Anchor My Faith

Authority Over Unclean Spirits

Scripture: Lk 4:31, 33; Mk 1:21-28

We ended the previous lesson with Jesus asking Peter, Andrew, James and John to leave what they were doing and follow him. ^{“Lk 4:31} [Then Jesus and his disciples] went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.” Much earlier when we were covering the ministry of John the Baptist, John points out that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Following that five men gather to follow Jesus. They were Andrew, John, Simon, Philip and Nathanael. It appears that these men went back to their normal life. Here James is included with three of the original five. These four went with Jesus to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.

Now in Capernaum, ^{“Mk 1:21} On the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and [began to teach].” We know that Jesus is a special teacher and as a result ^{“Mk 1:22} [The people] were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the Scribes.” The early ministry of Jesus was primarily teaching with the performance of miracles or the casting out of demons as actions that attested to God’s presence with him. When Jesus taught his teaching was with authority and as a result he astonished the people because of his lack of formal training. Where did he get this understanding they wondered?

Very often when Jesus teaches there will be someone in the audience that will be used by Jesus to demonstrate God’s presence with him. ^{“Lk 4:33} [Now] in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ^{Mk 1:24} “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.”’ I do not believe it was just chance that this demon possessed man was in the audience that day. I believe that God has this arranged and on queue the man cries out with a loud voice to gain attention, which he surely did.

This unclean spirit was there to resist the power of Jesus and his teaching on the kingdom of God. This man speaks on behalf of himself and others, and speaks out of fear of coming judgment and asks Jesus what his intent was in relationship to them. Did Jesus come to destroy these demons? This demon possessed man then identifies Jesus as the Holy One of God, maybe in an attempt to exercise power over Jesus, ^{“Mk 1:25} But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”’ Jesus now takes control of the conversation and rebukes the demon by telling him to be silent, but then comes the opportunity to demonstrate God’s power working with Jesus when he commands the demon to come out of the man. ^{“Mk 1: 26} And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.”

Jesus backs up his words by giving the enemy a command which was obeyed demonstrating the authority of Jesus over unclean spirits. Clearly this would have an effect on the people, ^{“Mk 1:27} 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.”’ Each time Jesus teaches he challenges the people with something that causes them to think about who he is. The task that Jesus has is to, over time, teach the people that he is the Son of God, their Messiah, who has come to die on the cross to purchase their redemption.

Clearly those who heard Jesus teach and then demonstrate his power over the unclean spirit were impressed, ^{“Mk 1:28} And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”

Prayer

Father, in this lesson Jesus demonstrated his authority over unclean spirits. If only we would take time to study the life of Jesus, we would learn more about his authority and come to realize that we are missing the opportunity of a lifetime by ignoring him as much as we do today and instead, we spend time with the world only to be deceived. Jesus has so much more to offer than the world does.