Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Jesus – the one with Authority

Mark 1v27 “What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”

Some struggle with people in authority. This can be because of experience of authority figures who have abused their authority. For us Shropshire people, it was Shropshire resident Lord Acton who wrote the words, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” in a letter to a bishop in 1887.

But this saying does not apply to Jesus. He has all power and authority, but is “without sin.” In Jesus, authority is a beautiful thing. It is not just an authority based on a title, but an authority fundamental to who he is – God the Son. So, in the gospels, we find the crowds are amazed at both his words and his deeds.

Jesus used his authority to calm the storm, multiply the loaves, heal the sick, raise the dead, restore sight to the blind, forgive sin, and free the demon-oppressed: not forgetting that he also used his authority to clear the temple, and to wither a tree. Most significantly, he used his “authority to lay down [his life] and …  to take it up again” (John 10v18). And also, he had the authority to call down “more than 72000 angels” to rescue him from crucifixion, but he chose not to exercise that authority.

As Jesus had choices in life, so do we:

• We can choose to exercise authority or let our authority go unused.
• We can choose to exercise authority for good or to exercise it for evil.
• We can choose to submit to authority over us or to ignore it.

Ask God to make clear what authority he has given to you. How are you using that authority?

With love and blessing,

Roland