I am quietly thinking about this 'new teaching - with authority' that today's passage speaks about. It isn't merely knowing Scriptures as Jesus does. It is not knowing the true interpretation as Jesus does. Nor is it the devout life of holy love that Jesus lives that makes the difference. It is the authority that He exhibits by virtue of all those things that he commands over all of creation. Jesus is not limited to Caesars domain or the synagogue but also heaven, hell, unclean spirits and all of creation. It all comes down to our own free will however. It comes down to how we act and what we do with the authority granted us by our faith and belief in Jesus Christ. After all, if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains!
What do we do with such faith, such authority and such power? Do we forcibly make the world a better place? We certainly can try as so many have done. Today with the present administration in Washington, they are trying to 'convert' and exert authority over the country. Certainly not by their good example, that is for sure! That is a null and void set. There is no good there, no faith, no real love. Love does not force their will or authority over anyone.
With a new Supreme Court justice to be installed in the near future, Vice President Pence noted his strong desire, 'hopes', if not plan, to overturn Roe vs. Wade. To what end?
If you ask me, I am against abortion but not against abortion rights. I would not want to have an abortion but that's easy for me as a man to say now isn't it? Further more, I don't believe for one second that there is any woman who wakes up one morning and says, What to do today? Oh, I think I'll just go out and have an abortion! No, it is not a casual or light decision and as such, I would not want to use authority and power over something so personal. I feel no calling to hate, judge or exert authority over anyone else.
So what to do with this authority and power of faith? Destroy free will? Judge others? If that is the case we are doomed. A better solution ( in my opinion ) and based on faith and authority is to keep women's rights sacred as much as everyone else's. If you want to stop abortion, Educate. Love. Lead by example. And by all means, if you feel so strongly that even in the case of rape you should not have an abortion, then when you are raped, do not have one.
So many people of faith, especially in that American Taliban religious conservative right, think that they can use God as an excuse for hate, power control, sexism, and judgment. They could not be further from the truth. They show their vacuum of faith, emptiness and ignorance.
The old saying that "they will know Christians by their love" is all the more important when the temptation of power and authority is granted you by faith.
Mark 1:21-27
They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 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, throwing him into convulsions 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.’
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