Mark 1:21-28

Mark 1:21–28 KJV (WS)

21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

Introduction

Jesus teaches in the synagogue. vss 21-22

Jesus travels with his new disciples to the city of Capernaum.

Capernaum was the home of Simon and Andrew.

The city becomes the headquarters of Jesus’ ministry.

Capernaum was large enough to have multiple synagogues.

It is important to note that their were significant issues with synagogue culture at that time.

Jesus didn’t avoid the synagogue because of the real issues, instead he would use the synagogues in his day and in the early days of church history.

I found this quote from Alexander Maclaren that really spoke to me…

It is easier to get the cheap praise of originality by brushing aside existing methods.

It is harder and nobler to use whatever methods may be going and to breathe new value and life into them.

As soon as the Sabbath was come, Jesus took his disciples to the synagogue.

Jesus is afforded the courtesy that visiting rabbi’s were typically given.

He is asked to share a word.

Mark does not record many of Jesus’ words.

You can go back and look at vss 14-15 to get an idea of what Jesus’ message was.

The people are shocked at his doctrine.

Doctrine simply means teaching.

Jesus’ doctrine did something they were not used to.

It left them astonished.

He taught based on his own authority.

This separated him from the scribes of the day.

The scribes were basically the equivalent of modern-day lawyers.

Of course their society had a much closer connection between civil and religious law.

The scribes were the lawyers of their time.

Their job was to interpret and apply the law.

Their authority came only from what had been written.

To make their point they were forced to appeal to other experts and writings.

Their topics were usually utterly divorced from anything that a normal person cared about.

For example, an actual example was on what quarter of a second did the sabbath actually start.

To this day it is hard to conceive the arid dreariness of the teaching of the scribes.

This led to dead services that people attended out of pure obligation.

No wonder they were astonished when Jesus began to teach.

Astonished means dumbfounded as though struck by a blow.

His teaching drove weary formalism straight out of the service.

Men were amazed not only by the content of his preaching, but also at the quiet assumption of personal authority that Jesus possessed.

There are many forms of authority.

King has inherited authority

CEO has delegated authority.

Professor has achieved authority.

Jesus possessed inherent authority.

Christ, unlike the scribes, quoted no one.

He appealed to no one for credibility.

He spoke and taught based on his own authority.

The immediate result of Jesus’ teaching was not harmony.

Instead he was greeted with division and strife.

These presented in dramatic fashion.

It is revealed that there is a demoniac in the congregation. vss 23-26

Remember I said there were some real issues with the synagogues of Jesus’ day.

It was so bad that a demon-possessed man could “worship” in their synagogue comfortably.

…That is, until Jesus showed up.

This hurts to think about.

How many Sabbath services had this man attended without revealing he was a demoniac?

How could an organization dedicated to teaching God’s word and promoting true faith be housing a demoniac?

We’ll talk about that later.

The demon understands who Jesus is.

At one time this demon had been an angelic servant of Jesus.

It is a sad truth for angels and humans that we can recognize Jesus for what He is and yet hate him all the more.

The demon begins to speak.

Let us alone.

The fallen angel legitimately fears Jesus an what he is capable of.

The demon is not all-knowing, he doesn’t understand Jesus’ purposes.

He knows enough to try and attack Jesus in one way he knows.

The demon proclaims that Jesus is the Holy One of god.

This flies in the face of last week’s message.

Jesus is preaching the coming of the kingdom and the gospel which is the message of belief in Jesus.

He has chosen to use men to proclaim that gospel throughout the world.

There is no room for demons in this plan.

Jesus will not be preached by fallen angels.

Jesus rebukes the demon.

He tells the demon to hold thy peace.

This is the same as telling the fallen angel to be muzzled.

Jesus will not permit this demon to speak in his presence nor in the presence of the people gathered in the synagogue.

He commands the demon to leave man’s body.

If the people were impressed by the authority he spoke with earlier, imagine their faces when he spoke like this to the demon.

If you want a good visual warning to avoid playing around with demonic or satanic vices like porn, drugs, alcohol, and pride, look at what the demon does to this man on the way out.

He tore this man so that he cried out in pain.

Have you ever had a Charlie horse in your leg?

Imagine that in every muscle of your body.

Some may say that this is fantastical and that demons aren’t real.

They say that the man was epileptic or he had a seizure.

If that is so, then Jesus didn’t know it and he therefore must not God.

Or, Jesus knew the demon wasn’t real and he was just acting, in which case he is a liar and not God.

In reality, the fact is that the demon was real.

Yes, Jesus has authority in his preaching.

He also demonstrated his authority over the spiritual world.

Isn’t it interesting that this first public face-off with the powers of evil occurred in a place of worship?

We still haven’t answered the question of how could this man exist within the assembly unnoticed prior to Jesus’ arrival?

Let’s look at the last two verses.

People start to talk about Jesus. vss 27-28

The least surprising part of this passage.

People start talking after what they’ve seen.

I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.

People have always loved to talk.

The people talk about how amazing it all was.

They specifically talk about the authority that we dealt with earlier.

They also talk about the newness of his doctrine.

Was Jesus’ doctrine new?

It was actually ancient, but the authority that he communicated it with was unprecedented.

His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

But there is one huge missing element here.

They talked…

They were amazed…

They were astonished…

But, did they believe?

There is no evidence.

Could it be that the demoniac and the synagogue attendees had more in common than we think?

What good does it do to avoid possession if you never repent of your sins and believe the gospel?

Lack of belief will become a major problem in Capernaum.

Application

Lack of belief is a major problem in any congregation.

Is it possible that we have an underlying spirit of unbelief in our church?

I know we’ve seen God do great things for us.

I also know that I struggle with unbelief personally.

Our unbelief can not lessen his authority.

He maintains his authority regardless of whether or not we believe him.

What things are we missing out on because of our unbelief.

Who is in our congregation that needs to be challenged by witnessing our belief?

I don’t want to get to the end of my life or get to heaven and find out there was more that Jesus could have done in my life if I had believed.