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FEBRUARY 1 , 2009
And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 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.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
Mark 1:21–28
As a general rule, we don’t like to obey those in authority over us. Whether it’s a traffic law, or new tax law, or the parents in the home, we chafe at their authority.
But there are times when we welcome the help of someone in authority—especially if he or she can help us. Our text is a case in point. Let’s go to city of Capernaum and learn from Jesus.
On one particular Sabbath, he entered the local synagogue and, at the appropriate time, he began to teach. What he taught was extraordinary, for it not only amazed the people, it also provoked a demon inhabiting the body of one of them.
What has always struck me about this text is that Satan and his demons go to church. In fact, they love going to church. You see, they are exceedingly religious. And they know the teachings of the Bible. They know that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Just like you and me, they know that there is only one, true God, namely, the Triune God. Just like you and me, they know that Jesus is the only Savior from sin. But their purpose in going to church is plant doubts in our minds, to make forgiveness seem trivial, and to make us think that repentance is really unnecessary because, after all, almost nobody does it.
When it is taught, on the basis of Scripture, that Jesus alone saves, the devil begins to whisper in your ears, saying, “Does it seem reasonable to you that all other world religions are wrong? No, there is truth in all of them and they all get you to the same place in the end.” When it is taught, from Scripture, that we practice closed communion as a confession of our oneness in doctrine and to prevent the uninstructed from taking the Lord’s body and blood to their judgment,1 Satan whispers in your ear, saying, “Doesn’t it irritate you to hear such unloving things from your pastor. Christianity is about love. And love tolerates all opinions and elevates none.” So says Satan.
Yes, Satan and his demons go to church to try to steal God’s truth from your hearts. But, beloved, do not despair. God’s Word of truth is far more powerful than Satan’s lies. In Divine Service, God is present to serve you and keep you in the one, true faith. He channels all of his gifts (forgiveness, life, and salvation) through the means of grace. Through his Word (heard, sung, and preached) the Holy Spirit strengthens your faith and preserves you in it. In Holy Communion, Jesus comes to you personally in his body and blood to forgive your sins and nourish your faith in him.
But let’s go back to the synagogue. We learn that the teaching of Jesus provoked a demon. The situation is tense. Speaking through the lips of the possessed man, the evil spirit says to our Lord, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? ... I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”2 Notice that this demon knows who Christ is, that he is a man who is also the Son of God, i.e., “Holy One of God.” Yes, the demon knows that Jesus is God in human flesh.
But at once the spirit is frightened of Jesus. He shutters with fear and says to him, “Have you come to destroy us?”3 Hence, we see that Satan and the forces of darkness know they are powerless against Jesus. How powerless? You decide. Jesus utters one brief sentence, “Be silent and come out of him!”4 And, behold, the demon vanishes! To paraphrase an old brokerage firm commercial, “When Jesus talks, demons listen!”5 But they do more than listen. They obey! The reaction in the synagogue was immediate. They were all amazed for they exclaimed, “He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!”6
Not only do Christ’s words have authority over demons, they also have amazing power to stir the human heart. See what happens in the synagogue. Jesus faced the congregation and began to teach. That is, he explained—with utter clarity and with conviction born of divine certitude—what the appointed text for the day taught. The effect of his teaching was instantaneous. We read, “And they were amazed at His teaching; for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”7
The scribes were the professional teachers of the Scriptures. They also tried to command authority, but instead of expounding Scripture, they quoted endlessly from the collected teachings of the ancient rabbis. Some of their teachings seem extreme. For example,
These intricate rules, these hair–splitting rationalizations, these doctrines of men—all doctrines of darkness—were taught by the scribes. The result was that they ended up teaching the heresy of heresies, namely, salvation on the basis of human merit or good works. Oh how Satan must have smiled when Judaism’s professional teachers perverted the Word of Life and fed the people the doctrines of death!
But on that day in the synagogue, Jesus taught them something they hadn’t heard in a long time, viz., the truth of Scripture. He didn’t have to quote from an endless list of legal authorities from the past. What monotonous drivel that must have been! Instead, he taught on the basis of his own personal authority, for he was God and knew all things, especially the truths of Holy Scripture.
And, surely, he taught them the Gospel, the free gift of salvation to all who trust in him. They had never heard anything like that. They had always thought of salvation in terms of being obedient to God’s Laws. And, now, Jesus was teaching them that all of their religious training was wrong. Indeed, the Scriptures testified that the Messiah would earn salvation for all of them. Salvation was not something to be earned, but something another would earn and give to them. Didn’t the holy prophet Isaiah say of the Messiah, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him [the Messiah] the iniquity of us all?”9 Moreover, as St. Paul would later write, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”10
But the more I study this text, the more something pops out at me. Jesus had taught them as one having authority, but the only thing said about them is that they were amazed. But amazed may not be strong enough. In the original the Greek verb is explesso which means “to be filled with amazement to the point of being overwhelmed.”11 We might say they were seized with astonishment.
But there’s another similar reaction on the part of the people. When Jesus ordered the unclean spirit to come out of the man, the demon convulsed the man’s body and came out of him with a load voice. Although a different Greek word is used, the people were once again amazed. We might say that Jesus astounded them twice.
But there is something missing in all of this. We never read that any of the people came to trust in Christ. They were all amazed and overwhelmed by the exorcism and the Lord’s teaching, but that’s as far as it went. In fact, the only one to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah was the unclean spirit who called him the “Holy One of God.”
Thus, the people’s emotions were stirred. But that’s about it. And sometimes that’s the way it is in the church today. People often go to church hoping to hear or see something that will move or excite them. They want to leave church on a high. But a church that preaches and teaches who Jesus is and what he has done for them may seem rather bland by comparison. Law and Gospel preaching may even make people feel bad about themselves for the Law exposes our sins.
But to us who hear the Law and are made to see our sins, nothing is sweeter than the Gospel, i.e., the forgiveness of sins earned by Christ. Indeed, the LORD says to his sheep, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”12
But where shall we go to receive God’s forgiveness? To Rome? To St. Louis? To Jerusalem? To Calvary? I tell you no! True, Christ earned our forgiveness on the cross, but he doesn’t distribute it there. He distributes all of his gifts in and through the means of grace. So we go to the Word. “Behold its promise: “The blood of Jesus God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”13 We remember our baptism. Behold, the promise: “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”14 We go to Holy Communion where Christ says, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
How, then, shall we live?
No, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”15 So to the Word we go. And to all the means of grace we go, namely, to Word, water, bread, and wine!
Through these means God has promised to create, preserve, and strengthen our faith. May God grant this to us all for Jesus’ sake . . . Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes
1 Regarding the judgment of the uninstructed, see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30.
2 See Mark 1:24, ESV.
3 See Mark 1:24a.
4 See Mark 1:25, RSV.
5 Several E.F. Hutton commercials in the 80s ended with the words, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PwP1EjaBik.
6 See Mark 1:27, NASB.
7 See Mark 1:22, NASB. In the original, the word amazed (ekplesso) means “amazement to the point of being overwhelmed.” Source: Danker, Frederick William, reviser and ed. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. By Walter Bauer. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2000.
9 See Isaiah 53:6.
10 See Romans 6:23.
11 See William Arndt, Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker (Editor), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000) on CD-ROM BibleWorks 8, loc. cit.
12 See Isaiah 1:18.
13 See 1 John 1:7.
14 See Galatians 3:27.
15 See Matthew 4:4.
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