The Way He Spoke

So, in this venture of discovering the authority of Christ revealed in the Gospel of Matthew, I went back and read the Words that He spoke. I discovered that every single one of His words was spoken with authority.

 I'm not talking about someone who is an authoritarian-someone who 'enforces obedience'. I am talking about true authority-someone who has the 'power and influence resulting from knowledge, prestige,etc.'

To the devil in the wilderness He said,
"Scripture says, 'Man cannot live by bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters.'"
And "Scriptures says, 'You are not to put the Lord your God to a test.'"
"Be gone Satan; Scripture says, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and worship Him alone.'"

To Peter, Andrew, James, John, He said, "Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men!"

And then the whole sermon on the mountain was spoken with authority. He was an authority on everything He spoke and did. And the people were astonished at His authority.

To the leper, He said, "Be clean."

To the centurion-"Go home now; because of your faith, so let it be."

To the windstorm-"Peace, be still."

To the demons-"Begone!"

To the paralyzed man-"Take heart. Your sins are forgiven. Rise up and walk."

To Matthew the tax-collector, He said, "Follow me."

To the woman who touched His cloak in a crowd-"My daughter, your faith has cured you."

To the professional mourners at Jarius's house-"Be off!"

To the little dead girl-"Arise!"

To the blind men, "As you have believed, so let it be."

To the disciples on a mission trip-"Go to the lost sheep of Israel. Proclaim that 'the kingdom of Heaven is upon you.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers. Etc.
Be wary as serpents, harmless as doves.
Be on your guard.
Do not worry.
Do not be afraid."

To the messenger sent by an imprisoned, disillusioned, John the Baptist, He replied, "Go tell John such things as you see. The blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and to the poor, the gospel is preached. Blessed is the one who is not offended in me."
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All this authority and I am only at the beginning of Chapter eleven.

This is no namby-pamby Christ we serve.
I am 10 feet tall.
This is the Christ whose backbone is in me!

Holy, Holy, Holy.
Holy, Wonderful, God!

Christ's Authority

In reading the New Testament like a book without chapters,
 I have discovered a central theme.

Authority.

 Jesus did what He did because He had been given authority to do it.

Yes, it was compassion that moved Him to help people
but it was the authority given to Him by God His Father
 that gave Him the right to heal,
 the right to deliver,
 the right to forgive sins before He died for them.

Continuing in Matthew 8, we see that Jesus had authority over the storms in nature;
 and then He delivered two men from the devils that bound them and sent the demons into pigs who committed suicide by jumping off a cliff into the lake and drowning.

(Being a mother of a son who raises pigs,
 I confess I have questioned the economics of Jesus' willingness
to agree with the demons desire to be sent into the pigs.
 But perhaps money was Most Important to these townspeople,
 for they begged Him to leave their area lest He cost them more in their ways of livelihood.

  Oh, if only they could have seen the Great Deliverer in their midst.

 If only they would have brought their sick babies
 and tormented teenagers and broken marriages to Him.

 But alas, they only saw what He cost them
 and they missed their opportunity to receive a healthy baby back into their arms.
 They missed the thrill of throwing out crutches.
They missed the hum of a happy home.
  They missed Him!)

So, knowing that He was not wanted there,
 He got in the boat and crossed over the lake to come back home.

He wasn't there long until some men brought him a paralytic lying on a bed.

He saw their faith and said to the man, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven."

Some of the lawyers standing there thought to themselves, "Good grief. That's blasphemous talk!"

Jesus was a mind reader.
Still is for that matter.

He said to the lawyers, 'Why do you harbour evil thoughts? (If you're going to have an evil thought-don't harbour it!) Is it easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and walk?"  But to convince you that I have the right and authority on earth to forgive sins'-He now addressed the paralytic-"Stand up, take up your bed, and go home."'

And he got up and went home. The people were filled with awe at the sight,
 and praised God for granting such authority to men.

(Taken mostly from the New English Translation)

Christ's Authority.
Authority to forgive sins.
Authority to heal sicknesses.
It's as easy for Him to do one as the other.
He has the right to do it.
And we have the right to come to Him for any spirit, soul, or body need,
because He's granted us the free will to do so.

If we understood Christ's authority
we would understand our authority
because He gave us His authority
to do the works of God.

Authority and Faith

Jesus was being followed by a crowd of people when a centurion soldier came up to Him.

 He stated his dilemma. " A boy of mine lies at home paralyzed and racked with pain."

Jesus said, "I will come and cure him."

The centurion replied, "Who am I to have you under my roof? Only say the word and he will be healed. I myself am under orders and I have soldiers under me. I tell them what to do and they do it."

Jesus heard him with astonishment and turned to His followers saying, "I tell you this: nowhere, even among my own people, Israel, have I found such faith."

Turning to the centurion He said, "Go home. Let it be just as your faith said it would be."
And so it was, at that very moment, the boy was healed.
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True authority has its roots in humility.
Jesus did only what His Father wanted Him to do.
His authority was rooted in Another's authority;
in Another's will.

The centurion was also under his commander's authority.
He obeyed his leader just as his own men obeyed him.

He recognized in Jesus as One with authority
who was also under authority.

This leader of men was humble.
He didn't ask Jesus to heal the boy because he was positionally entitled to have healing for his son.
He said, "I am not worthy for you to step foot in my house."

He asked Jesus to heal the boy because he had compassion for his son.
He didn't want him to have pain or be paralyzed.

Humility, compassion, and the understanding of true authority
had taken root in the centurion,
revealing the greatest faith
that Jesus had ever found.

Oh, to have faith that astonishes God.
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Matthew 8