"What is this? A new teaching with authority!" (Mk 1: 27), the crowd exclaims about Jesus. The son of a tradesman, brought up in the provinces, is able to not only teach but also to act with an authority "not as the scribes." (Mk 1: 22) Yet, when we read the Scriptures, so much of Jesus' teaching is grounded in the Torah. He quotes the Book of Deuteronomy and the Psalms to the devil during his temptations in the desert (Mtt 4: 1-11) and when challenged on marriage he states: "But from the beginning of creation..." (Mk 10: 6) Jesus is not new because he is innovating rather his teaching is new because it realizes and enacts all that is at the core of what we call the Old Testament in a new and powerful way. He does not rely on teachers from Jerusalem nor does he enter the debates between the different schools of rabbis such as those of Hillel and Shammai. Rather, he speaks the truth with conviction and acts, not with the authority of the religious authorities, but conscious of the mission given to him by the Father. In the Gospel of John he replies to his critics: "My father is still working, and I also am working" (Jn 5: 17) and, to those who are amazed at his cure of the paralytic, he says: "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." (Mk 2: 10) I think this tells us that we do not need to pick up on the latest theological or spiritual fad in order to be "new" or current. Rather, we need to speak with sincerity and conviction of the Gospel message which is evergreen and has an authority and power of its own.
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