And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:22

When we enter a room and see everyone sitting except one person, we naturally assume the one standing is in charge. He is speaking, teaching, or has control of the room—at least for the moment. To persuade or speak with any level of authority, we typically stand as if to take control of the meeting.

The Jewish people in the New Testament, however, had a different approach. In rabbinic tradition, the teacher sat while speaking. We see this many times with Jesus, the wandering Rabbi, whether He was in the synagogue or not. In Luke 4:20, after Jesus had read the Scripture, He sat down to speak. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount begins: “When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. Then He began to teach them” (Matt. 5:1-2). Teaching while seated was teaching from a position of authority.

Mark did not state in our passage that Jesus sat down, but one thing is clear: those who heard Him teach knew He did so with authority. “They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority.”

For the rest of us, any authority we have is limited to the roles we’ve been given. Whether you’re the President of the United States or a mother corralling a three-year-old, your authority only extends so far. It’s finite, earthbound. Yet Christ’s authority is unlimited because it rests intrinsically within Him. He taught with authority like no other because He Himself is that authority. He embodies absolute truth. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Jesus also backed up His authority with His actions. He demonstrated the dependability of His words with miracles.  He paid his taxes with a coin out of the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17:24-27).   He cast out demons His disciples could not (Mark 1:23-27).  He raised the dead (5:35-42). He turned a few fish and bread into a giant meal for thousands (6:30-44).  He walked on water His followers feared (6:45-52). 

His actions and miracles gave credibility to His words. If Jesus’ teachings had gone no further than the ones who originally heard Him speak, the authority in His teaching might have gotten lost on the dusty shelves of history. But His teachings didn’t end with those events. In fact, shortly before He returned to His Father, Jesus commanded His followers to go out in the world and teach on His behalf. Out of His authority, He gave us this charge. What’s more, after He gave this commission, He returned to heaven and, once again, sat down. He sat down at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). Jesus sits in a position of authority today, and He has called us to both live and teach His words from a position of authority. 

The nature and importance of it, it being what they had not been used to hear; only at best the doctrine of the law, and sometimes only the traditions of the elders, or an allegorical and traditional sense of the Scriptures, and things very trifling and unedifying: and also they were amazed at the manner of his preaching, which was with so much gracefulness, gravity, and majesty, and was attended with so much evidence and power:

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