HG042-43. Mark 1:21-34, Matthew 8:14-17, Luke 4:31-41
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31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
Last time we had four of the disciples finally called to ministry, to still be fishermen but instead of fishing for fish, fishing for people. They were to spend the next few years with Jesus and then afterwards as apostles to the Church.
In today’s passage we have them in His new base of operation in Capernaum.
Matthew speaks of this quoting Isaiah 9:
13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He was there for quite a time though we cannot be sure exactly how much but every Saturday He and the disciples would go to synagogue and every week Jesus brought a message. We are not told what the messages were but there was something different about Jesus compared to the other Rabbis. Jesus did not have the problem that they had and we have today of being absolutely sure about everything. Jesus taught as if He knew exactly what the Scriptures said and meant. The problem with the Rabbis is that first, they did not really believe the Scriptures, and second, they had watered down everything into its minutiae and added their own teachings as if it were Scripture. It must have been really boring to listen to them. But we can be sure of what Scripture says and teach it with authority howbeit with the occasional uncertainty over small things.
Now we come to the spiritual realm. Remember that Jesus had come from Heaven, the throne room of God in some other dimension. And so all the angels lived there too but, if we remember the story, about 1/3rd of them rebelled alongside Lucifer against God. We don’t know when this happened. Whether this happened at the time of the creation of man or whether angels had been around for a long time before. But at some point pride got the better of Satan: We are told this in
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Of course, Satan could not win against God and He was extremely conceited and arrogant to think he could. In fact, it is quite laughable. And because God has set His heart upon us humans Satan has set his heart against us. We have a real enemy and when we let him have his way then the result is what has happened to some of these people that met Jesus, and some are even in the Church but are left undisturbed because the gospel is barely preached there.
Of course, when these demons which were angels were present when Jesus was preaching in the Synagogue they recognised Him, they knew who He was, even if no one else did, and they were greatly afraid. Fear is an interesting thing, it kind of makes you yelp at the situation, and that is what happened with these demons, they saw Him, was afraid, said, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Have you come to destroy us? They know that their fate is set. We’re not here for You. We are in this man because he invited us in.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
“Quiet. Come out of him.” This is all it took and it was over. Gone. The demon was out to look for someone else to indwell.
This was an interesting time for people knew about demons etc but today people are not aware of these spiritual entities and treat it as some sort of game. I’ve noticed that in the last few years there have been numerous TV series upon the supernatural and demons for there is a complete fascination with them. There is even one with Satan who no longer wants his job. And whilst there have been a number of films through the last decades notably The Exorcist and Ghost with Patrick Swayze, the sheer number available right now shows there is an interest in these kind of things. There is an implicit knowledge that the material is not all that there is. And they would be right. The occult abounds as in times past.
Our psychiatric wards are full of people who dabbled with the invisible realm. In the past these would have been recognised as demonic rather than psychological though I do sound caution in putting everyone in the same boat. Just to be clear I am not saying that all or even most people who show symptoms like those seen in the pages of Scripture are demonic but it is clear that there are some that have been misdiagnosed because of the discounting of the spiritual.
These things are real. Satan is real. Demons are real. Demonic possession is real. Let us be absolutely clear on this. Unfortunately I have had a number of dealings with this world. Once, when Irena and I used to visit disabled people in their homes in Macedonia as part of our ministry we visited a man and his mother. They opened the door and he said ‘I know who you are. You think you are children of God. But you’re not!’. We had never met them, never even introduced ourselves on the door but he knew that we were Christians and there was no doubt that this man was possessed by a demon. He tried to cast doubt on the fact that we are God’s children but all it did was confirm that was exactly what we are. Just as demons recognise Jesus they also recognise those who belong to Him. You may not know them but they know you.
In the name of Jesus we have power over demons just as Jesus demonstrated on this particular day. There is no need to be afraid if you come across these kinds of situations. The Lord is with us. More are with us than against us. And if God is for us who can be against us. As we get more and more involved in mission we will find ourselves more and more in a spiritual warfare for the souls of people.
Of course, on this day when Jesus dealt with this unclean spirit as it is called here, it was a remarkable thing. Nothing like it had been seen before. What! He even has authority over demons! What kind of teaching is this? And it is not surprising that such a thing was reported far and wide. It was a demonstration of who He is. He is God over all. He is Lord of lords. The spiritual realm belongs to Him for He has all authority in Heaven and earth. And this is He who is our Saviour, our Lord, our friend. To those who were there it was to show that He is the Messiah prophesied beforehand in the pages of Scripture. How could they not now believe? But you’d be surprised…remember that it is all a spiritual warfare and the fight is not against flesh and blood.
From there they went to Peter and Andrew’s house where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a very high fever. Verse 38 puts to bed forever the Popish notion that Peter was not married and that every priest should not be married. Rubbish! Peter was married. We don’t know if he had kids but probably, and his wife must have been present in the house along with the mother-in-law. Jesus immediately healed her and straight away, we are told, in Matthew, Mark and Luke she started serving them. Without the women hospitality is nearly impossible! And what a remarkable woman. Straight from bed to dealing with guests. Indeed that is what we are called to. We are called to serve. We are called to serve God, one another and Manselton. In fact, you could say that is the mission of the Church. God and people come first. Hospitality should be the cornerstone of this church too where we should be inviting one another into each others’ homes and serving one another.
Later that day the news had got around from the service earlier and they brought their demon-possessed, their sick and Jesus healed all those who came to Him. This shows that to follow in Jesus’ footsteps means that we could be called upon at short notice to be of service to people in the community let alone those who are already part of the Church. Let us be prepared for when the Lord works, as He promises to do, doors will open that we will be expected to walk through. It must have been a long day but we also learn in Mark 1:35 that He was up early to pray.
This passage reveals the authority that Jesus has: authority to teach, authority to deal with the demonic, authority to heal. All these reveal the character of Jesus and God. The demons wanted to reveal who Jesus was for they really knew and though they knew and believed it was not able to save them. They wanted to have authority over Jesus but it is Jesus who reveals Himself to people and has no need of devils. Jesus has revealed Himself to us and we have believed unto salvation. We are to now take up our cross and follow Him doing the things He did for He has given us authority and power to do so.
God has prepared the way before us:
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
And as we go forward to fulfil the mission of God for this place then more and more opportunities will arise to show the people the way to God which is through Jesus Christ. And as we proceed through the Gospels we will understand more the way Jesus wants us to go and with Him as our head and we as His people marvellous things will happen.
COMMUNION
COMMUNION
The victory over the demons at the cross was a very necessary win. They thought that they had achieved their goal of destroying the Holy One through the Jewish and Gentile leaders but instead it was where they came undone.
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
The demons would not have allowed Jesus to be crucified if they had known what the end result would have been, and as is typical for anything demonic they overstep the mark and find that they have been outplayed by the God who knows and sees everything.
So, as well as being forgiven and having eternal life we have the victory over all that would defeat us whether demons or death itself and we have been raised with Christ in the defeat of sin and hell and made kings and priests. It is not surprising that Jesus in His death and resurrection achieved so much. And the answer to whether Jesus had come to destroy the demons is answered:
1 John 3:8b For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
This was achieved by Jesus laying down His life for us and this is what we are called, this day, to remember.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.