Text: Matthew 8:1–4
Preacher: Pastor Brian Sauvé
Exousia
I’d like to begin our time this morning, before with get into our text, Matthew’s concise summary of the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, with a somewhat extended introduction, to do some spade work in one of the foundational issues we will run into in our text this morning—which is the issue of authority.
One of the foundational issues in the world is authority. It’s hierarchy.
This issue—this issue of domain, of jurisdiction, of the privilege and right to rule, or power and who ought rightly to have it—is one of the fundamental issues—in a sense, the fundamental issue— under all issues.
Think about how many of the problems and controversies that plague mankind are about power and rule and dominion and hierarchy. Whose vision for the world will be carried out, and by what authority? Whose political vision, and where do those political rulers get their authority? Whose vision for education, sexuality, marriage, parenting, money and economics, international relations, trade, etc. Is it simply whoever has the biggest guns at that time? Does might make right? All of these are issues of authority, of power and jurisdiction.
So every controversy in the world right now—from racial tensions to feminism to transgenderism to whether or not you are allowed to shop at Walmart with your face visible—is connected on the level of foundations to this question of authority. And this problem is an intractable problem for man, a thorny one, because by definition, you cannot solve the authority problem without appealing to authority.
Do you follow me? If I say, into any of those controversies, “This is the standard, the law, the good, for this issue. Do this and it will work out,” then anyone can and ought to respond, “By what authority do you speak? Says who?”
So unless we all bend the knee to a shared authority, we are, and will remain, at an impasse. To solve the authority problem requires an authority above all other authorities. That’s what we need. To even solve the authority problem, we need an authority.
But this issue has been tangled up and upended from the beginning, because the first thing sin does is subvert the proper hierarchy of creation. Man was created by God, and man was given authority in the name of God—that’s what it means that man was to take dominion.
But when we fell, we handed off that authority to another. When man fell—God’s vicegerent, one given representative authority, the authority to exercise dominion as an expression of a higher authority’s power and dominion—the cosmic hierarchy was set out of joint. It was flipped. So man, who was to be master under the rule of the Master, the Creator, became mastered. Sin ruled over man. The serpent seized a false authority.
Fast forward to the scene in Matthew 4, where Christ was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Remember one of the temptations? Worship the Serpent, and all the kingdoms of the world and their glory will be given to Christ. In Luke’s parallel in Luke 4, the devil says, “To you I will give all this exousia and their glory.” Exousia is a Greek word which means “authority,” it means the one who, whether out of his own substance or by delegated right, has the power and right to rule.
This scene reminds me of one of my favorite moments in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe, where an evil witch has conquered the land of Narnia, but Aslan, the Lion, the Son of the Emperor over the Sea (whom Lewis presents as a type of Christ) has come to dispute her rule. And at one point a messenger is sent by the witch to parley with Aslan, and the messenger says,
“The Queen of Narnia and Empress of the Lone Islands desires a safe conduct to come and speak with you.” And one of the attendants who is with Aslan, Mr. Beaver, hears this and retorts, “Queen of Narnia, indeed! Of all the cheek—”
To which Aslan replies, “Peace, Beaver, all names will soon be restored to their proper owners. In the meantime we will not dispute about noises.”
See, Christ came to set the world aright, not just to restore what had been broken by Adam’s sin, but to bring it past restoration into glory, into greater glory even than Eden in its innocence, to man not only restored to his purpose of representative rule in God’s name, but to restored and glorified authority. He came not just to deal with the issue of sin—by way of his death, burial, and resurrection to pay the debt of our sin and grant us forgiveness and redemption—but also with the issue of authority, of rule.
Such that by the time Jesus is finished with his first coming, he lays down a cross to take up up a scepter and to restore the cosmic order that had been sundered. And so in Ephesians 1:19–2:10,
“[Paul would have us know]…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority [exousia] and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air [the prince of the exousia of the air], the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
-Ephesians 1:19–2:10
And in his letter to the Colossians, Paul helps us further,
“He has delivered us from the domain [exousia] of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
-Colossians 1:13–14
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
-Colossians 1:16
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule [exousia] and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers [exousia] and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
-Colossians 2:8–15
In our text this morning, Matthew 7:28–29, we will see that by the end of his Sermon on the Mount, the light of Jesus authority had begun to shine through the veil that it had previously been cloaked under. By the time he steps down from his mountain, the world has begun to see who they are dealing with.
Look with me, if you would, at Matthew 7:28. This is the Word of the Living God:
“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
-Matthew 7:28–29
Thus ends the reading of God’s Word. May he write it on our hearts by faith.
With that foundation laid, we’ll work through three things to notice in the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in this concise postscript to the sermon from Matthew.
First, we’ll see what astonished them, namely, Jesus’ authority. Second, we’ll see how the crowds recognized that authority. Finally, we’ll see the inadequacy of their response to Jesus’ teaching and authority, and how they and we ought to respond.
Astonished at His Exousia
When Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished.
