Jesus taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes

[Guest guest]

Jesus taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes

 

And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the

synagogue and began to teach. And they were amazed at his teaching; for he was

teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22).

 

(p.391) Jesus spoke with God-saturated conviction of the truth in his work.

Words are dynamically effective if they are charged with superconscious

realization. To try to sell an object, or an idea, or a belief in which the

promoter does not himself wholly believe is to mouth words that, no matter how

clever, will lack the luster and vibratory seal of conviction. Jesus was

absorbed in his realization of God; his authority was demonstrably indisputable.

 

Speaking about God from one's own imagination without knowing God is ignorance.

But the devotee who knows Him, who feels Him in every fiber of his being, who

can perceive His manifested presence, who talks to Him just as he talks to those

who are his nearest and dearest and receives His answer--when that devotee

speaks about God, true souls listen.

 

(p.392) Teachers who know nothing about God offer to their audiences secondhand

ideas gleaned from hours spent poring over books and scriptures. It is a sham to

represent oneself as an authority on jewels if one knows nothing about gemology.

Similarly, it is unprincipled to present oneself as spiritually qualified if no

endeavor is made to commune with God. If one is sincerely making a deep

spiritual effort, it is all right. But those who espouse God only from the

pulpit, having little or nothing to do with Him otherwise, are of the ilk

characterized by Jesus as " hypocrites. " They hardly ever pray; they read, and

they preach what they have read. People in their congregation, for the most

part, let their unlived sermons pass through one ear and out the other.

 

That is the great import of this verse depicting Jesus in the synagogue. He did

not preach like the scribes, with empty words. When he spoke, his words were

filled with the Word, the Cosmic Energy, of God. His doctrine was replete with

the conviction of realization, born of his Christ stature and Cosmic

Consciousness, vibrating with the authority of God's wisdom. His sermons bore

the seal of God's assurance.

 

Is this not a hint to all ministers of the gospel? It is not enough to commit to

memory the words of the scriptures, or to receive a Doctor of Divinity degree.

One must digest truth and then preach with the power and conviction of the soul.

When God speaks through a soul, mountains of delusion are removed from the minds

of listeners.

 

Face-to-face realization of truth gives one intuitive experience, true vision

and understanding. Such wisdom gives power; it is the energy that moves the

Cosmic Factory, producing control over all things. That power declares the

absolute authority of infallible truth. Jesus spoke not with the fanaticism or

rote of the scribes, but with the authority of Self-realization of God and a

knowledge of all His mysteries.

 

When one has been a devotee for years, living virtuously and meditating upon

God, and thereby succeeds in pleasing Him, then He chooses that soul to bring

others back to His kingdom. These advanced souls are saturated with the spirit,

intelligence, and power of God; anyone physically, mentally, or spiritually

sick, coming in contact with them, receives God's healing blessing.

 

Holy sermons create a vague devotion in the minds of people. The power of a true

emissary of God heals man of his most pernicious affliction, the spiritual

sickness of ignorance.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 23, pg. 391-392

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7