Jesus and the disciples went into Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus went to
the synagogue and began to teach. The people were astonished at the way He was
teaching. He taught them with the voice of authority, and not as the scribes
did.
There was in the synagogue a person possessed with an evil spirit, which cried
out loudly, “Leave us alone! What are you trying to do to us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are: You’re the Holy One of God.”
But Jesus shushed it saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!”
Then the spirit hurled the victim down and brought on convulsions, after which
it cried out in a shrieking voice and left the body without harming it. The
congregants were all amazed, wondering what they had just seen. They asked each
other, “What is this?” “What new teaching is this?” “He used such forceful words
that were powerful and authoritative, so that even the unclean spirits obey Him
and leave their victims!” Immediately His reputation spread out over the whole
region of Galilee–indeed over the whole territory.
(Mark 1:21-28; Luke. 4:31b, 33-37)
Back now in Capernaum, Jesus and the disciples went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. It is worth noting that this particular synagogue was built by a Roman centurion–a Gentile (Luke 7:1-5). The word, synagogue is Greek for assemblies, and can refer either to the local congregation, or to the building where they met. One could find a synagogue in any town of ten or more Jewish men.
Most scholars believe that the concept of synagogue originated during the time of the Babylonian exile as a spontaneous gathering of Israelites to celebrate holidays and Sabbaths, for communal worship and spiritual education. There was a great fear of assimilation and the loss of their history, and more especially a loss of the Law. The worship service was divided primarily into three parts: prayer, scripture reading and a teaching on the scripture presented. The Ruler of the Synagogue had among his responsibilities the arrangement of speakers, as there was no permanent preacher/teacher. Jesus already was becoming known in the area as an exceptional teacher, so He was invited to participate and teach.
To the Jews, the closest one could come to God was through the study and practice of the Law. The Law was given directly to Moses by God, which made the Law practically divine. They believed that since the Law came directly from God, it contained everything necessary to guide and direct every aspect of human life. Consequently, meticulous diligence must be given to its study and application. But so many people were illiterate–most too poor to afford an education, not to mention the time to spend in its study. So there arose a group of scholars who dedicated themselves to the study of the Law. They would study it, interpret it, then create rules and regulations to guide every single aspect of life, and then pass on these interpretations with their subsequent regulations to the community. These experts in the Law were given the title of scribe, and the leader of the scribes was called Rabbi.
The congregants soon noticed that Jesus taught in a manner far different from the way the scribes taught. Whenever a scribe taught, it was incumbent upon him to back up his teaching with scriptural references–a practice that continues, both in and out of pulpits, to this very day. Jesus, on the other hand, taught without scriptural backup. Jesus set Himself as THE authority. Jesus’ teachings did not defer to any other human being, or for that matter, to the scriptures themselves.
There is a very important lesson for us here. While Jesus, during His ministry, might have referred to what was written in scripture, Jesus NEVER deferred to scripture. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, he carried with him two stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments for life. There were only Ten Commandments, but from these ten, over six hundred more were written, with the intent to clarify what the original ten meant and how to apply them. Over the years, decades and centuries, these six-hundred-plus other laws found themselves elevated to the status given to the first ten. In fact, the entire first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, called the Pentateuch, became known as the Torah, or the Law. And The Law was considered to be the Word of God.
But was it? Was everything written in the Pentateuch correct and accurate in every way? Had it all come directly from God, it certainly would have been. And that which came directly from God, in the original languages, certainly was. But not everything in the Torah has come directly from God, nor has it come down to us perfect and error-free. Exodus 20:1-17, for example, shows a list of the Ten Commandments given to Moses; but in Deuteronomy 5:6-21, there is another listing of the same Ten Commandments, and it reads differently from the list in Exodus. Over many centuries, and because of human involvement, in translating, interpreting and copying, there were bound to be inaccuracies, however few.
Further, as soon we shall see, Jesus will find Himself repeatedly at odds with the interpretations from scripture that the scribes gave to the people. And where the scribes couched their teachings with words of scripture, Jesus spoke as if speaking directly for and from God. And the people were astonished. The word in the original language was ekplessonto and means to be struck in the mind. We might say the people were thunderstruck!
As if Jesus’ manner of teaching weren’t enough, just then, a man in the synagogue began shouting and disrupted the service, presumably because he was possessed by a demon. In fact, we might say that it was the demon that was doing the shouting, using the man’s body as a tool for vocalization.
Though today largely rendered to superstition and the occult, the concept of demons and demon-possession was very prevalent especially during biblical times. All the way back to the beginning, from the influence of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the idea of evil personified has existed. Demons were known to wreak havoc, inhabiting people’s bodies and often possessing their souls. Illnesses, some we might classify today as epilepsy or Tourette’s Syndrome, often were attributed to the work of demons.
But, also, even as far back as Eden, God promised that the serpent’s head would be crushed by Eve’s “offspring” (Gen. 3:15). Perhaps it was with regard to God’s promise that the demon challenged Jesus. The demon recognized Eve’s descendant, Jesus, as “the Holy One of God” and also recognized His mission. Early manuscripts did not contain punctuation marks, so the demon’s words could have just as easily been a statement as a question: “You have come to destroy us!” Jesus needed no incantations, no rituals, no exorcisms. Jesus used only His words: “Be quiet and come out of him!” The demon was forced to obey.
The congregants were stunned! This was something they had never seen before! Here was this seemingly quiet, gentle soul Who spoke softly of God and made people’s lives better; yet at the same time He could speak with such force and determination that even the evil spirits were forced to obey. He very quickly became the person of the week in the whole territory of Galilee, and His reputation rapidly began to spread.
This ends our study for today.
Points to Ponder