#Meek4: “He taught as one who had authority”

This article is the transcript from episode #4 of a six-part podcast that I released between October 2, 2022 and January 2, 2023. The name of the podcast is “The Meek Will Inherit the Earth”. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast directories. Here is the podcast description: Jesus’s prediction that ‘the meek will inherit the earth’ is not well understood. Taken at face value, he is predicting a fundamental change in the humans who live on earth. He claimed this change is currently in progress and one day, it will be complete — humanity as we know it will be extinct and the new type of humans, along with the animals, will populate the earth. This podcast explores how Jesus saw this happening, why we should take him seriously and what it really means for us.

Episode Introduction (Matthew 7)

[0:00] Hi, my name in Brian. Welcome to the podcast, The Meek will Inherit the Earth. After Jesus finishes his ‘Sermon on the Mount”, the gospel according to Matthew (7:29) notes that the crowds were amazed, ‘because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.’ What does Matthew mean by this? Is he just making the banal claim that the people liked what Jesus was saying better than the ‘teachers of the law’? Or is he trying to convey something more profound? In this episode we will conclude that Matthew is conveying something rich with meaning. We will dive in and figure out what Matthew is saying about authority; why he thought Jesus had it, and the ‘teachers of the law’ did not.

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Jesus does not have the kind of authority that comes from human institutions (Matthew 8)

[0:58] Matthew is getting at a very important question. Who should we listen to? In the times of Jesus there were two prominent religious groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but there were many other voices too. Even within the Pharisees and Sadducees there were different schools of thought. Just like today, people did not agree on everything, and it was up to each individual and to each community, to decide whom they would listen to and follow. These decisions are important — often a matter of life and death. This is why Matthew talks about authority. How can we really know whose advice is solid when it comes to the most important decisions in life? Who speaks with the authority of God?

When the Sermon on the Mount ends, it is not yet clear what Matthew means by saying Jesus has authority. All he has given us so far is the teaching. However, throughout the rest of his gospel, Matthew contrasts Jesus and his teaching, with that of the Torah experts — the Pharisees and Sadducees. By walking through these sections of Matthew, we will be able to understand what he is saying about authority.

[2:16] The next thing Matthew (chapter 8) does is tell us two stories. In both stories, Jesus heals someone simply by his spoken word. In the first story Jesus heals a man with a skin disease and in the second he heals the servant of a Roman centurion. Matthew is telling us that Jesus has authority that makes a difference in the real world; it can heal people. In the first story Jesus touches a man with a skin disease. Instead of Jesus becoming contaminated by the man’s disease, which was the thinking of the time, a contagion of health and goodness goes the opposite way, and the skin disease is healed[1].

In the second story, the Roman centurion says to Jesus, “just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’ and he goes and than one ‘Come’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this’ and he does it.” What an interesting comment by the centurion! The first thing to observe is that Jesus has exactly zero of the kind of authority that the Roman centurion has. If the centurion’s soldiers or servants don’t do what he says, they will lose their jobs, or worse. Soldiers who do not follow orders usually do not fair well. Jesus does not have a single person under his command in this way. He does not have any of the authority that comes from human institutions. He does have a few disciples, but they are following him on a purely voluntarily basis and can leave at any time — and many did leave[2]. And yet the centurion recognizes that Jesus does have authority. Jesus can, ‘just say the word’ and things will happen. But it is an authority that comes from somewhere else; it does not come from the human institutions of law and government.

Next, Matthew tells us stories about Jesus calming a storm and healing two demon-possessed men again, simply by speaking the word. In these stories the people who see the miracles find the authority of Jesus scary. After Jesus calms the storm, the disciples are disturbed and ask themselves, “What kind of human is this?” After the healing of the demon-possessed men the people who live in the area ‘plead with Jesus to leave the region[3]. You might expect great miracles like this to result in excitement and gratitude, but the main emotions that come through are fear and discomfort. The authority of Jesus can be disturbing.

God has given authority to forgive sins to men (Matthew 9)

[5:14] In the next chapter in Matthew describes a disagreement between Jesus and the ‘teachers of the law’ about who can forgive sins. Tim Mackie discusses this disagreement in an episode in his podcast entitled, ‘who can forgive sins’?[4] He says that this passage presents “Jesus the authority figure”. In the story, Jesus heals a paralyzed man and offers him forgiveness from sins. To the Pharisees this is blasphemy. From their perspective, Jesus had crossed a line and is acting like he is God. God alone has the authority to forgive sins. For Jews of that time there was a very specific process for getting God’s forgiveness from sin. The sinner had to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem and offer a sacrifice. An animal would be brought in front of the priest, it would be killed, its blood drained and its body burned on the alter, then the priest would announce forgiveness. If this process was followed, then the priest was believed to have had the authority to offer God’s forgiveness. In turns out saying, ‘only God can forgive sins’ results in a monopoly on God’s forgiveness for the Temple system.

