13 Jan 26 | Mark 1:21-28
Jesus reveals divine authority not only through His teaching, but by confronting and expelling evil itself, demonstrating that the Kingdom of God has arrived with power.
Today’s Takeaway
The authority of Jesus is not academic or symbolic. It is active, spiritual, and decisive, calling for trust and obedience.
The Gospel
Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers,
and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
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!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
Reflection
Capernaum would become a strategic center for the ministry of Jesus. It is located along main trade routes, near the Sea of Galilee, and is both economically active and religiously observant. While this writing and context is supposed to resemble what we would fill in the margins of a Bible, Jesus did not live in the margins! By teaching in the synagogues, Jesus was directly within Israel’s worship life.
In these times scribes would teach by citation. Much like Gospel posts I have been writing cite parts of the Old Testament. The scribes did not have direct authority, it was derivative. They had to cite other documents to gain their authority. They would quote Moses, rabbis, and traditions as their “authority” for any decisions or positions. Jesus is different. He speaks from Himself, not citing a different authority, because He is the authority. This would have been very different than what anyone had traditionally experienced.
The spirit identifies Jesus before others in the crowd do. The spirit calls him “the Holy One of God.” This is a common theme that we see throughout the Gospels. Demons commonly recognize Jesus’ identity before humans grasp it. This is also something we see in the Old Testament, where spiritual realizations happen before human perception. It happens in Numbers 22, where the angel of the Lord is standing before Balaam. His donkey actually sees the angel and responds, but Balaam does not know until his eyes are opened by God.
Jesus then commands the spirit to be silenced. He does not hide from the claim, He demands obedience from the spirit with authority. What we see is that the spirit complies, but the man goes into convulsions and the spirit comes out with a loud cry. This shows us that liberation is not always quiet, but it is decisive.
People then recognize what has happened. They see that Jesus taught with authority. They recognize that he had performed an exorcism and the spirit obeyed instantly. They heard the authority proclaimed in how He taught and then witnessed the spiritual submission to His authority.
It is easy to see this as a healing story or a story of another miracle. It is so much more than that. This Gospel is a testament to the authority of Jesus. The question that we have to bring up is what we recognize in our society today. We typically yield to authority, but are we recognizing the authority that God has? We see that spirits listen to Jesus, but as people we are given free will. This is seen with so many people choosing to not turn to God. We have the choice and knowledge of His true authority. Are we making the right decisions in whose authority we are recognizing?
Reflection Question
What voices or pressures do I obey more quickly than the authority of Christ?