Jesus teaches with "authority", an authority which comes from himself. Unlike the Scribes who can only pass on the message they have heard from those who went before them. But this authority is not, as we so often see in our world, one of enforced domination. It expresses a power that brings freedom and fulfilment into people's lives, it is an empowering authority.

We see a clear example in the story told in today's Gospel. A man is in the grip of an unclean spirit which enslaves him and deprives him of all freedom. Jesus drives out the spirit and liberates the man from his enslavement. The people are amazed. This is a new kind of authority - not the one they were more familiar with by which one person exerts control over others but one where people are liberated and empowered to live full lives. I might reflect today on the parts of my life where I need to be liberated. And, where others are concerned, would I be regarded as one who liberates or dominates?