Authority

We are bound by time, but Jesus is eternal and not bound by the limitations of time. Thus the Lord is always active in the present in the same way He was in the past (and God will continue to do tomorrow what He does today). That’s why the right question to ask ourselves is “What is Jesus doing” and not “What would Jesus do?” And that’s why I think it is important to look carefully at what Jesus did when He was here on earth because it will show us what He is doing today.

Jesus preached the good news, a message about the kingdom of God. Now if Jesus had in fact brought the kingdom of God into the present reality of man then the authority of God’s kingdom should be evident in what Jesus says and does. A king without authority is at best an icon representing something he is not; at the least such a king is only a peasant or a slave.

An interesting thing happened when Jesus returned to Capernaum. A crowd gathered at the house he was in; the place was packed. Four men brought their friend who was a cripple to Jesus, but they couldn’t get in. These guys didn’t give up; they went up on the roof, opened a whole in it and with ropes lowered their crippled friend on a stretcher right in front of Jesus. Jesus was impressed, so impressed in fact that he told the crippled man that his sins were forgiven (not what his friends on the roof were hoping for). When Jesus said this, the religious leaders there were upset to say the least. What Jesus had done was blasphemous; only God can forgive sins.

• [8] Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, "Why are you so skeptical? [9] Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, 'I forgive your sins,' or say, 'Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking'? [10] Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both..." (he looked now at the paraplegic), [11] "Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home." [12] And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, "We've never seen anything like this!"
  Mark 2:8-12 (MsgB)

The kingdom of God Jesus had announced had in fact come. Jesus proved his authority. Jesus maintains the same authority today; nothing has changed. He not only has authority to heal the sick, but more importantly Jesus has authority to forgive us of our sins.

Forgiveness seems to be His priority; that’s what he gave the crippled man first. Maybe we need to look for Jesus where forgiveness is needed today and then we’ll see the evidence of His authority through miracles. What do you think?