But Jesus breaks all the rules and says that he has the authority to forgive sins. And it gets worse — the passage ends by telling us that ‘the people praised God who had given such authority to humankind’. In other words, it is not just Jesus who can freely forgive sins but possibly any human. In fact (John 20:23), at another time Jesus tells his disciples, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven” In other words, Jesus’s disciples are all supposed to go around forgiving people’s sins, just like he did. No need for any more sacrifices at the Temple.

[7:20] This conflict draws a sharp contrast between the authority of the Pharisees and the authority of Jesus. Similar to the centurion, we see the authority of the Pharisees derives from human institutions. In this case, it is the institution of the Temple. The Temple has a whole set of rules that help organize society by meting out the forgiveness of God on a transactional basis. Again we also see that human institutions confer zero authority on Jesus. His self-proclaimed authority comes from somewhere else. It is a scary authority because it upsets social norms and potentially destabilizes society. Most people liked the Temple system because the rules were clear. You just had to follow them. But it is also a freeing authority because social norms are inevitably unfair and oppressive.

The Temple system was based on a set of mandatory rules with a shaky theoretical justification. Everyone was obligated to bring an animal and have it killed in order to be forgiven. Does God really only forgive when an animal is killed? Neither the Pharisees nor Sadducees, nor anyone else can provide evidence that this is true. It can only be justified by a circular set of arguments that point back to various human sayings, writings and traditions. On the other hand what Jesus is saying makes sense. Humans certainly have difficulty forgiving others, but there is no evidence that God has this same problem. Humans often want revenge and payback when someone has wronged them. On the other hand we also know that some people can freely forgive. You can probably think of some from your personal life. Here are a few stories from the Bible: Esau forgave Jacob for steeling his blessing, Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery and Stephen forgave the people who were stoning him to death (Acts 7:58–60). If these humans are able to freely forgive, isn’t it more likely that if there is a God, she is able to forgive too[5]? At the very least, we shouldn’t believe people who say we have to follow their rules to get God’s forgiveness. They don’t have evidence to back it up. Jesus tells us we shouldn’t accept placement of these kinds of burdens on people. What gives him the authority to say this? It is his connection to reality and truth that is the source of Jesus’s authority, not human institutions.

Divine authority looks like servant leadership — no lording over others. (Matthew 20)

[10:16] Later in Matthew (20:25) Jesus provides some direct teaching on authority to his disciples. Jesus says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” Jesus is not just describing the Romans here, he is describing how leadership works in all human institutions. Our institutions always have a chain of command, with senior leaders, mid-level leaders, junior leaders and then everybody else. But Jesus tells his disciples that this is not to be the way for them. Instead of leading by taking on institutional authority, they are to be servants. This is a very radical approach to organizing human society. Just pause and think about how difficult this is for a moment. It will be pretty difficult to get anything done, if we swear off of institutions. But this is the way for Jesus and those who want to follow him.

That being said, Jesus recognizes that the Pharisees and Sadducees have a legitimate role to play. For example, he says (Matthew 23), “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see … they love the places of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues, they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi’.” End quote.

It is not that the Pharisees were bad people. They were normal people, who happened to be leading or have social status from human institutions. Just like our leaders today, they faced many pressures and a key part of their role was protecting the institutions that entrusted them with authority. If they don’t protect the institution, they will be out of a job. Of course, as Jesus also points out, there are benefits and privileges that come with playing these kinds of roles — both financial and social. Who can blame the Pharisees for loving these benefits? Don’t we all?

So Jesus recognizes that the Pharisees have a legitimate role to play in society and at the same time he choses to play a different kind of role, and he tells his disciples to do the same. Jesus chooses to lead as an outsider to the power structure, and not take on authority from human institutions.

