Authority

No ordinary teacher
In these verses we begin to build the picture of Jesus. We’ve already seen him act as Rabbi, calling disciples to follow him. Here he continues, turning up in the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach.

But Jesus is no ordinary teacher. People are struck by his authority, so different from the other teachers (v 22).

Acting with authority
Mark makes it clear though that Jesus is not simply a great teacher; this dramatic encounter between an evil spirit who knows Jesus’ true identity and Jesus who silences and expels it demonstrates Jesus’ authority on a whole new level.

Again this is about Jesus’ identity. He is the Messiah, the Son of God. His words are authoritative but his actions speak louder.

What voices hold the most authority for you? Who do you always listen to?

We can often absorb the messages of media and culture without realising and find ourselves submitting to their instruction. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the authorities in your life and submit yourself again to Jesus the Lord.

Jesus travels with his new disciples to Capernaum, somewhere as unknown as Nazareth in terms of Old Testament records. It is later described as a proud, unbelieving city whose fate would be worse than others because of this (Matthew 11:23,24) – so not an auspicious place to start them out on their discipleship journey with him! It was customary for Jesus to attend the synagogue and later it became common for him to teach while there (Luke 4:16; John 18:20).

Like any other Jewish male he could teach if invited to by the synagogue rulers. Yesterday, we saw his authority at work in his calling of the four fishermen, and now in the synagogue he astounds his audience with not just what he says but the authority with which he says it. The listeners were literally out of their senses with amazement and wonder.¹

We don’t know how dissatisfied they’d previously been with their normal teaching diet nor do we know what Jesus actually said. But we do know from elsewhere that he always spoke truth, focused on important issues rather than trivialities, stimulated curiosity by his use of popular illustrations, and under-girded everything he said with God-given authority and love (John 18:37; Luke 11:42; Mark 4:2–9).

They were then doubly amazed when he went on to deal with the demonic oppression experienced by a particular but unnamed individual. It is an interesting comment on the spiritual situation at Capernaum’s synagogue that someone who was demonised and who seemed not to want to be set free could worship with no one noticing his serious condition!

Mark throughout his Gospel stresses the impact that Jesus had on people. Using six different Greek words he describes how Jesus constantly filled people with a mixture of wonder, awe, and fear. This tragically didn’t necessarily translate into belief and personal discipleship, as people quickly forgot what had impressed them.

¹ William Hendriksen, Mark, Banner of Truth, 1975 

Not a favourite topic!

The Gospels are full of references to evil or unclean spirits and this can be quite difficult for us to come to terms with. These days there are lots of films and TV programmes about demons and they all seem either fantasies or just plain weird. We may doubt evil spirits really exist, or think the less we explore the subject the better!

But if we take the Gospels seriously we have to believe that evil spirits are real and can influence or control people. Setting people free from demons was one of the main strands of Jesus’ ministry along with preaching and healing. The argument that Jesus was accommodating himself to the beliefs of the people at the time doesn’t hold water.

So what are evil spirits?

The Bible teaches that there are ’spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ under the leadership of Satan. People who engage in idolatry or the occult or who become prey to serious addictions can become demonised. We give the devil ‘a foothold’ in our lives when we allow uncontrolled anger to rule over us (Ephesians 4:27).

There are levels of demonisation, with some being more oppressed or controlled than others.

Jesus is victor

But we don’t need to be afraid. Christ has ‘disarmed the principalities and powers’ and triumphed over them on the cross (Colossians 2:15). Jesus has given his disciples ‘authority … to overcome all the power of the enemy’ and promises that ‘nothing will harm you’ (Luke 10:19).

At the name of Jesus demons will have to flee!

Andrew Clark