Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2)

Authority

‘he spoke as one having authority, and not as scribes’

ex-ouseea (from being, from property)

authority (confused in middle english btwn actor and auto hentik)

actor

the maker, creator, or doer

auto-hentik greek

self-doer rather than follower, where we get authentik

both meanings, ‘power of his words come from him’

God, author reality speaks in beginning it is so, so now Jesus speaks as an author of reality

shocking

imagine someone getting up in Church

saying things as if true

no reference to another

as if author of reality

but words not spelled by letters of actions, are misspelled

one act as if authority, another to have it

demon

2 lines down first reading:

“if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken”, for He speaks and it comes into being as the author

notice like healing the paralytic so he deals with the demon

why convinced, b/c see words spelled out with action

‘come out’

not, in the name of Christ, (as exorcists must do), but simply speaks

even angels act on the word of God over demons

leaves 2 intellectually reasonable choices:

some evil of deception (as the scribes accused) or He is God

those 2 responses are there

why not make it undeniably certain, why only these signs, why choices that make us have to think and decide for ourselves?

How demon first come on scene?

Christ speaking like an author, then demon ‘I know who you are, you are the holy one of God’!!!

might expect the preacher to cry amen! alleluja,

for certainly intellectually believing with certainty that Christ is the holy one saves us right?

but no, not amen alleluja, but BE SILENT!

neither does God want this supernatural testimony, nor does the demons knowledge of Christ’s divinity help the demon

Love not knowledge

As James 2:24. ‘man is justified by works and not by faith alone’

just 2 verses earlier he even refers to demons saying ‘oh u believe God, good for you, so do the demons’

As Paul notes in 1 Cor 13 “if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing”

if God was just looking for belief, then the demons would be saved

he doesnt want us to hold on to words, spoken or mind, but to write them into lives and heart by action

to be authorities

not so much what we know, but what we love that counts to Him

Look again at that demoniac

Oh he recognizes Jesus’ power alright, but he does not want to live by it

otherwise God’s command to ‘come out’ would have been joyfully and calmly followed

no, instead we can kind of see the demon trying to claw on to his host as God’s authority rips him out

with it the possessed man now loses his secret knowledge from the demon, but gains far more, freedom

And its our free choice God wants, not the compulsion of mind

and indeed it is free.

no matter how much you study, the only logical certainty you can approach is God existence, but as James says, that makes you better than the spawn of satan how exactly?

For us

Instead determine what love, as what we learn is the fruit of that

you love sports, you’ll know more about them

love God, know more about him

Every thought, every physical action, every word spoken is authored by our love

entertain doubt about God based on something other than God,

trust the evidence given us based on love of God

love authors all our actions

for the confession of the demon love of self, for the confession of Peter, love of God

Which love is your author?

If its not the author of reality then you will one day recognize the story of reality as all spirits do, but not enjoy it at all.

Notes

Me

Faith and not works (demons profess the Christ)

James

Augustine: “clear they had great knowledge and not charity”

Reason mediaries b/c can’t see/hear God’s nature or die

by force God expels here (violence of demon when made to leave shows this)

capernaum- city of comfort

‘quiet come out’ - shows exousian/authority

not in the name of God, not in name of prophet, but just by His command

therefore no other choice but prince of demons or God

Commentators

Psuedo-Chrysostom

do not believe devils

Pitre

exousia (he taught with ‘power/authority’)

used supernatural signs with his preaching

part of Jesus coming is crushing head of serpent (‘come to destroy me?’)

power over devil part of expectation of messiah

Jesus secret identity

‘holy one of God’

Psalm 106:16 “When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,”

‘high priest’

begins by teaching with powers

to show he is the prophet raised up like moses

World dominated by evil until kingdom come crashes in