The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them like one who had authority, and not like the teachers of the Law.
teaching with restraint
brings an authority
based on not saying
more than is knownteaching with authorities
brings a limit
based on repeating
authoritative lessonsauthority builds on revealing questions
based on actual service
pairing understanding to new creation
far beyond common senseauthorities require their perks
privileged right and righteousness
circling agreed upon answers
denying alternativesteaching according to tomorrow
avoids echo chambers
expresses itself through a way of variety
bringing art to lifeteaching by way of yesterday
has consistency down to a fine art
patterned with mathematical certainty
never crossing an intuited axiomonly authority can question authority
with an increasingly sharp
you’ve hear it said but
mentioned in a quiet tone
Authority (ἐξουσία) is better understood as “freedom” to act. Where others are confined by the traditions, rituals, and lines of power, Jesus works within, dumbfounding people with a redefinition of what is lawful.
To be competent in current case law makes one vulnerable to misperceive needed shifts in a culture’s meaning. This is one of the difficulties of institutions in every time.
One place of tension is the authoritative freedom needed to translate “kingdom” into a better descriptor of what it means to partner with G*D and Neighb*r.
In an increasingly crude culture that takes more pleasure in destroying others than in working with them, the question of freedom to do good is a difficult one to come to terms with. Focusing on what can be done together restricts options for only short-term, winner-takes-all victors are judged worthy of being followed. Freedom exposes the wilderness we have created and power can’t abide this revelation.