He began to teach with firsthand authority (1:21, 22), not like the religious leaders of the synagogue who based their teaching on previous decisions taken by other rabbis and quoted precedents in support. Jesus never quoted the “authorities”; he taught with authority which he claimed as God’s special agent for the bringing in of the new age. To speak is one thing; to do something is another. Both in this story and again in 2:1–12 the issue turns on whether