there are certain aspects of the ministry of Jesus that give us the willies in our culture. one of them was His speaking definitively. we do enjoy having all the facts and knowledge we can ahead of time. because if we speak, knowing that we’ve done our homework, then we must be right. but we have been wrong in our thoughts so many times, that even when we speak with authority, we still have to throw our caveats in there to cover ourselves.

when Jesus spoke, He wasn’t quoting some other rabbi or priest or anyone else. when He spoke, He was who you were getting. when the other rabbis spoke it was like listening to someone read a research paper, and hearing all the footnotes and attributions read as well. Jesus spoke, and still speaks, by His own authority. we can trust that what He says is true. we can trust that when He speaks, we are getting it straight from God…and for a very good reason. He is God.

so, what do we do with this authoritative word? in a world where we can take things to trial, debate the meaning of the word “is” and appeal over and over again until we’ve forgotten what the trial was about in the first place, how do we deal with divine certainty? with true authority? because we’re not used to it we’re not accustomed to someone having the final word on anything.

something may become a cultural fad, or societal norm, and over time we accept it. if we get bombarded with it enough, we start to believe it. which in the light of our cynical nature, is really sad. since when do we just accept things? when they come from our government, we for some reason believe it’s the Gospel truth. considering that our country was founded, not too long ago, by a group of revolutionaries who had no trust for their previous government, it’s very sad that we have fallen into a blind trust of other men’s leadership and motives.

but in Jesus, we know that His words are true. we know that His testimony is trustworthy. so, let us take what God has given us through the teachings of Jesus, and act on them today. don’t weigh them out against what you know. read, hear, listen to what Jesus says and follow Him. know that His word is the final word. we will see proof of His authority when we do this, when we follow Him as a true disciple follows his rabbi.