After an attempt on his life, Jesus leaves Nazareth and goes down to Capernaum, another very important and central city in Jesus’ ministry. In today’s verses, you see Jesus either explicitly or implicitly demonstrate his authority in word and in deed.
First, we see in verse 32 that the people are astonished by his teaching because it was “with power.” There are several Greek words to describe power, but the Greek word used here is “exousia,” which means a delegated authority or the legal right to do something. Luke is not saying that Jesus was simply a “powerful communicator,” but that he spoke as an authority.
The crowds in the synagogue in Capernaum then see Jesus cast a demon out of a man with a verbal rebuke. The people are again astonished by the authority and power of his word. Here they use another word for power – dunemis – this is a forceful power, a miraculous working power. This is the root word for our words “dynamic” and “dynamite.”
Later, Jesus continues to demonstrate his power over the fever that had stricken Simon’s mother-in-law, and then he healed countless more who were stricken with diseases and demons.
This is just one place in Scripture where we see has authoritative power. Sickness obeys him, the winds and the waves obey him, even demons obey him. But we, men and women, are curious creatures. We have the capacity to say, “No” to his commands. And so it becomes a question rather than an assumption – will we obey the authority of Jesus?
We live in a time where people are skeptical of authority, and with good reason. On the one ehand, Scripture tells us that we have to submit to the authorities that are in power so long as they don’t command us to violate God’s laws. At the same time, people can’t help but ask…
“Do these authorities really have my best interest at heart? Are the authorities I submit to acting with wisdom, fairness, and humility? Are they held to the same standards as everyone else, or are they above the law? Do they use their power to avoid accountability?
We have countless examples of our earthly authorities not living up to the standards of character that we would expect. Is there anywhere we can turn for a trustworthy authority?
This is why we happily submit to the authority of Christ – the one who has our best interests at heart; the one whose character is beyond reproach; the one who serves us at great personal cost to himself; the one who stands to gain nothing from us, but instead gives us everything.