The truth usually comes from the fringes of society and human authorities are hostile to it

[13:23] The idea of God using outsiders and people of no-account to accomplish his purposes is a regularly recurring Biblical theme: For example,

• God’s promise to bless all nations came to an old couple, with a dried up womb. They were wandering Arameans (Deuteronomy 26:5), without a home. God’s promise didn’t go to the centers of power in Babylon, Egypt or the Hittite Empire.
• The chosen people were descendants from salves. They were not of noble birth, like many other peoples have claimed.
• When Israel entered the Promised Land Rahab the prostitute helped them. Rahab was the hero of the story.
• Israel was a weak country that rarely amounted to much. They were basically hillbillies surrounded by and often occupied by, much more powerful and sophisticated neighbours. In addition to the countries I have already mentioned, think of the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon, Assyria, Persia and Greece. These countries were the centers of cultural, technological and military power — not Israel and Judah.
• The prophets like Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah were known for speaking ‘truth to power’. They were mistreated and often killed because the political leaders did not like their message. Although they were viewed as heroes in retrospect, their messages were upsetting to those who were maintaining social order.
• Although there were many widows in the prophet Elijah’s time, he was cared for by one who belonged to Israel’s enemy, Sidon (Luke 4:35).
• King David and therefore Jesus as well, were descended from Ruth, who was an out-of-luck foreign widow.
• Jesus himself was born to a poor carpenter with questionable parenthood; he was born in a stable and not a palace, and the politically powerful in Rome likely never even heard of him during his lifetime.
• The Pharisees, Sadducees and Israel’s other leaders rejected Jesus’s message. For example, his home base in Galilee were the towns of Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11:21). After lamenting the fact that the leaders of these towns have said ‘no’ to him, Jesus takes comfort in the fact that the simpler folks have understood his message. He says, “I praise you Father because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.” The ‘little children’ are the meek. They are the ones who accept Jesus’s message, not those in charge of institutions.

[16:18] So yes, there is a long-standing pattern in the Bible of God using outsiders to political power to accomplish his purposes — and those in power being hostile to these underdogs. And Jesus tells us there is no other way. The true Messiah will deliver Israel by following this pattern. For example, Matthew 16:21 tells us “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law.” It wasn’t easy for his disciples to understand this. Peter responds to this by saying, “Never Lord, This shall never happen to you!” Peter’s thought was that Jesus would rise to the top of the human institutions of the day. But Peter was wrong. There was no other way to align with God’s authority other than the path of suffering. In his very last moments in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spends time in earnest prayer asking if there maybe is another way that he has overlooked all this time. But no other way is identified — so he submits himself to a terrible execution at the hands of the Roman and Jewish authorities.

In spite of all this material, most Christians I know still tend to associate divine authority with human institutions. They expect the authoritative word of truth to come from Pope’s, or Church Councils or pastors leading large congregations. And sometimes it does; after all, they sit in Peter’s seat. But the normal path for God’s truth is the same as it has always been — it comes from outside the power structure. It comes in still small voices. It comes from places you would least expect it. And it is up to you, whether you have ears to hear[6].

Calling the Bible authoritative undermines its potential to be the Light of the World

[18:26] What about the Bible? Is the Bible authoritative?

• Well, humans put the Bible together, and it has the backing of church institutions, so it does have human authority.
• In addition, to the extent it captures the message of Jesus, and you believe Jesus had authority, it has the same kind of divine authority that Jesus had.

So yes! Given the Bible has both kinds of authority; it is certainly factually correct to call it authoritative. But there are a couple of reasons I avoid using the word ‘authoritative’ to describe the Bible.

• Firstly, it is inevitably misleading. As can be seen in the gospel of Matthew, authority is complicated. What we think of as authority is what comes from human institutions, but as Jesus demonstrates, the true authority of God comes from the margins, and human institutional authority is usually hostile to it. Using the word ‘authoritative’ without an extensive explanation, inevitably points people in the wrong direction.
• Secondly, from what I’ve seen calling the Bible authoritative is usually a power play. When someone is insisting on the authority of the Bible, they are usually doing it to prop up the institutional authority that they have allegiance to. If we don’t follow their interpretation of the Bible, then we are disobeying God. The reality is, Christians have looked to the same Bible over the past 2,000 years and come up with many different so-called ‘authoritative’ takes on it. I think insisting on the authority of the Bible is a dead end.

As Jesus demonstrates, the true authority that comes from God is characterized by good alignment with the heavens and earth that God created. There is no need to claim the Bible is authoritative, the world we see around us confirms its truth, if we are only willing to open our eyes and see. As we discussed in episode two, Jesus is the Light of the World. It is better to let him shine by using the Bible to aligning our lives with his character. Trying to strong-arm others into our way of thinking through claims to divine authority undermines our attempt to ‘let our little light shine’.

