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.Pr. Kurt A. Van Fossan – In Nomine Christi Iesu
In the verses just before our Gospel reading from Mark we’re told about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, how after His baptism in the Jordan and temptation in the wilderness He continued proclaiming the same good news message as John the Baptist: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The coming of salvation in Jesus Christ!
Was this message more effective (did it bring more people to faith) now that it was being preached by Jesus Christ instead of John the Baptist? No, not at all. The same authority and power of God to turn people’s hearts from unbelief to faith was present whether it was John the Baptist speaking God’s message of the Gospel, or Jesus, or any of His other disciples. The same is true today!
Remember Jesus’ words to His disciples just before His ascension. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" Matthew 28:19-20. The Lord in all His power and authority is with us, especially when we, according to our various vocations, share our faith with others. That’s why, when Jesus at one point sent out 72 of His disciples to speak His Word, He said: “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me…" Luke 10:16.
God had been calling and sending His people to proclaim His Word since Old Testament times, and the message of the promised Saviour has been the same since Genesis 3:15. So why were the people in the synagogue in Capernaum so surprised at Jesus’ message? “They were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
What were the scribes teaching? When speaking about the Pharisees and scribes elsewhere Jesus said: “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). “The commandments of men” is the teaching of this world which says that man can earn God’s favour and salvation by their good works. That’s the central teaching of all other religions and it had crept into the teaching of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.
The teachers of such a message (that your salvation depends on your good works), have no authority or word from God which offers anyone the assurance of forgiveness. The only assurance they could offer from God’s Word would be the assurance that if your faith is in your good works for salvation, you will not be saved! That’s one of the reasons why the message of the religious leaders was so different than what Jesus was teaching.
The astonishment of the people in the synagogue that day reminds me of a young Jehovah’s Witness woman who knocked on my door the other week. When I shared with her my assurance of God’s presence and acceptance of me now, and that I was sure that I would live forever with Him in paradise, she was astonished that I could be so arrogant to think that I was good enough to
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think such a thing. She said she was doing her best to be good and hoped that in the end she will have done enough good things for Jehovah to let her into a type of paradise. But she would not be so presumptuous as to think that she was already good enough to live in God’s presence.
I assured her that my confidence of salvation was based not on what I have done, but on what Jesus did for me on the cross when He paid for my sins. I can be sure that I have been cleansed of my sins and fit to live in God’s presence because of His promise of forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ.
Since I was so strongly opposed to what this Jehovah’s Witness was saying, she said, “You must really hate me.” “No,” I said, I hate your teaching, as God surely does, but I love you, as God surely does. And I want to assure you of His power to cleanse you of all your sins through Jesus Christ.
Jesus demonstrated this power in the next part of our Gospel reading. “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.”
Notice how Jesus deals with this man with the unclean spirit. “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.” Instead of casting the man out of the synagogue because he was unclean, Jesus cast the unclean spirit out of the man.
Without the man doing anything first to try to earn God’s forgiveness, Jesus sets him free from the evil spirit. That’s Gospel—the free gift of God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection—the free gift of repentance of our sins and faith in Jesus Christ who delivers us from evil.
How would the religious leaders have handled this man with the unclean spirit? They would have cast him out of the synagogue in an attempt to keep themselves clean. Because of their works righteous teaching, they spent all their time trying to keep themselves clean. So, instead of helping others, they either steered clear of them or taught them their same hopeless way of salvation.
That’s one of the reasons the people were so amazed at Jesus’ teaching, calling it “a new teaching with authority,” because it was not the same as what the religious leaders were teaching. It didn’t send them away thinking, “If I want to be acceptable to God I’ve got to do better.” Instead, God, through His Word assures us that we could never do enough to make ourselves acceptable. But at the same time He assures us of His love for us even as unclean sinners, and of His power to set us free from our sins.
This is a message which, instead of driving us away from God in a hopeless attempt to make ourselves clean, continues to draw us to God’s presence in His Word and Sacraments to cleanse us—to be set free from the effects of evil in us and around us—to hear, as we did earlier in the words of absolution and will soon hear in connection with the Lord’s Supper, that our sins have been forgiven, and to be given the power to believe this good news and thus to live in peace and joy in our Saviour’s eternal presence. It is also a message which God has given you, as a Christian, the authority to share with others through your various vocations.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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