Teaching with Authority. Mk. 1:21-28
Everyone has an opinion.
And everyone thinks their opinion is right.
So how does one know who to listen to ?
Who is telling the truth?
Jesus taught with Authority.
And He backed up us Authoritative Teaching
With action.
He cast out the unclean spirit.
Before one listens to what someone says;
One should first look at what they do!
To see if their actions back up their words.
Feast of Saint Hillary 315-368AD
Hillary was staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a “disturber of the peace.” In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived out in both scholarship and controversy. He was bishop of Poitiers in France.
Raised a pagan, he was converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.
“There is no space where God is not; space does not exist apart from Him. He is in heaven, in hell, beyond the seas; dwelling in all things and enveloping all"
The last words of Jesus before He ascended into Heaven were,
“Make disciples of all the nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Mt. 28:19
Why did Jesus say this?
Because He said “unless one is born of water and the Spirit one cannot enter the Kingdom of God Jn. 3:5
Baptism is the beginning of the Re-Creation of the world.
Everything God created was Good. Gen. 1:31
And then Sin entered the world. Gen. 3
This is known as The Original Sin.
Where everything went from being Good to Bad.
Where everything in the world eventually dies.
And all of Humanity and Creation have been infected and affected by Original Sin.
God chose to begin the Re-Creation of the world again by His Son shedding his Blood on the cross,
For there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. Heb. 9:22
Now We can’t go back in time to Calvary and be washed in His Blood;
So through Baptism,
Calvary comes to us!
For when we are Baptized we go down into the waters, and we die with Christ. Col. 2:12
And when we come up out of the waters will live a new life with Christ.
With each Baptism,
A person is set free from sin to live a new life with Christ as His disciple.
At Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, and become adopted children of God who now call God, our Father .Gal.4:6
This is why Jesus said “go Baptize the nations for unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”
For Through Baptism we are washed clean of sin and through the Holy Spirit that we receive at Baptism we call God our Father once again.
Baptism is important therefore because it is the beginning of the Re-Creation of the Universe one soul at a time.
One has to pray.
Just joining a gym doesn’t mean you’re going to get in shape.
One has to exercise.
Just enrolling in a school doesn’t mean you’re going to learn anything.
One has to study.
And just Looking at the stars didn’t mean the Wise men were going to find the Savior.
They had to follow it.
There are Stars throughout our life leading us.
But we have to follow them.
Easier said than done
sometimes Grief and sorrow; suffering and loss
Has a tendency to blind us.
Sometimes we have our nose to the grindstone so much;
We never look up.
No matter how dark the night;
There are stars in the sky.
Billions of them.
One for everyone.
For the lost and the lonely.
The doubters and those in despair.
The overworked and heavily burdened.
Take a moment and look up.
Find your star
And then follow it.
What made the wisemen wise is that they follow their star?
Call My Name.
You can be in a crowded room and everyone is talking
And you may not be listening or following the conversations
But as soon as someone from across the room
Calls out your name,
Your turn and stop
And look and listen.
Because there is something about hearing one’s name called,
That makes a person stop and listen.
It is the same with Jesus.
When we call out His Name with Love.
He too stops and listens.
And turns His Face towards us.
Who am I?
The priests and levites wanted to know who John the Baptist was.
Was he the Christ?
Was he Elijah?
Was he a prophet?
John was none of them.
He was a voice!
A voice crying out in the desert.
Everyone in the world is try to tell us who we are.
And what we are.
Do not listen to them.
No one can tell you who you are but yourself.
And “Who am I” is the probably the greatest question
We can ask ourselves.
And quite possibly the most difficult one to answer.
But there is one Person Who does Know.
Christ!
Ask Him and He will tell you.