Of course there is a sense in which we all need to submit to God’s authority. We need to submit and obey just like Jesus did, who said he only did what he saw his Father doing. Jesus’s submission was so complete that he could say, that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father. (John 14:9) But this sort of obedience is totally different than submitting to the social institutions of the day. It was because Jesus obeyed the Father than he came into such conflict with the authorities, and they executed him for it.

Matthew has so much more to say about authority

[21:40] Matthew has more material on authority. For example, in Matthew 21 the Pharisees come to Jesus and ask him who gave him authority to do the things he is doing. I can’t believe I am going to skip over a passage like this! But I am. I have already touched on the main themes from Matthew, so it is best to move on.

If you want to dive into any of the Matthew passages I mentioned I encourage you to listen to Tim Mackie’s podcast. I referenced one of Tim’s episodes earlier but he also covers some of the other passages I discussed today. I have left links to Tim’s episodes in the show notes. Tim does a great job of diving into the details of the Bible and really fleshing out what the stories meant in Jesus’s context.

That being said, Tim does not come to the same conclusion on authority as I do. Tim’s main conclusions are that Jesus has authority to deal with the deepest problems in the human heart and that it is liberating to those who are oppressed[7]. This is good and I agree with it, but I think it fails to capture the true radicalness of the text. Jesus doesn’t just use his authority differently than the Pharisees and Sadducees; his authority comes from a completely different source. Jesus’s authority comes from his alignment with the universe that God has created, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ authority comes from human institutions and traditions.

Popular Christianity is often heavily based on human authority and supernatural claims

[23:17] Let’s go back to the question we asked at the beginning of this podcast — who can you trust tell you the truth about the most important things in life? Can you trust me? In this podcast I have likely said some things that are at odds with the Christianity that you are familiar with. Should you seriously consider anything I have said?

Well, I obviously think the answer is ‘yes’, or I wouldn’t be doing this. I think what I am saying lines up well with the way the Bible describes authority and with the reality of the world we see around us. And let me challenge some alternatives:

• From what I have seen, most popular versions of Christianity are heavily reliant on human traditions. They tell you need to believe them because they have the Bible or apostolic tradition or something else and therefore, they are authoritative.
• Popular Christianity is also often heavily reliant on supernatural claims that cannot be verified. For example, claiming that God requires every Israelite to go to the Temple and have an animal sacrificed in order to have their sins forgiven. Or that God isn’t willing to forgive us without his son being killed as a blood payment. There is no way of verifying claims like these. These beliefs exist because they played a helpful role in maintaining the status quo of particular human societies. They do not represent something God wants or needs. As Jesus showed us, God’s forgiveness is free for all, and he is happy for anyone to give it away.
• And lastly, popular versions of Christianity tend to overlook Jesus’s very practical and very earthly teaching on the kingdom of heaven and how in the end, the meek will inherit the earth. Jesus spent most his time talking about this. My thinking is if we want to follow Jesus, our emphasis should be on the same things that Jesus emphasized.

“God is Love” is the New Testament’s ultimate statement on authority (1 John 4)

[25:30] To conclude this episode let’s dig a little deeper on the Bible one more time. You might be saying, “But Brian, the Bible makes lots of claims about the supernatural that can’t be substantiated. We just need to accept them by faith.” My response to this would be, “It makes less of these claims than you probably think.” Often what looks to us like a claim about the supernatural is surprisingly tightly connected to the Bible’s understanding of humanity — we have just learned to read it wrong. For example, consider the claim that “God is Love”. These three words seem like a nice little platitude; comforting words that are likely wishful thinking. A friend of my parents made a stitching of them and gave it to my wife and I as a wedding gift, and we have it hanging on our wall. These words are nice, but I would also say they are a powerful claim about humanity that is rich with meaning. “God is Love” totally debunks the common understanding of divinity and authority:

