Matthew 7:29: “For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.”
“Let us so lie so that when we die even the undertake will be sorry.” Mark Twain
I grew up in Baptist church were preaching was preaching. I mean we would not tolerate any of these sissy little fuzzy sweet love sermons. I’m talking fire and brimstone preaching, real Billy Sunday type stuff with a lot of shouting, hollering, rapid fire, never miss a mark and breaking chairs over your knees. Now that’s preachin’, that shows you’ve got the Spirit on you, it shows real anointing. I mean the best preachers where the ones who had attitude. You don’t get in their way, they had fire in their eyes and bad breathe to boot. The really best of these preachers could whip a crowd up into such a frenzy that you would do ten laps around the church while reaching in your pockets for your lunch money to throw in the offering plate.
The justification for all this was Matthew 7:29 where Jesus taught as one having authority. But really was this the way Jesus taught when he taught with authority? There is a big difference between being authoritative and manipulative. The Greek word used here for authority is exousian which is used to express power, authority, control or empowerment. Remember the Godfather when Marlon Brando calmly, without a raised voice, almost off handedly said: “I gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” Now that was exousian, power, control, authority.
One who has authority and responsibility often just naturally shows it from their sense of bearing, their look, their whole attitude. It is something natural. You can easily spot the phonies because they have to act like they have authority. If you have authority, you don’t have to act like it, people just know it.
What has always bothered me about this verse is the little Greek word hos before the word exousian (authority). That word is rendered as or as if. Jesus spoke as or as if He had authority. You see the scribes and Pharisees were not that much different that our teachers are today. They spent their time quoting other teachers. If I were to say the Greek word exousian really means religious authority you will immediately ask, “Where did you get that from?” You will want me to quote an authoritative source. If I say, C.S. Lewis, then it is ok, he is a trusted and established authority. For some people I could say Mortimer Snerd and that would be ok so long as I did not come up this stuff myself. Most of my Bible College and Seminary training was just sitting around discussing what other people who were established authorities sat around discussing. Jesus, however, was not quoting anyone, he spoke like one as if he had authority or the right to be the originator of a doctrine or theology.
The Aramaic word is a little more revealing. It is the word mashalath from the root word mashal. This word too means authority, power, control and empowerment. But it also has as secondary meaning, it also means a parable or to create an or by an association. The Aramaic word for authority, mashal, carries the idea of one who not only has authority but also the right to pass that authority onto others, to create an association. In other words Jesus spoke not as one who bowed to the teachings of other authorities but established himself as an authority with the right to create his own association. If Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life,” you do not go running to Hillel or C.S. Lewis and say, “Well Hillel and C.S. Lewis says it is ok therefore it is ok to believe it.”
Jesus is our final authority, His Word, the Bible is our authority. Just because some dusty old professor who calls himself Chaim Bentorah says mashal means the authority to create an association does not give you the right to quote me and use my so called, fancied status as an authority over the Word of God. Ultimately your authority is the Word of God and what the Holy Spirit reveals to you about the Word of God. Our Western concept of teaching is to have someone stand at a podium and speak while the audience takes notes and ask questions that will clarify what the speaker or teacher is saying. The ancient Semitic form of teaching, the rabbinical way, is to have one knowledgeable person ask a student a question and let the student answer the question, perhaps with a question of his own which is answered with a question. Ultimately the student draws the knowledge out of himself or through the Spirit of God.
But did not Jesus use a Western style of preaching in the previous verses when he spoke the Sermon on the Mount? Ah, that is another interesting twist on the word mashal. For encompassed in this word mashal is the authority of the heart. The Scribes and Pharisees simply quoted their teachers and their minds. Jesus spoke from His heart. A message of love from the heart often comes out soft and gentle. A message of anger or pride from the heart many times comes out loud and manipulative.
I believe Jesus spoke softly and gently from His heart and people knew and felt that love and compassion and could only respond, “He spoke as if he had authority” or the right to say something without quoting some other teacher.
I met a man once who showed mashal. I met him at a Founders Day conference at Moody Bible Institute when I was a student working the information booth. He came up to the booth and asked if there were any messages for George Schuler. He looked to be in his late sixties or early seventies. He had twinkle in his eye, a warm smile and glow on his face that I could read with a light meter. When he walked away I was so impressed by his presence I said out loud, “I bet he is someone important.” A person standing next to me asked: “Why would you say that?” I said, “I don’t know it was as if — I am not sure.” My friend finished for me, “As if being in his presence was a blessing?” I responded, “That is it exactly, it was like being in his presence was a blessing.” My friend then said, “That is George Schuler, he is in his mid-nineties, he used to be a music teacher at Moody and a song writer. His most famous song is Make Me A Blessing.”
I had sung that song in church and youth groups hundreds of times growing up but never thought of those words:
Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing
Out of my life, May Jesus shine.
Make me a blessing, oh Savior I pray,
Make me a blessing to someone today.
George Schuler showed true mashal (authority by association) for out of his life I could see Jesus shine. We don’t show mashal by shouting, yelling or having an attitude, we show it by letting Jesus shine through us. Then we have mashal, authority by association with Jesus. Then we are truly a blessing by association.
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