Authority then and now

Let's discuss authority today. It's a lost art, isn't it? The other day you saw the picture of the Arizona governor wagging a finger in the face of our president, and the pundits all went crazy about how that was disrespectful. My thought? It was disrespectful of the office. It was the man she was disagreeing with. See, we often think of authority as being the same as power, and there is no arguing that the office of the president is powerful. But the man must earn it, right?

Authority? Remember when the office and the man were highly thought of as if they were one? I remember when the president of the United States, for reasons I have no earthly idea, went riding by our school when I was way young. Waving to us. We all stood out there like little dummies waiting, then in five seconds or so the guy went by and we were waving fools. Then we were let loose to return to class.

Symbols and authority have existed for eons.

I read this today from John's Gospel: So Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth; the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing." In other words, Jesus' authority has been established because He and the Father are one.

Jesus' authority is a big issue in scripture. In Mark he tells a man, "¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He has authority to forgive sins. In Mark he tells others, "The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law." He has authority to teach as if he had been given the right to. In Matthew, we see this exchange:  Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” ²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Authority was given Jesus by the Heavenly Father, we can figure. It means we can understand that the man and the office of the Son of God were one and completely worthy of his authority.

The authority of the man in the office of the presidency isn't quite the same, is it?  Just a thought.