Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes... All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority...
Jesus, Master with “authority”
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, we see Jesus ”sitting” on the “chair” of Moses. Today is the synagogue; other days will be the “mountain” or the seashore. The bottom line, however, is that he teaches not like the teachers who are trained to do in schools; he sits there just like “Moses the greatest”, which extends the Alliance to all the people: Jesus was a “true Israelite” and at the same time, he was beyond Judaism.
The Rabbis also sat in the chair of Moses and therefore had authority. Their teachings had to be heard and accepted, although they lived contradicted lives and were not authority (it was received from “Other”). The expressions of amazement at Jesus Christ are not related to the rhetoric quality of his words, but the obvious claim to be at the same level as the Lawgiver, the same level as God: “I tell you…”
—What’s new is that You, Jesus, are God, and therefore you are Master of all men.
