Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. The people were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
Suddenly a man with an unclean spirit cried out in the synagogue: “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”
But Jesus rebuked the spirit. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and came out with a loud shriek.
All the people were amazed and began to ask one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!” And the news about Jesus spread quickly through the whole region of Galilee.
Mark 1:21—28
Jesus was a Galilean carpenter who had no formal education. He had not received any rabbinic ordination, and did not rely on the rulings of other rabbis to teach the Word of God. Jesus taught in a way that was totally opposed to the Scribes of his day: He taught with unmatched authority. The people of Capernaum were astonished by his authority. But the unclean spirit was filled with terror because it recognized Jesus’ true identity: He is the Holy One of God.
In the past God granted his holiness to people based on their proximity to the Temple, the place of his dwelling. But Jesus’ coming brought about a revolutionary shift in the spirit world: The presence of God was no longer confined to the Temple, it was now found in Jesus as well. The unclean spirit recognized that Jesus embodied the very presence of God.
God’s power and presence in Jesus was demonstrated by the way in which Jesus cast the spirit out. In those days exorcists performed lengthy and complex ceremonies, in which they employed talismans, incantations and invocations in their attempt to remove evil spirits. In stark contrast to them, Jesus cast the spirit out solely by the authority of his word: “Be silent! Come out of him!” The spirit submitted at once and left the man. The decisive defeat of this evil spirit was evidence that God’s Kingdom was breaking forth into the world through Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ authority challenges us to recognize him as the Holy One of God.
The authority by which he cast out evil spirits is the same authority which is inherent in Jesus’ teaching. We can still experience his transformative authority through reading his words. Jesus promises us: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” Mark 13:31