• The Roman emperors Caesar Augustus and Tiberius claimed to be divine. People all across the empire worshiped them. To this the Biblical authors said, ‘No. Those who have risen to the top of human institutions are not divine. True divinity does not exercise coercive power like this.’
• The Sadducees and Pharisees claimed to be God’s representatives because of their status in Jewish religious institutions. To this the Biblical authors said, ‘Not really. God is actually represented by the man who was publicly executed and never stopped loving his enemies’.
• These were the authorities of Jesus’s time, and our times are basically the same. We worship those who have risen to the top of the sports world, the entertainment industry, business, government and religious institutions. I acknowledge these authorities have a legitimate role to play in Homo sapien society, but their claims to divinity are baseless. Don’t let them fool you. They will end up in the dustbin of history and the meek will inherit the earth.
• “God is love” is not just a nice platitude. “God is Love” is the New Testament’s ultimate statement on authority. If you want to know who to believe, look at who is hanging on the cross. He is the true King. All authority in heaven and earth is given to him (Matthew 28:18). If you are looking to Governments and Popes and church councils you are looking in the wrong direction. They may get it right from time to time, but in most cases, the truth is on the fringes of the community and human authorities crucify it. This is where we should be looking for God’s truth. This is where we are most likely to find real divine authority.

Episode Summary

[28:40] OK. That was some heavy lifting! Let me summarize this episode by listing the four differences between human authority and divine authority:

1. Firstly, human authority is based on the coercive power of social institutions. It almost always creates winners and losers, directing violence towards those who are vulnerable. God does not work like that. Words that describe his approach to leadership include unconditional love, invitation and inspiration. ‘God is Love’ is the New Testament’s ultimate statement on what divine authority looks like.

2. Secondly, human authority comes from the center of the community, the power structure of the status quo. God’s authority usually comes from the margins of society.

3. Thirdly, human authority is based on human traditions — sayings, customs, documents, books and codified laws. Divine authority comes from lining up well with the heavens and earth that God created. It can often be supported by investigative methods such as scientific experimentation.

4. Lastly, human authority is transactional, like at the temple, or like money. You need to give something to get something. God’s authority is based on gifts freely given with no strings attached.

Those are the four key differences. May we all have ears to hear the kind and gentle voice of the God, calling to us from the margins of society, inviting us towards a more loving way of being.

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Trailer for the next episode

[30:35] The apostle Paul compared Adam from the first book of Genesis to Jesus, even calling Jesus the second Adam (1 Co 15:45). To Paul, Adam and Jesus represent two different types or patterns of humanity. In the next episode we will take a closer look at these patterns. What is unique about Homo Sapiens such that they have come to dominate all the other animals? And what about the new humanity? How does its emergence and uniqueness compare to Homo Sapiens? I hope you can join!

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[1] Tim Mackie’s podcast, “Exploring my Strange Bible” episode 91 “Make me Clean”. https://bibleproject.com/podcast/matthew-p13-make-me-clean/

[2] John 6:66

[3] Tim Mackie’s podcast, “Exploring my Strange Bible” episode 92 “Storms and Swine” https://bibleproject.com/podcast/matthew-p14-storms-and-swine/

[4] Tim Mackie’s podcast, “Exploring my Strange Bible” episode 94 “Who can forgive sins?” https://bibleproject.com/podcast/matthew-p16-who-can-forgive-sins/

[5] Could also explore Old Testament examples of when God freely forgave. For example, God forgave David for what he did to Uriah and Bathsheba. In Psalm 51 David tells us the Lord does not delight in burnt offerings, so he is not brining any. (Full story in 2 Samuel 12). Another example is in 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” All that is required is genuine repentance, no sacrifice of animals, no death of Jesus. Additional passages that reference God’s forgiveness include Numbers 14:20, Psalm 32:5, Psalm 65:3, Psalm 78:38, Psalm 85:2, Psalm 103:3, Psalm 130:4, Jeremiah 5:1, Jeremiah 36:3, Micah 7:18.

[6] Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35. Matthew 11:15 has slightly different wording.

[7] Tim Mackie’s podcast, “Exploring my Strange Bible” episode 94 “Who can forgive sins?” https://bibleproject.com/podcast/matthew-p16-who-can-forgive-sins/ Tim summarizes what Jesus’s authority is like at 45:30. “Let’s ask our questions again? What does Jesus do with his authority? He doesn’t maintain his distance. He meets this broken man right where he is at. What kind of authority does Jesus has? He has authority to name and deal with the deepest brokenness and sin and flaws and failures of the human heart and mind. What kinds of people are threatened by that authority? People who are more interested in preserving religious traditions than encountering the living God in a transforming personal encounter. That’s who is threatened by Jesus. And who finds themselves liberated by the authority of Jesus? People with faith. People who just have this deep conviction there is something really wrong with me, with my friend. I can’t do anything about it. I just need to get in front of Jesus. And people who are willing to come to Jesus and just surrender it all and just say I need your help Jesus. They find Jesus’s authority absolutely healing and transformative.”