Jesus' Authority and Power

 

Jesus is so wonderful it's difficult to know at which point to talk about Him.  There's something though that we learn from His title 'Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One,' that He is Mighty God. Being Mighty God here on earth, He was given... 

 "...all authority and power in Heaven and on earth' ( Matthew 28:18).

To get a greater sense of this, think of an ordnary human being on earth that is a head of state, for instance, the Sultan of Brunei.  It can make one tremble inside to be in his presence despite his seeming personableness in public.

He'll come round to certain national events and 'mix' with the crowds, speaking with individuals and shaking their hands.  It's certainly an honor but one must keep in mind who he is and be on ones best behavior - don't play, play.  You know that one word from him could change your immediate fate - for good or ill.  Yet, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is still approachable in some circumstances.

Compare that to the USA's presidents.  You've heard of 'surround sound' for music listening enjoyment, well these guys have 'surround security' and you'd best not mess with them.  It would be higly unlikely to ever get near enough to have a personal conversation or even to shake his hand.  He has great power and authority not only in his own country but world wide despite the currrent decline of influence and recent rise in dislike and defiance of the American strategies.

Does this help bring the picture into greater focus?  Jesus, the Messiah and Anointed One, is the King of all these 'kings' and Lord of all these 'lords'.  His authority and power encompasses all of Heaven and the Earth!  Indeed, how great He is!  He is my God.  He is Someone to truly boast about.

We show Jesus our reverance by acknowledging His authority and power.  He gave testimony to these in His miracles and daily living.  

Think of the time He healed a man of leprosy with His word and with a touch.

"Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said, 'Be clean!'  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured" (Mark 1:40-42) [emphasis mine]

Put this in context.  In those days leprosy was uncurable.  It left horrible disfigurement of face, limbs and more.  Up to that time only a very small number of people had ever been healed of it.  There was the great army general  Naaman in the Old Testament (OT - 2 Kings 5).  It had been unheard of before this but God honored the faith of a young girl who believed God could do such a healing.  Sure enough, He could and did.

Back to Jesus' day when the 10 lepers were healed (Luke 17:11-19).  Other than these few recorded events, to have leprosy meant to be ostracised and receive a 'death sentence' being confined to living outside the city gates for the rest of one's life.  They had to shout, "Unclean, unclean!" to anyone who happened to come too close.  Shame and likely loneliness were part of the equation added to their burden.

Nowadays, at least since 1982, physicians have been able to prescribe medicine to treat leprosy, which is rather effective if taken for 6-12 months, apparently.  Depending on the advanced stage of the disease, the longer or shorter the treatment time.  A cure will basically be effected.

Astoundlingly, for our particular leper in question here, it took only a word and a touch.  Did you notice he was healed "immediately"?  With modern medicine it takes between 6-12 months to hopefully cure or at least, halt, progress.  This can be nothing less than Jesus' authority and power over disease at work.  Jesus, who is God.  Jesus who is my God.

If someone happened to touch the 'unclean' leper, they too would be marked as 'unclean'  for a time.  This is a contagious disease at some stages of the illness but perhaps not as contagious as it was once deemed.  

The atmosphere if one came near would be very similar to what often happened during the recent COVID-19 (and its mutations) era.  If someone so much as coughed or sneezed, anyone standing nearby would run away or scold the person asking them to 'go away'.  You didn't want to 'catch it'.

Jesus actually touching the 'unclean' leper was against social norm and regulations.  However, Jesus was, 

"filled with compassion" (Mark 1:41-42).

Compassion, meaning one feels sorry for someone else and does something to aid them.  Jesus was "filled" with it.  It's good to reflect and see if our hearts are filled with compassion for others.

When we are followers of Jesus Christ we have His Holy Spirit indwelling us.  We can then be filled with compassion as Jesus was, albeit we will be somewhat imperfect due to our human being-ness.  We can ask for grace from Him because it is free.  

God freely gives of His free gift of grace to assist in freely giving out acts of compassion.  We can ask for His help 24/7. 

This is part of life He gives.  He,

"gives life to whom He is pleased to give" (John 5:21).

When we think of 'life' we may again think of doctors and nurses.  They perform CPR for people who've died.  This takes great effort and often docs will try to revive a patient 20-25 minutes and maybe even up to an hour, generally speaking.  Jesus spoke words.  He raised Lazarus from the dead, saying,

 "Lazarus, come out" (John 11:38-44)!  

It had been four days already too.  Jesus called him by name and Lazarus came forth.

He also raised the widow of Nain's only son (Luke 7:11-12) and Jairus' 12 year old daughter (Luke 8:40-56).  With words and touches Jesus gave life.  Amazing and astounding but by the authority and power invested in Jesus the Son of God, life was given.

There's another kind of life that Jesus gave.  It's called "everlasting life".  When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the debt that was created by my sins and the sins of every person who ever lived on the earth, had ever committed.  He shed His blood for us.

"The blood of Jesus Christ cleans us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

It's a serious matter.  We can accept or reject this gift Jesus offers.  He doesn't force us to take it.  His gift of salvation is free of charge to us although it cost Him everything.  I've heard this called, "costly grace."  The good news is that we can now have forgiveness of sins and everlasting life (John 3:16).  

Many people try to do many good deeds and there's nothing wrong with that.  However, if we attempt to do good deeds in order to earn merits towards our salvation it won't work.  Our good deeds may or may not ever outweigh our bad deeds and we can never be sure of it.  This causes worry and anxiety.  We cannot earn salvation.  We just reach out and accept this gift.  The gifts of grace and faith from God are wrapped up in the miraculous gift of salvation too.  This gift has the power to change us for the better as well as give us life - eternal life.

All this because Jesus has the authority and power in heaven and on earth.  Let us accept His gift with thanksgiving.  We can show our thanks by now doing good deeds in His name. 

What an amazing and mighty God we have through Jesus Christ!  Indeed, He is so wonderful!

                                                 ~ERC  February 2023~

Based on Navigators - Knowing Jesus Christ, Book 1 Chapter 1 - Study in Christian Living.

Sing, What a Mighty God We Serve, along with Goober Sir.