What is your relationship like with authority? That’s the question we’ll start with as we delve into our scripture reading from Mark this Sunday. Do you tend to trust people in authority? Do you engage them with caution or suspicion? How does someone or something become authoritative in your life? Do you like for others to see you as one with authority or does the idea of that give you the willies?
In our passage for Sunday, Jesus is at the beginning of his public ministry and people (in addition to other powers) are discovering him as “one with authority.” That authority was conferred after people not only heard Jesus’ teaching but witnessed Jesus exorcise an “unclean spirit” or a “demon” from a man who was present in the synagogue. People responded to Jesus, both his words and his actions, sensing that he was authentic and a trustworthy authority.
Our focus on Jesus as “trusted authority” will guide us into a time of reflection about trusting Jesus as the one who stills the waters at certain times, bringing peace and calm, and who troubles the waters at other times. We’ll think about the “demons” of our modern day, personal and corporate, and how Jesus engages them…how Jesus invites us, the Church, the body of Christ, to engage them as well.
Scripture passage: Mark 1:21-28
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