What is this? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. Following the arrest of John the Baptist by King Herod, Jesus embarks on his mission of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. In today’s Gospel passage, we see him enter a synagogue together with his disciples to fulfill his Sabbath obligations. And as he took his place on the podium in order to deliver what presumably was his first “teaching,” he elicited a reaction of amazement from the congregation. In their own words, Jesus’ teaching was unlike the ones they were used to, for “Jesus taught with authority.”  
For us to understand why there was a difference between Jesus’ teaching and that of the scribes, we turn to the First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy. The Book of Deuteronomy is a series of discourses given by Moses to the children of Israel reminding them of their special relationship with God. Today’s passage concerns the promise which God had made to the children of Israel about raising for them a prophet who will be like Moses. Now Moses was no ordinary prophet. He was a friend of God who conversed with him face to face, often acting not only as a mediator between God and his people, but also as the community’s intercessor before God. He was the one through whom God gave the Law that came to occupy a central place in the lives of the Hebrew people. And although he did not enter the Promised Land with the community, he led the community out of slavery in Egypt. In a sense, he was their “savior.”
When God was promising the community to raise from among them a prophet like Moses, God had in mind someone who would DO as Moses did. After Moses, God raised several men to serve as prophets. But none of them came close to being like Moses. None of the prophets showed the people the face of God as Moses did. It was only in Jesus of Nazareth that this promise of God came to be fulfilled. As Jesus continued to minister to preach and minister, it became clear to the people that he was no “ordinary” prophet. After raising the widow of Nain’s son, those present remarked that “ a great prophet had risen among them and God had visited his people” (cf. Luke 7:11-17). And in the Gospel account we have read for today, the people are astonished at the authority with which he was teaching. There was something that was NEW in how Jesus was going about his business. God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses was finally being fulfilled in Jesus (although Jesus surpassed Moses because he was more than a prophet: he was God).
According to the people gathered that day in the Synagogue, Jesus’ teaching differed from that of the scribes because he taught with authority. It was an observation that was based on the healing that Jesus performed. You see, the good news of God visiting his people had to be made incarnate, that is, it had to be tangible. The claim that God had come to be with his people had to be felt and beheld. The teaching of the scribes lacked this authority because, while it was true they were also proclaiming the good news, that good news remained mere words. The scribes’ proclamation of the good news did not touch the lives of the people. From the accusations Jesus leveled against them (cf. Matthew 23:1-32), the scribes had lost touch with the people and had neglected their responsibility. They were not living their call.
Jesus’ teaching was authoritative because he was authentic. He was preaching what he himself was living. He was the embodiment of the good news he was proclaiming. He was true to his identity as a prophet for he revealed to the people the face of God. In him was met the people’s longing for a prophet such as Moses had been.