Jesus' Authority

Today's scripture passage is from:

Mark 6:1-13 KJV
(1) And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
(2) And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
(3) Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
(4) But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
(5) And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
(6) And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
(7) And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
(8) And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
(9) But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
(10) And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
(11) And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
(12) And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
(13) And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

Through out Jesus ministry he instructered his disciples to teach, preach and do miracles. What interesting to note that in his own hometown that he was raised in, they were offended by his ability. Because His hometown did not believe, he was not able to do as many miracles. In truth very few ministers are received in their own hometown depending on where you live mainly because ministers often seem noble and perfect as Jesus, yet they are not. Those who you were raised with know every mistake you made in life and it can be a henderence or a positive depending on how those things are used. Does knowing these things make it harder or easier to believe that Jesus was greater then all other prophets and teachers that came before and after Him? With the miracles done by both Jesus and his disciples, it would have made it difficult to distinguish by the people the difference of the teacher and his students in the since of inequality. Jesus gave the power and authority to those he set out to teach, preach and do miracles too. To know on one such occassion that Jesus sent a total of seventy out, the disciples came back without the power to cast out a particular demon in a young boy the threw himself in the fire. Jesus had to cast the demon out. The reason the disciples did not cast out the demon is because it took much fasting and prayer in some cases.

To help us understand why Jesus was rejected in his home town we might also remember Jesus did not begin to demonstrate his power publicly until the first miracle of changing water into wine is mentioned in town of Cana part of Galilee in John 2. It is hard to grasp why had not Jesus display his power in his life before age 30, but perhaps it was for the purpose of keeping Jesus hiding in a since till time for His public ministry. His ability to teach or preach astonish the people because of the wisdom in which he taught. His ability to turn water into wine was not a normal event. The power to heal was not unknown in the prophetic world, though it might of not been an everyday occurence like in Christ ministry. To understand these point might make it even easier to understand why his own people might not of accepted him in his hometown. Yet there were those that believed among his friends and neighbors and those would be some he would call as disciples.

The demonstration of God's power through Jesus would seem like the prophets of old. Seem like the prophet Elijah. The people would believe Jesus was Elijah easier then the Son of God. The authority of Jesus to heal and cast out demons his disciples could not would oly demonstrate His divine nature as the Messiah. Yet His calling of disciples was the same thing each of us is required to do in regards to discipling other in the faith and belief of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). We are to teach ad preach baptizing i the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit, teaching people to observe all things that Jesus commanded his disciples. We are not to lord over each other, we are not God, yet Jesus was equal to the Father, we are not. Jesus had divine authority to heal, we only have the authority of the name of Jesus to see the sick healed and demons flee. Only the power of the Holy Spirit to teach and preach with boldness. Jesus authority was HIs own as will Has His Father.