Jesus rebukes an evil spirit.  Those around Jesus soon learn that he speaks and acts with authority.  The root of authority is author.  If I’m the author of a book, then I speak with authority.  Jesus is described elsewhere in the Bible as ‘The author of life’.  (Acts 3:15).  Who better to speak and act with authority?

The way that Jesus influences situations is to do with who he is, and not the power that he has.  Contrast that with the comment about the scribes -the religious leaders-  who do not speak with authority.

Power is about position, and strength, and being able to make people do things even if they do not want to.  Authority comes from who you are as a person.

I discovered early on in my teaching career that although I had a limited amount of power, in the end, what I needed was to have authority. That authority needed to be a part of who I was as a person, and what I said and did needed to be fair, if the students were to respect me.

I’m reminded again of EAPPI, (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Israel and Palestine), which is based on acting not with power but with the authority that comes from resistance to evil in a non violent manner.

If you’re a Christian you’ll have thought, prayed, sung about the cross.  If you’re not – (a Christian that is) – you may have never given it a second thought.

I think about it a lot.  And because I believe it’s at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, I want to be able to talk about it intelligently and accurately.  (As far as that is possible).  Because it is SO important a part of Christian faith, it’s important not to get it wrong.

There’s a school of thought that says it something like this.  People are sinful. Sin needs punishing.  We can’t be in relationship with God because sin has created a barrier between us and God.  We deserve to take the punishment, but God has provided another way.  Jesus, the sinless one, is punished for our sin.  God punished Jesus instead of us.  If we accept this, then we can be saved.

It’s what I grew up with, and I accepted it completely.  (Although there was always something at the back of my mind that didn’t really like it as a good solution to the problem).  The roots of this way of seeing the cross go back a long time, but it was only really expressed as ‘God punished Jesus instead of us’ in the 19th century.  Increasingly over the last 10 years or so I’ve changed my view on this.  In its pure form, this ‘Penal Substitutionary Atonement’ theory of the cross is based on some pretty dodgy ideas.  

1.  That God is violent.  (Well, you have to be violent to punish someone by crucifying them)

2. That violence can solve things. (Might is right).

3. That broken relationships can only be restored by punishment

There may be more … but I’m going to come back to this, don’t worry.

By the way, leading evangelical and social activist Steve Chalke got himself a lot of hate mail when he called this theory of the cross ‘Cosmic child abuse’

I’m hoping that one of the things I’ll be able to do in the next two months is give this some more careful thought – watch this space.

see here for some more http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_050726consumingpassion.shtml

This is the bit where Jesus calls four named disciples.  The word ‘euthus’ (immediately) comes in twice here.

Two disciples are casting their nets – fishing.  The other two are mending their nets.

The call is to follow Jesus.  The call comes to them, not in church or synagogue, but at work.  The call is not to go it alone, but be part of something bigger, with Jesus leading the way.

The two aspects of their old life will also be a part of their new life.  Instead of catching fish, they will be catching people.  Instead of mending nets, they will be involved in mending (making ‘perfect’/whole) people.

But following Jesus will mean much more than that.  If we follow him all the way, it will take us to places where we might not choose to go.  Places where we are not comfortable, places where we risk losing our dignity, or our freedom of action.  

So when I think about following Jesus, I am trying to put myself with those who have not chosen to be where they are.  Those in hospital.  Those without work.  Those going through a breakdown in a relationship.

And I think of those who, like the EAPPI volunteers, are aligning themselves in a practical way with the oppressed.