The Book of Mark
Chapter 1 (NIV)
27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
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Again the word "authority" here is an authority out of this world. This authority is from God himself!
We must always remember who is on our side. Especially during the toughest times that our Lord is with us and no being has authority over him.
They were all (A)amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."
Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. (Mark 1:27-28 NASB)
Look at these verses, I don't think we react much different from these people when we see the power of God being displayed in peoples lives. We should really think, believe and hope about the power and authority of Christ through either the Holy Bible or Holy Spirit in our lives. We should not be amazed when people get saved by Christ through His mercy and love, and we should not get surprised at the wonders and miracles that Jesus Christ shows in our lives. Rather, we should always have in mind that our Savior Christ is always there for us as the mediator between us and God....e.g. he fed multitudes of people with a few barley loaves and fish....he saved so many people from sicknesses and death..... even today, He approaches us with the word (logos) and helps us so that the word (logos) can be transformed as living word through the Holy Spirit (rhema.We should really have faith in authority of Jesus Christ.
I agree with M God is all knowing and all powerful & has authority over all matters. God is always with us in times of despair and prosperity! Always good to know God has our back and it is reassuring knowing that. Amen
In verse 27, the people's reaction to how Jesus handled the possessed man was to "question" (NIV, NKJV) and "debate" (NASU) among themselves. So even back then, as happens now, humans wanted to rely on logic and reasoning to evaluate and define what is credible and truthful. Never mind that Jesus was standing there in person. There are many times I've heard people wish for God to be more clear in showing Himself to us. But until Judgement Day comes, what would convince us beyond a reasonable doubt as to God's authority and priority? Actually, in fact, do we really want to be convinced and face the truth? That would mean giving up our get-out-of-jail-free-because-I'm-just-a-weak-and-helpless-sinner card that we flash at God whenever we "unintentionally" make self-centered decisions.
In verse 28, this news "about Him" spread throughout Galilee "immediately" (NKJV, NASU) and "quickly" (NIV). I don't know if I'm simplifying things too much but from a secular business perspective it looks like Jesus employed the ideal public relations/advertising strategy -- establishing yourself through word-of-mouth buzz. This reminds me of something my previous pastor would often say: anything that's found to work in our secular world today can be traced back to having roots in the Bible.
What jumped out to me here was that Jesus was sharing a "new teaching." That is what made the people stop and listen to him on a Sabbath and recognize his authority. He was explaining the scriptures to them in a way that they had never considered before. And what he said seemed so obvious and true that people recognized his authority even before the miracle occurred. Jesus first appealed to their reason.
I used to pray that God would show me a miracle so that I could believe in Him. Now I realize that God wants us to come to him with our minds, not just our hearts. He appeals to us logically as well as emotionally. I think that everlasting faith must be based upon a foundation of reason and logic, because emotions ebb and flow and waver.
As Christians we must not fear logic or science. God is a wonderfully creative artist, but the world He created is also reasonable and logical. And there is beauty to that.
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