JESUS REVEALS HIS LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

Jesus baptism site - River Jordan 015 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

During the first century, the land promised to Abraham was filled with Roman soldiers who had taken possession of the country by force. An extension of that Roman power lay in the hands of the Roman-appointed priestly aristocracy who had taken control of Jerusalem’s Temple. They had used their wealth and political influence to obtain and maintain their fraudulent authority over the Temple institution. In the midst of these claims of authority, there was Jesus.

All authority in heaven and on earth actually belonged to him (Dan. 7:13–14; Matt. 28:18). In contrast to others, his was the legitimate authority. From place to place he revealed his authority through his words and actions that resulted in the overthrow of evil. In part 2 we will look at various ways Jesus revealed his authority and see again how certain places were often part of that process. In these eleven chapters we will examine events that occurred in places including the Judean Wilderness, the southern Jordan River valley, Nazareth, and the environs of Capernaum.

The Judean Wilderness and southern Jordan River valley were the location for the ministry of John the Baptist, whose coming was prophesied by Isaiah (40:3). We will see that this region provided John with a venue far from the corrupt Temple leadership and a setting that fulfilled the prophecies about him. Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordan River along the edge of the Judean Wilderness. We will consider why baptism in that river and in that region was appropriate to announce Jesus’s authority as a rabbi and reveal him as Messiah.

After his baptism, the Wilderness of Judea became the place where the Spirit of God led Jesus. There in that desolate wilderness, Jesus initially revealed his authority over Satan. The adversary tempted Jesus to circumvent God’s plan for rescue, and we will discuss the nature of the temptations as they pertained to Jesus’s earthly needs, divine purpose, and political authority.

English: This is a map of first century Iudaea Province that I created using Illustrator CS2. I traced this image for the general geographic features. I then manually input data from maps found in a couple of sources. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco: 1998. p. xxiv. Michael Grant. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. Charles Scribner's Sons: 1977. p. 65-67. John P. Meier. A Marginal Jew. Doubleday: 1991. p. 1:434. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nazareth was the place where Jesus revealed his assigned purpose to the community in which he grew up. In the synagogue in Nazareth Jesus pronounced his messianic authority with a strong rebuke for their rejection of God’s rescuing power.

Around Capernaum, where Jesus moved to fulfill a prophecy made about Capernaum in light of its past. But that is just the beginning. It was along the shore of the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum that he called disciples to become fishers of men. He cast out an evil spirit in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He declared a disabled man’s sins forgiven in a private home. He pointed out and responded to the strong faith of a Roman. He even paid the annual Temple tax, albeit in an unexpected way. In each of these accounts and in each of these locations, Capernaum is a key to understanding the message of Jesus’s legitimate rabbinic and messianic authority.



Martin, J. C., Beck, J. A., & Hansen, D. G. (2010). A Visual Guide to Gospel Events: Fascinating Insights into Where They Happened and Why (pp. 32–36). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.