authority

Once, years ago, Dawn was trying to explain something about piano chords to me. She played several different things in quick succession, and I couldn’t tell at all what she was doing. I noticed some changes in the sounds, but the terms she used were beyond me too. It was one of those times as an adult when I’ve felt as ignorant as a child.

Music is easy for Dawn, harder for me. That’s not only because she’s made a lifetime study of it; she’s also practiced so much that her hands can do things mine never could, and her brain can tell ten different fingers to do ten different things at once. She has knowledge and skill where I don’t.

I remembered that time as I read about Jesus this morning in Mark 2:8-12: “Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk”? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.”

Which is easier, Jesus asks. Well, of those two things, neither one. Forgive sins or heal? As with piano chords, these are two things that are beyond both my understanding and my skill, yet to Jesus they are simple tasks, done with a word.

Jesus had something more than knowledge and ability: Jesus had authority. That’s something I know about. I used to have several hundred soldiers who, in the field, were extensions of my will. The plan was mine, the orders were mine, and all I had to do was give the word and their hands and feet and strong backs executed my intent. 

That’s the kind of authority Jesus has over every molecule in this universe. It’s why he could speak the world into being, heal wracked bodies, and speak forgiveness into broken lives. Demons who hate him obey more instantly than disciples who love him.

Authority. It’s what makes salvation in Jesus so sure and secure.