“Authority”

(Read Luke 4:16-30)  Luke 4:32 says, "They were amazed at [Jesus’] teaching, because His message had authority."   "Authority" is an interesting word.  You can't help but have a reaction to it.  Everyone has at some time in their life had a negative experience with authority. Those people who are in power and exert some control in our lives.  The people in our text who were from Galilee had witnessed Jesus' miracles.  In fact, while we translate it as "they were amazed," what it really says about their reaction to Jesus’ preaching is that they were speechless.  This was a sermon you'd never forget.

The other rabbis who taught in Jesus’ day would use a quote from a teacher of the past and embellish it with their own thoughts.  From time to time there might be a rabbi who would make some new observations, but citing an older authority as his basis was the only way his thoughts would be heard.  A teacher quoting from his own authority was unheard of.  No wonder Jesus was a threat to the Pharisees. He wasn't quoting human authorities and basing His conclusions on what had been stated before.  Jesus’ words spoke to the heart.  He could see, like only the "Mighty Counselor" could.  Anointed Authority through the power of the Spirit moved like a wind blowing fast reaching through their minds and pricking their consciences.  This is where the authority of Jesus began to irritate His listeners, especially those who didn't want a savior at all or who didn’t match their definition of what a savior should be.  Those who thought they had it worked out.  This is where His message became a "hard teaching.” 

Garrison Keillor has written, "I've heard a lot of sermons in the past 10 years or so that made me want to get up and walk out.  They were secular, psychological, self-help sermons.  Friendly, but of no use.  They didn't make you straighten up.  They didn't give you anything hard...At some point, a sermon has to direct people toward the death of Jesus Christ and the campaign that God has waged over the centuries to get our attention." Keillor directs us to where God comes to us.  The authority of God comes to us when he meets us in worship in His Word and Sacraments.  The people who heard this in Jesus’ hometown were shocked.  Imagine a guest preacher whom you had grown up with reading an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah and then announcing at the end that He’s the Messiah.  As C.S. Lewis suggests such a person is either a lunatic, liar, or really the Son of God.  There are no other choices.  Jesus’ words show Him to be what He claimed to be.  He came to be our Savior from sin whom God had promised in the Old Testament.