Authority

Summer camp wasn't exactly Ben's favourite activity of the year. He took a deep breath, trying to summon the energy to confront some of the young campers from his group as they ran riot.

‘Hey, get down from there!’ he called to a little terror as he did his literal Fiddler on the Roof impression. The summons was not heeded.

‘I mean it right now!’ The little boy continued to fiddle away.

Ben sighed, wishing that he was elsewhere. Suddenly, he was aware that a number of the other little terrors...er, boys, had rushed in from playing outside. He overheard one saying, ‘the badest boy is coming!’ (no care for grammar!)

This announcement caused panic. Boys, who up until then had been all over the shop, began ordering themselves, arranging clothes and other items that were strewn everywhere. Each one took up position by his bed and stood shaking, but trying to look inconspicuous. Then he arrived.

In strutted a lean, tall young man with slicked back hair. He surveyed all before him. The little boys remained nonchalant, endeavouring to not attract attention. The young man who had entered, the ‘badest boy' if you will, paced some around the living quarters, and then began to speak. All ears were wide open....

People can command authority for different reasons. In the example above, maybe the older boy was viewed with respect by the younger ones due to his demeanour and way of handling things. Other times, it can all just be about brute force. In any case, we all have people who we submit to in our lives, but also would like to have a certain air of authority over others.

Biblically speaking, we see that Jesus was a man who had authority. When he spoke, people took note, although not all obeyed. Indeed, it was probably His authority that got Him into trouble as the Pharisees realised that due to Him, they were loosing their own dominant position in society (Mark 1:22). He not only had authority in His teaching, but also over evil spirits, sickness, the weather and even death.

Obviously, in His case the source of His authority was more than just His swaggering style; He was God come to earth. This is the only possible conclusion if we take the Gospels at face value and that explains why there exists so much debate about them and who Jesus really was, as people look for other explanations, which allow them to discredit Jesus, so they don't have to submit to His authority.

One line of attack against His authority is with regard to the authenticity of the gospels themselves. Who wrote them? Can they be trusted? Is the text reliable? Well, Jesus passed His teaching, and the work of spreading it, on to the apostles (13 men including Matthias who replaced Judas and Paul).

After, their many years of verbally transmitting the message to those around, towards the end of their lives they assured that the Good News about Jesus would remain accessible to the coming generations by either writing it down, or liaising with others who subsequently wrote it down.

In terms of what has become known as the Gospels, there are two that fall into the former category and two that belong to the second one. Both Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel doesn’t explicitly name him as the author, but his identification with authorship of the gospel arises from early church tradition. Likewise, John’s gospel doesn’t clear state an author, although in its case there is at least an internal note at the end which claims that it was written by the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (John 21:20, 24).

In the case of the other two gospels, the claim is that they were written by men who were closely associated with the apostles. Indeed, Luke at the beginning of his gospel says he has carefully investigated everything that has happened concerning Jesus, using those who were ‘eyewitnesses and servants of the word’ as sources.

Luke himself was not one of the apostles, but he seems to have been closely linked to the apostle Paul. For example, in Paul’s letter to the Colossians (4:14) he is mentioned as being a ‘dear friend’ and a ‘doctor’. Furthermore, some of the passages in the Acts of the apostles include the pronoun ‘we’ thus suggesting that the author was present during the events. An example is in chapter 16 verse 11, where we see the author of Acts setting sail with Paul and his companions. If we accept that Luke was the author of Acts, a probability due to the similarities, such as both books being addressed to ‘Theophilus’.

Finally, with have the gospel of Mark. He also was not an apostle himself, but in his book, there seems to be an autographical note in chapter 14 verses 51 and 52. Here, we see a young man fleeing naked after witnessing Jesus’ arrest. Could this have been John Mark as he was also known? It is a possibility, especially seeing as that in Acts 12:12 we discover that there was a prayer meeting in the home of John Mark’s mother in Jerusalem. This fact gives rise to the speculation that maybe Jesus ate the last supper in the upper room of Mark’s home, and then Mark followed Jesus and His disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. There is an early church tradition that this Mark was a helper and translator for the apostle Peter, something that is supported by Peter’s first epistle which contains at the end the words ‘my son Mark’.

So, when it comes to the authority of the gospels it all boils down to whether one excepts that those who wrote them were genuinely connected to Jesus, be it as His disciples who were with him since the beginning of His ministry, learning from Him and then being sent out as apostles with authority (Acts 1:21, 22) or as those who were closely associated with these apostles.

Ben watched as the so-called ‘badest boy’ departed. He had given the little boys a bit of a chastising. Something about an incident involving a balloon and water. In any case, for all his air of superiority, as soon as his back was turned, the boys began once again their giggling. Indeed, on the ‘badest boy’ had been out of ear shot, choice words had arisen, some of which Ben didn’t even know.

Ben was glad for the temporary order that had been instilled, giving him a little respite. It hadn’t lasted long though. He surmised that this was the problem with human authority. It was always limited. If only he could have some authority from above. That  would certainly have a lasting impact!