200216 Establishing His Authority

Jesus began to gather his disciples. He was introduced to Andrew and John beside the Jordan River where John the Baptist was preaching. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). When Jesus saw Simon he gave him a new name “Peter” in Greek, or “Cephas” in Aramaic! The new name means “rock”. Throughout the New Testament, these names are interchangeable. After finding Peter and calling him to the fellowship they went on to find Philip who found Nathaniel and brought him into the fellowship. Traveling north from the Jordan riverbank they paused in Cana, attended a wedding, and produced the best wine to be served that day.

They returned to Jerusalem where Jesus cleansed His Father’s house the first time. This appears to have happened at the first Passover Jesus observed with his disciples. So far as we can tell he observed four Passovers with his disciples.

At the same time, Jesus met with Nicodemus and set him on the right path to salvation. John, the disciple, who wrote the gospel, recorded these events. John recalled and recorded perhaps the most famous Scripture quotation, (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

After the meeting with Nicodemus Jesus and his disciples again traveled north. Along the way, Jesus had to pass through Samaria. There he had an encounter with a woman at a well. He asked her for a drink of water and led her through a conversation causing her to be convinced that he was the Messiah. She took the message back into her village and Jesus remained there two more days. He had many followers in Samaria when he left.

Continuing north Jesus returned to Cana where he turned the water into wine and there he healed the son of a government official. Apparently, at the same time, he stopped by Nazareth and was rejected by the people there. Now we find him again moving north.

We will look at Mark’s description of the next events. Luke also records the same material almost word for word. For some reason, Matthew and John do not tell this story. Let’s read it all and then come back and look at these verses one at a time.

Mark 1:21-28 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. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “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.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

They went into Capernaum. It’s located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee and it became Jesus’ home and headquarters. Later Mark will refer to Capernaum as Jesus being “at home” there! Why did he choose Capernaum? He could have used Jerusalem as his base but it was controlled by the Romans in an uneasy alliance with the scribes and Pharisees. He could have used Nazareth, his hometown, but the people there refused him. Capernaum was perfect for Jesus because it was a crossroads of business and travel. His first disciples Andrew, Simon Peter, James, and John apparently had homes there so he had a place to rest and teach.

Immediately, on the Sabbath, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. We should remember Luke’s account of his rejection in Nazareth. If you want to get into the details of that look at Luke 4:16-30! In Nazareth he entered the synagogue “as was his custom”, read the Scripture, and assured the crowd that the reading taken from Isaiah was fulfilled in him! That resulted in the crowd attempting to kill him!

They were astonished at his teaching. They were accustomed to being taught by people who simply quoted the writings of past teachers. Jesus spoke as one who had authority! Remember when he did the same in Nazareth the crowd tried to kill him! They did not believe that the carpenter’s son, now the carpenter, could have this ability since he had not been trained to teach.

Just as they began to question his right to teach a perfect example appeared on the scene. “Immediately” Mark tells us there was a man with an unclean spirit. There were individuals who dealt with exorcism in the days of Jesus just as there are today. These people had never seen the direct confrontation Jesus was about to carry out in front of them. The scribes and teachers that the people were accustomed to had mastered the Torah and the traditional interpretations. According to Mark, the scribes were Jesus’ fiercest opponents who cried out for him to be crucified. Human opposition to Jesus was based on politics and power. If Jesus continued to gather the crowds he would be able to put them out of office. The scribes and Pharisees were forced into an alliance with the Herodians and the Sadducees. This combination then had to work with the Romans.

Not too long before this, Jesus had a direct confrontation with Satan in the

wilderness. Of course, Jesus was not going to give in to Satan. It appears that Satan never fully understood that Jesus was in charge! When we read the accounts of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness Satan must have believed that he could win. After hundreds of years during which demonic forces seemed to rule, Jesus came into their world teaching, healing and casting out demons. The people were amazed. Scripture is very clear that Satan seemed to have free reign over the world before Jesus came. One of the charges brought against Jesus was that he cast out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus carefully explained the situation to the Pharisees. No kingdom can stand that is divided against itself. Jesus asked the question, “How can someone enter a strong man’s house unless he disables the owner first?”

In this case, the strong man was Satan and Jesus had disabled him in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-11; 12:25-29).

When Jesus entered the synagogue in Capernaum he was immediately confronted by a man with an unclean spirit. Even though the people were not aware of who Jesus was, the demons understood immediately. We understand that from the fact that the unclean spirit screamed: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Note that the pronoun is plural “us” rather than singular “me”. Though the man had the vocal cords the demon had control of what was said. The demon, and his host, felt threatened. And he had every right to be threatened. Jesus had authority over Satan and his crowd. He still does! Nothing can be done without God’s permission.

A clear example of Satan’s subservience to God is found in the first two chapters of the book of Job. Satan could only observe Job. He could not take action against him until God allowed it. And then Satan could only do what God allowed.

Later James, our Lord’s brother in the flesh, would write that the demons believe — and shudder! (James 2:19) and that demons can be resisted by Christians. James 4:7 tells us “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The demons tremor before the authority of God. After all, they had been present at the creation of the universe. In the beginning, they were angels and they rebelled along with Satan.

As we saw before, Satan tried to get Jesus to sin and fail in his mission as Messiah. Satan and his demons use lies, he is the father of liars. Our spiritual enemy will use deception and any destructive activity to cause people to turn away from God and destroy themselves. According to Jesus’ description. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).

That day in Capernaum the demon knew who Jesus was. The demon’s knowledge was greater than any human could have been. They had no doubt of his ability to destroy them. Jesus’ response was “Be silent, and come out of him!”

Except for the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness we have no record of Jesus ever entering into a debate with Satan or any of his demons. There is no record anywhere in the Bible instructing us to enter into such a debate. Let’s stick with James’s plan of operation. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, he will draw near to you.” (James 4:7-8).

Sometimes, Christian teachers will quote the center of this passage. “Resist the devil”! Without explaining that instruction is surrounded by “Submit… To God” and “Draw near to God.” Having entered into a faith relationship with God we have the power to overcome our enemy. Both Peter and James encourage all Christians to “resist” the devil. Paul encourages believers to put on spiritual armor and prepare for spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10-20).

The crowd in the synagogue that Sabbath probably personally knew the man with the unclean spirit since he was “immediately” in the synagogue. The unclean spirit was in “attack mode” and demanded what Jesus intended to do. Obviously, Jesus did not want this confrontation to appear to be on equal grounds between him and the demon. Rather than debate the demon Jesus ordered him to shut up!

Immediately, the unclean spirit came out of the man causing him to have convulsions. The evil spirit shouted with a loud voice and came out of him. The people were amazed! They had never seen that kind of authority in any man. At once the story spread house to house and village to village throughout Galilee. They believed that what they had seen was of God. We see the follow-up of people putting their trust in Jesus. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Have you believed in him? This could be your day!

 All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton, Ill, Standard Bible Society.