“And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”
The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law — the reaction is immediate and universal: amazement (ekplēssō). The reason is not miraculous but rhetorical: Jesus teaches with authority (exousia). The teachers of the law taught by citing authoritative tradition — Rabbi so-and-so said, the school of Shammai holds — building their authority on the chain of prior teachers. Jesus teaches without citation, without appeal to prior authority, as if the teaching originates with him. The authority claim implicit in the teaching style is more radical than any content claim: who teaches this way except one who is himself the source?
Church Fathers on Mark 1:22
Mark, arranging the sayings of the Gospel as they were in his own mind, not in themselves, quits the order of the history, and follows the order of the mysteries.
Quitting Nazareth. Now on the sabbath day, when the Scribes were gathered together, He entered into a synagogue, and taught.
The Scribes themselves taught the people what was written in Moses and the Prophets; but Jesus as the God and Lord of Moses, himself, by the freedom of His own will, either added those things which appeared wanting in the Law, or altered things as He preached to the people; as we read in Matthew, 'It was said to them of old time, but I say unto you.' [Matt. 5:27]
Catena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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