Readings:   

The people automatically contrast Jesus’ teaching with what they know, with what they have experienced, with the teaching of the scribes. Unlike the scribes, the people perceive Jesus to teach with “authority.” When the people hear Jesus teach with authority and see Jesus heal with authority, they are “amazed” because this is something new. This is not at all like what they’ve experienced with the scribes.

Why did people sense authority in Jesus' presence? How did they recognize his authority and what was so compelling about it? It was his teaching. "He taught as one who had authority." In Mark's gospel Jesus himself is the content of the teaching. The authority is not in particular speeches, but in this particular life. Jesus lived as one who had authority, an authority radically different from that of tradition. To understand this authority we must not only listen, we must also look.

“Be silent and come out of him!” Mark is making a point: that the will and purpose of God present in Jesus is engaging and fighting against the purposes of evil that exist among humanity. This battle is not fought just at the highest levels of government or industry, but right in the midst of common folk like us. The battle of good versus evil, right versus wrong, life versus death happens amidst the people who are gathered for worship. Christ has come to shatter the domineering designs that shackle people to lower standards for life than God intends. Christ has come to free us from the demons like prejudice and pride, greed and guile. Christ is among us, whenever we gather in church, to demonstrate a power among us. If we devote ourselves to anything less than a divinely directed destiny, we have missed the goal of faith.