Newsletter Sunday January 31st 2021

Jesus was recognised as someone who taught with authority. The word ‘authority’ has received a rather negative press in recent times. Various ‘authority figures’ have been criticised, often with good reason. Yet, in Jesus people experienced an authority that they found attractive, an authority that, in the words of the gospel, left them so astonished that they started asking each other what it all meant. Jesus was recognised as a person of authority because of the word that he spoke and the impact for good of that word on others. Ultimately, his authority was rooted in God, in the Spirit of God that descended upon him at his baptism. The first public words he spoke after his baptism were, ‘the reign of God, the power of God, is at hand.’ God’s life-giving, liberating power was working through him, and, so, he was recognised by others as authoritative. The power of God’s love working through him gave him that authority which people found so attractive and so new.