Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Authority
- Authority: Our calling. This comes from God as king. Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
When we talk
about authority in spiritual circles, we talk about where it begins first. Authority comes from God the Father. When we look at this chapter, we have a great
illustration of this in the story of the transfiguration. In this story, God Himself looks down and
says of Jesus, “This is my son. With Him
I am well-pleased.” Clearly we can see –
and show know and believe – that Jesus’ authority is rooted in the Father.
Of course,
authority isn’t just something to brag about.
Authority is something to practice.
What does Jesus do immediately after His authority is affirmed? He goes out and heals a boy. He takes an incident that has stumped His
disciples and proves that the authority that has been given to Him by the
Father is for real.
Furthermore,
Jesus then takes His authority and deflects away challenge to His authority as
well. When He is questioned about the
tax, He tells His disciples that since they belong to the Father, they truly
don’t owe tax to live in the Father’s world.
However, to make sure that He doesn’t ruffle any feathers, He gives
Peter some instructions about how to pay the tax, although the tax paid is done
through supernatural means. When
challenged, Jesus shows authority in answering the challenge as well as through
making sure the disciples stay right with the people.
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