In today's Gospel Story (Mark 1: 21-28) the people say Jesus teaches with authority and not like the scribes. The scribes were not bad people. Jesus just taught differently from the way they taught. He taught from his own experienced love of his Father, while they taught from the perspective of law. For them, following God was doing the right things the right way. For Jesus, it was living in love first from the Father, and then with everyone.
There is always a danger that following the traditions of a given religion might become an end in itself, and get in the way of what the traditions point to. In our case as Catholics, it is easy to forget where our traditions, beliefs, and practices are pointing -- experiencing and knowing beyond words God loving us. It is easy, too, to focus on what we do, and not let ourselves be drawn to awareness of grace happening in and around us.
Jesus' authority came out of his living in his Father's love. He was teaching from his own experience, and not just passing on what he had learned from someone else. This is the origin of the Scriptures. People at different times and places had an experience of God. They tried to lead others to have their own experience through stories which they arranged and wrote down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is the new teaching with authority.
In the Gospel, authority is not the power to force someone do something. It involves speaking truth which of itself draws us on, assuming we are open to being led beyond our comfort zone. The truth of the Gospel is love -- our Father loves us first, and our response, when we have begun to experience this love, is to live it out in service to others.
Perhaps the story of the man with the unclean sprit might be a symbol of ourselves when we are confronted with Jesus' love. Part of us does not want to hear it, because there might responsibilities we don't want to face. We might be afraid of the peace and freedom that happens as we open ourselves more and more to grace. We might not want to lay aside our need to be tense and fearful in the presence of the distant god we have created for ourselves and who keeps us from knowing the loving God who comes to us in Jesus. We may have to change some of our values and choices, restructure our priorities, let ourselves be led out of ourselves to serve others, give up our need to be in control, whatever. We fear being led beyond what we know to experience what we do not know. This is not nice, even when we sense that it is Jesus who is calling us. It is far easier to keep him at a distance than to know him really loving us in our everyday life, really with us and involved in everything.
Jesus' teachings are different, especially so in our times. We live in a time when established orders are coming into question, when there are people who hurt so much that the only way they can deal with their pain is to inflict more pain on others, when trust is often met by betrayal, when love is seen as weakness, peace is seen as something imposed by force. Jesus' teaching strikes a cord deep within the human heart. It cannot be imposed by force, and can be taught only by example, which in turn can be lived only through a commitment to prayer and openness. Each of us who espouses a religion and calls ourself a follower of Christ must commit to living as He did -- rooted solidly and prayerfully in our Father's love. Then, and only then, will we share in this "new teaching with authority".
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