What astonished them? What about his sayings and manner of teaching astonished them—and should also astonish you? What does Matthew say? Matthew tells us that it was the authority with which he spoke which astonished them. Something about this sermon made these people conclude, “This man is like no other we have heard before. This man is not like our scribes and our Pharisees. He speaks with exousia.”
The comparison is telling, the comparison between Christ and the scribes and Pharisees. See, they were men who loved authority. They loved to have it, wield it, revel in it, and abuse it. In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces woes upon them. In just the first part of that chapter, he says,
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
-Matthew 23:2–12
They had some authority, insofar as they spoke the words of others. They had authority when they taught what Moses said, because those were the words of God. But they had no authority in themselves, and everything they did showed that they were not themselves under the authority of Moses. They said his words, but did not do them. And so Matthew Henry writes, commenting on this passage, wrote,
“The reason [they were astonished] was because he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. The scribes pretended to as much authority as any teachers whatsoever, and were supported by all the external advantages that could be obtained, but their preaching was mean, and flat, and jejune: they spake as those what were not themselves masters of what they preached: the word did not come from them with any life or force; they delivered it as a school-boy says his lesson; but Christ delivered his discourse, as a judge gives his charge. He… [delivered] his discourses with a tone of authority; his lessons were law; his word a word of command. Christ, upon the mountain, showed more true authority, than the scribes in Moses’s seat. Thus when Christ teaches by his Spirit in the soul, he teaches with authority. He says, Let there be light, and there is light.”
Unlike the Pharisees, when Jesus spoke, he did so as one with authority that did not reside in his mere quoting of others. It was an authority that come out of his own substance. He spoke as the Word of God, the very speech of the divine. Remember what we learned in the book of Hebrews:
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
-Hebrews 1:1–2
When you listen to Jesus, you are listening to the one who, in the last days of Old Covenant Israel, came forth as the very speech of God in flesh. You are listening to the voice of God, the authority of God, the word of God in flesh. You are listening to the heir of all things, the beloved Son of the Father. You are listening to the one who made the mountain on which he stands as he speaks, along with every other mountain and planet and star cubic-inch of space. You are listening to the Word by whose word the universe is upheld, nanosecond to nanosecond.
Astonishing Claims
And here’s the question we ought ask at this point: How did they see it? What was it in this sermon that made his exousia visible to the crowds? What made this unbridled power and authority of Jesus visible to them? Think about that with me, and think about what didn’t do it.
Was it an overt display of force, shock and awe? Was it that he went up on his mountain like Moses, and fire and smoke descended and danced there? No.
Was it his appearance? Did he look like Zeus on Mount Olympus? No. He had no form or majesty that any would look on, Isaiah prophesied. He was a man of about thirty, standing on a hill in the countryside, preaching a sermon.
So what was it that astonished them—and the sense of the word Matthew uses for astonished might be translated into our day to day speech, “blew them away.” A strong word. What did that?
It was his teaching. His words. That exousia—that out-of-his-own-substance authority of Jesus—was unveiled in his claims, his words, his instruction, his teaching.
His authority was displayed in his astonishing claims, and his authority is what made him qualified to issue the kinds of astonishing claims which he did. what allows him to make the kinds of astonishing claims he does in the sermon. Think about some of the central claims of this sermon:
He claimed that the single variable which would determine whether you were destroyed by God—like a man who built his house on sand before a flood—or loved by God was whether or not you heard and obeyed his words. What you did with himself was the decisive factor in whether or not you were on the narrow road to life or the broad way to destruction.
Throughout, he claimed authority on par with the Old Testament! You have heard it said, but I say to you, he said over and over. He even claimed authority to fulfill the Law and the Prophets!
It wasn’t in overt displays of divine power that the crowds saw his authority and reacted in astonishment. It was his teaching. It was the authority that he clearly claimed for himself—the authority of God.
Astonishment is Not Enough
And so when Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished.
They were astonished at his words and claims and manner—that he seemed to think he could speak out of his own substance, as if he was as God, descending to Sinai to deliver the Law. They were astonished at these things, and friends—that is not nearly enough.
It is not nearly enough to merely walk away astonished. You must go further. You must submit. You must worship. You must come for mercy. You must build on this rock, walk this narrow way, obey this Jesus as Lord and God and Savior.
The authority of Jesus makes demands on you. It tells you what to do. It asks you, “What will you do with this Lord and with his words? What will you do with me?”
Jesus doesn’t let you deal with him as we so often want to deal with him, as a mere sage, a mere advice-giver, a mere suggestion-maker, a mere life coach. No, his authority makes demands, and those demands can only be met in one of two ways: Submission or rebellion. Either look to him as the authority above all authorities, or be crushed as a rebel under his feet.
So the question which faced them faces us, faces you: Will you submit to his word, his teaching, his rule, his lordship? Or will you rebel against the same? His words are the words of life. His way is the way to life. And by the end of this gospel, he will prove it.