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Introduction
There was a time, when I was much younger, that I was talking to a group of people about missions.
A hand went up and someone asked a question about missions in Budapest.
I went on to talk about the persecution of Christians in India and how how it doesn’t get the news that it ought, and so forth.
The entire time I’m waxing eloquent about that, the man who asked the question and his wife, were looking at me with such a confused look on their faces.
It was only later that evening that I found out that Budapest, no matter how Indian of a city it sounded to me, is the capital of Hungary.
They say, “Fake it till you make it,” and sometimes that works and sometimes you get found out rather quickly.
As we open up today’s text, we are looking at Jesus’s words—words that were spoken with authority.
No faking it here.
Instead what we see are actually four types of words that help us see Jesus for who he is.
The first type of word is the contrasting word.
The second is the comparative word.
The third is the commanding word.
Finally, there is the confounding word.
And when you put them together, you get an eye-opening picture of who Jesus is.
The Contrasting Word
The Comparative Word
The Commanding Word
The Confounding Word
The Contrasting Word
The first type of word that we come to in this text is the contrasting word.
If you look just above the text this morning, you’ll see that the context of the passage is Jesus’s having taught in Nazareth.
And while there, he predicted what the Nazarenes would say about him and his ministry in Capernaum.
Now, he’s in Capernaum and begins in the same way he did in Nazareth—by going to the synagogue and teaching.
We aren’t given the text this time.
We’re only given the response of the people.
And how did Luke describe their reaction?
They were astonished at his teaching.
Similarly, the men of Nazareth marveled at it.
But notice, perhaps more importantly, is what they thought of Jesus’s teaching.
Those in Nazareth saw them as gracious words—words of grace.
Those in Capernaum saw them as words possessed authority.
At first glance it may seem like I’m splitting hairs or making mountains out of molehills, but I believe this is extremely important to the text.
The Nazarenes marveled at Jesus’s gracious words.
Those in Capernaum were astonished because they possessed authority.
Remember that doubts began to enter into the minds and mouths of the Nazarene men.
“Is not this Joseph’s son?” Was their question.
In essence, how could the Messiah be someone we know?
How could he be the son of a carpenter?
Though they thought Jesus’s words were gracious, they completely disregarded what he said.
They did not see them or hear them as though they possessed authority.
What they were wanting instead was to wait and see.
The prediction Jesus made was that they’d demand Jesus do the same things in Capernaum, yet they disregarded his teaching.
Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit had anointed him to proclaim liberty and forgiveness and sight.
The Spirit had set him aside for such a work and so gave him the authority then to do and say what he did and said.
But the Nazarenes ignored it all.
Those in Capernaum heard his words and knew they possessed authority.
What we see in return, is that their understanding of Jesus’s spoken authority would lead to seeing that authority utilized right before their very eyes.
Now that word authority, it can easily be understood by many as just another word for confidence.
He spoke with confidence.
But that’s not what the word means at all.
Certainly there would be confidence, but not because he was able to muster it up somehow or just because he thought he was right, but it would be a confidence that came from authority.
Jesus had the right—the legal right—as the Son of God to speak and preach and teach and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
The Greek word here for authority is exousia.
It literally means “Out of its substance.”
In other words, the authority of these words is authoritative because of their origin.
Imagine it this way, if you’ve had kids, you’ve probably had this experience.
You send one to tell the others it’s time for dinner.
The kid comes back alone.
You send the kid back and say, “Tell them, mom (or dad), it’s time for dinner now.”
And suddenly all the kids show up.
The kid initially went in his own authority.
The second time, there was true authority behind his words.
Jesus was not just another famous rabbi.
He was anointed by the Spirit to proclaim these words and so he was authorized and had authority to proclaim them.
This is why I say it is extremely important to see the contrast between the Nazarenes that people of Capernaum.
What good are gracious words if the one speaking them has no right to say them in the first place?
I can promise Katie the moon, but if I do not have the authority—the right—to give the moon, then my words mean nothing.
Beloved, are we convinced of Jesus’s words having authority?
Do we see them as gracious words to be doubted or authoritative words to be believed?
How about the rest of God’s Word?
Where are we on that?
After all, we read in
and 2 Peter 1:20-21
The Spirit who anointed Jesus to proclaim his holy message is the Spirit who carried the prophets and apostles to write these words in our hands.
Do we see them as divinely authoritative?
Do we believe them when they say things like
Or do we think we’re the exception to the rule?
Those are nice words, you know.
Gracious of God to say them, but the temptations I am dealing with are too dark, too deep, too demonic for those words to be true.
The Comparative Word
Which leads us to the second type of word: The comparative word.
The first was the contrasting word; this second is the comparative word.
This comparative word happens when the demon-possessed man shows up in the story.
Luke calls him a spirit of an unclean demon.
This is actually a contrast to Jesus who was filled with the Holy Spirit.
So there is the man filled with an unclean demonic spirit meeting Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit.
But the comparative word actually comes from the demon itself.
Before we get to the comparative word, notice how the demon refers to “us” twice and “I” once.
It would seem that the us is in reference both to the possessed man and the possessor of the man.
So man and demon.
The I is only in reference to the demon itself.
So the questions that are being asked are what Jesus’s reason for being there—a question of Jesus’s intent and ministry.
Of course, we know that Jesus was authorized to set the captive free, even those held captive by demons.
Yet, the thrust of the text comes in the statement of the text, the declaration, not the question.
“I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
First there is the statement that the demon knows exactly who Jesus is.
Then there is the declaration of his knowledge.
I used to read this as if the demon was just addressing Jesus.
More of an “I know who you are, O Holy One of God.” Don’t make that same mistake.
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