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Copyright January 1, 2023 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
On this first day of 2023 we return to our study of the Gospel of Mark.
The reason we are jumping right back into our study is because I believe this text carries with it some lessons that are vitally important not only for our church to hear, but for all churches to hear.
We are facing a crisis in our day.
Christians need to learn, embrace, and stand upon what we see in Mark 1:21-34.
These may not seem like significant events for us on first reading, but they are.
Let’s turn to our text in Mark 1.
21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.
22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
Capernaum was a town located near the Sea of Galilee which is in the northernmost part of Israel.
It was a good size fishing town with a population estimated around 1500.
It was a thriving commercial center.
Jesus spent much of His ministry in Galilee.
Many of his disciples were from Capernaum and the surrounding area.
It is likely He spent so much of His time here was because of the constant opposition he would have faced in Jerusalem.
By having His home base in the north, he was away from the concentration of Jewish leaders and Roman garrisons and could gain a wider hearing.
Synagogues were houses of worship that existed in most cities.
You needed to have ten Jewish men to be able to form a synagogue.
The leader of the synagogue was not like a Pastor of a church.
He served more as an administrator.
The synagogue welcomed visiting Rabbi’s to serve as the teachers.
This is how Jesus came to be teaching in the synagogue.
Capernaum was certainly small enough that many had already heard about Jesus.
One can imagine he was a “draw” to the synagogue.
We learn the people were astonished at his teaching, for “he taught them as one who had authority, not as the scribes.”
The scribes were knowledgeable men.
Their talks were academic.
They quoted sources and experts.
It would be like a Pastor getting up and spending the whole time talking about various theologians of the past and their arguments on various issues.
These men were scholarly, but not compelling.
The Authority of Jesus
Jesus spoke “with authority.”
What does that mean?
I think first, it means he spoke as one who not only knew about God, but it was evident that He had a relationship WITH God.
You don’t have to even be a believer to talk about theological concepts.
It is a theoretical or academic discussion.
However, you can sense the ring of authenticity when someone is speaking who has a vibrant relationship with God.
They are not “giving a sermon,” they are sharing what they believe they have heard from God!
The second thing about the authority of Christ was that He taught the Scriptures themselves.
Other teachers quoted a snippet of the scriptures to support their arguments.
Jesus made the Word of God come alive by letting it speak for itself!
We have both kinds of preachers today.
One group, tries to let the text speak for itself.
This is what we do.
We feel this allows the Bible to set the agenda for our preaching rather than using the Bible to support our agenda.
The other group starts with a topic and some ideas and looks for passages that may say the same thing.
The job of every believer today is not to show how much mastery they have of the Bible, it is to show how much mastery the Bible has over them!
This was why it was surprising who Jesus chose to be in His inner circle.
These men who had been fisherman and nomadic followers of Jesus were revealing God through them in powerful ways and it left the religious leaders baffled because they knew these men did not have great educations.
However, the Word of God had taken hold of them.
They believed wholeheartedly in Jesus as their Savior and Lord and were willing to bet their lives on the truthfulness of God’s Word.
The people were possessed by the message of Christ.
It was a life-changing message that kept them riveted.
An Interruption (23-28)
21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.
When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus reprimanded him.
“Be quiet!
Come out of the man,” he ordered.
26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened.
“What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly.
“It has such authority!
Even evil spirits obey his orders!”
28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
We don’t think a great deal about demons in our world.
When someone is demon possessed it is different from a psychological problem.
It is something that takes over a person.
There is a different life inside of them.
What is interesting about this account is what the demon does.
He cries out ““What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (v.
24) Doesn’t that seem like an odd thing for a demon to say? Wouldn’t you expect a demon to ridicule Jesus, or to try to make Him look bad?
This demon is more aware of who Jesus is than anyone else in the synagogue!
There are many possible reasons the demon came at Jesus this way.
First, the demon was pushing the timetable on what Jesus was ready to reveal to the people.
Jesus wanted to introduce the people to His true nature slowly.
The demon was blurting it out.
Second, this is not the kind of advertising Jesus needed.
Public officials sometimes will ask people NOT to campaign with them because the reputation of the person “wanting to help” will actually hurt the candidate.
It would be like writing a Christian book and having on the cover these words, “One of the best books I’ve ever read.”
– Satan.
Let’s face it, if Satan is a fan, I want nothing to do with that book!
Third, there was this idea that if you knew someone’s name, it gave you a certain power over that person.
Do you remember the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel?
Jacob wanted to know the angel’s name.
He wanted some leverage.
We the same thing, we talk about how we are on a “first name basis” with some powerful people.
Jesus cut the demon off, commanded him to be silent and then cast him out of the man!
This man was given his life back by Jesus.
It is likely that the people saw the drastic change in the man immediately.
He was a new person.
And here is an application in our day.
Those who are opposed to the truth of God’s Word (like this demon) will adopt a similar tactic.
Those who are hostile to the things of God will call those who stand for God’s truth various names.
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