Mark mentions how Jesus taught with authority and how the crowds were struck by his "spirit of authority."  This is not teaching through a simple commentary on what had been written long ago, a repetition and refinement of the faith history and Law of the Old Testament.  Jesus goes instead to the heart of his Jewish heritage, discovering the source of that heritage in his prayer and in the Spirit who filled his life.

Jesus shows in this manner both a fidelity to what had been, a fidelity that reaches deeper than the mere text, and a fidelity to the call of the Spirit that had been the origin of those texts in the first place.  He serves the hidden God, the Holy Spirit who is also at work in us.

Where does the Spirit call each of us to go beyond Law?  How much do we actually call upon the Spirit to lead us forth, to guide us, to purify our hearts, to give us strength --- and to trust in the authority that he will give even to us as he did to Jesus?