break addictions, and nourish the fruits of the Spirit within us. 

The word of God does in fact still have the same authority and power in our own age as it did in that of Jesus. The trouble, the reason why it is not expressed obviously, evidently, or at least evenly, is that we neglect that power. We treat God's word as a merely human word, a curiosity, a correct doctrine, perhaps, but not often as a living word filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit himself, waiting to set his people free.

We should treasure the word of God. When we do we will be able to entrust our deepest needs to the Lord as Hannah did. The psalmist said to pour out our hearts to the Lord, and to trust him at all times (see Psalm 62:8). Hannah, empowered by faith in the word, did this. She had the power to do this even in spite of the misunderstandings to which it subjected her. She was more invested in the promise of God than in the opinions of men. For that reason the word was free to work. 

the LORD remembered her. 
She conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.

May we learn to prefer the word of God to merely human words. Even the learned and well meaning may not be helpful to us without that word as the central pillar around which we build. Humans tend to think like humans, but this is insufficient for those called to the Kingdom. We are meant to have the mind of Christ, thinking as God does. We cannot have this mind apart from the living word of God in which that mind is, in a sense, incarnated.

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.


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