And they go into Capernaum. And straightway on the sabbath he entered into the synagogue and taught.
Capernaum is where the Servant's public work begins, and He begins it with words. Three things in Mark's short sentence are worth weighing: His pace, the town, and why teaching came first.
Mark uses one short word again and again. A writer explains what it tells us about the Servant.
The first thing you find here is directness, speed, quickness, the absence of all delay. That is what marked Him as the great Servant of Jehovah. You find that word used again and again all through this Gospel of Mark — "straightway," "directly," "immediately," "quickly." In the original there is only one word, though translators render it in many ways. It all points to no lingering, no hesitation, no putting off. It points to the quickness and the directness of the true servant, whose whole thought and mind and heart is bent on the service to be done. And so we read here that immediately He enters the synagogue and teaches.
Mark does not tell us what happened just before, but another Gospel does — and the contrast shapes how we read this arrival.
Mark does not report His first preaching in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30). It was after they thrust Him out of the city where He grew up that He went to Capernaum. The blessed Servant knew no discouragement nor self-pity. They laid their wicked hands on Him in Nazareth. Then He went on to Capernaum and taught there straightway.
This town heard His teaching first and saw His power first. That privilege stands behind the woes He later spoke over it.
It casts a very interesting light on the woes the Lord pronounced on some of these cities: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!" and "you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?" It is a very remarkable thing to find this place, Capernaum, tied so directly to His service. It was the place that first saw His wonder-working power go out, and heard His words too, the teaching of the great servant-prophet in this world. That is what made Capernaum's great exaltation. It was exalted to heaven — how? Because it witnessed His mightiest works.
Older translations read the words about Capernaum as a statement, not a question, and that is how this writer takes them.
One pronoun changes between verse 16 and this verse.
In verse 16, "He walked," but in verse 21, "they went." The men He had called were now with Him. They listened to His words and saw His works of power. Entering Capernaum, He taught "straightway" on the Sabbath, and authority marked His words. The scribes only passed on the thoughts and opinions of others. They fell back on the authority of great teachers of earlier times. So it was this note of authority which astonished the people.
Mark records that He taught, but not what He said. One writer notes what that teaching gave His hearers.
Mark simply states that He now began to explain the truth — He who had preached the fulfilment of ancient promise and the gospel of God. So those who were hungering and thirsting for righteousness might be filled. Many prophets and kings had longed to hear the things taught in Capernaum that day, but had not heard them.
The word for authority means more than we might assume. One writer traces the difference through the life of Moses.
This word implies the possession of the right or title to act, and not only the capacity or competence to do so. The word often translated "power" carries that capacity. Moses could be said to have had zeal and competence when he first set about putting right his people's wrongs in Egypt. But others challenged his authority — "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" — and he fled in disgrace. Later, however, Jehovah said to him, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." He then went as a messenger God Himself had sent. It is so that Mark presents Jesus. He had an indisputable right to speak.
One writer applies this to anyone who speaks for God today.
Some present teachings with all the arguments for and against, leaving hearers to judge whether it is truth or not. If we do that, we shall hardly be speaking with authority. We shall sound like people groping for the truth. We are to speak as those who by grace know the certainty of the truth they proclaim. This is not inconsistent with a lowly mind. It is the lowly who will know the mind of God, as we read, "He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way."
- Prompt — "Immediately" is the Servant's word in Mark. No lingering, no putting off.
- Undeterred — Nazareth threw Him out. He moved on to Capernaum and taught there, with no self-pity.
- Accompanied — "He walked" becomes "they went." The men He just called are now beside Him.
- Authoritative — He had the right and title to speak, not just the ability. The scribes passed on other men's opinions.
- Accountable — The town that heard first and saw most was raised to heaven in privilege. Over that same town the Lord later pronounced woe.
And they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.
The Lord teaches in the synagogue at Capernaum on a Sabbath, and the room is stunned. Mark records not what He said but what it did, and how the crowd compared Him with their own teachers.
One writer notes what this silence leaves us with: the people felt the authority of the Speaker Himself.
It was a Sabbath day, and He was at Capernaum, after the people of Nazareth had rejected Him… What He said is not recorded here or anywhere else. Only its effect on the hearers is told — it was so different from anything they were used to. He taught as one who had authority. Clearly it was nothing merely traditional, nothing conventional. It was no cold, formal speech, such as a scribe might have delivered. They felt that the Speaker had authority. We know He had it, for He was the Prophet Moses had written about, and He was the Son of God as well.
The word translated "authority" is exousia. Does it describe the effect His words had on people, or His right to speak at all? One writer weighs the two:
Does this mean that when He spoke, His words had an immediate and irresistible effect? Did they convince the minds and hearts of the listeners, or force the unclean demon present to obey? Or does it mean that His hearers could see He had a proper commission, as the Servant of Jehovah, to announce the good news He brought? The second is certainly the right meaning. It fits the plan of this Gospel best, and it fits the ordinary use of the original word (exousia), rightly translated "authority."
The same writer separates two things: the right to act, and the power to act.
This word means the right or title to act, and not only the ability to do it. Ability is carried by the word often translated "power" (dynamis). As a Servant, He was heaven's fully authorised representative in the fullest sense of the word. He had the fullest right to speak. His word was also effective, as Isaiah prophesied: "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty…" (Isa. 55:11).
What made the scribes so different? One writer points to their method:
The scribes only passed on the thoughts and opinions of others. They fell back on the authority of great Rabbis of earlier times. So it was this note of authority which astonished the people. It was so distinct that they at once detected it. He was indeed that Prophet with the words of Jehovah in His mouth, of whom Moses had spoken in Deuteronomy 18:18-19.
One writer traces this craving for tradition back to what produces it:
Wherever confidence in man takes the place of the truth, the result is always uncertainty before God. So comes the craving for tradition, for official and inherited authority, and for props of that kind to hold up a weakness people feel inside. This was very much the case with these scribes. Even their use of Scripture had no power in it. It did not come from a simple, happy-hearted confidence in God, and it did not produce one. They were a class who handed down some scriptural knowledge, crusted over with a coating of tradition. That coating often hid and twisted even what was true in itself.
This contrast sets a pattern for anyone who speaks for God today:
His word did not consist of mere arguments that appeal to reason. He spoke with the authority of One who proclaims the truth in convicting power… Suppose we present doctrines with all the arguments for and against, and leave our hearers to judge whether it is truth or not. Then we shall hardly be speaking with authority. We shall sound like people groping for the truth. We are to speak as those who by grace know the certainty of the truth they proclaim.
The same authority marked what He did:
His word and His works testify alike to the authority with which He taught the people… His speech was not like that of the scribes, who insisted on opinions. He announced the truth as One who knew it and could present it from its very foundation. Even evil spirits were afraid of His presence… Here was a testimony that God had stepped in to set man free, and to give him His perfect truth.
- Commission. "Authority" means the right to act, not only the ability. He came as the Servant of Jehovah, heaven's fully authorised representative.
- Contrast. The scribes only passed on the opinions of earlier teachers. Their craving for tradition propped up a weakness they felt inside, and it crusted over the Scripture they handed down.
- Certainty. He did not argue toward the truth; He announced it as One who knew it and could present it from its foundation.
- Confirmation. The same authority that convicted His hearers drove out an unclean spirit. His words and His works testify to it alike.
- Call. Those who speak for God today are to speak from known certainty, not as people groping for truth.
And there was in their synagogue a man [possessed] by an unclean spirit, and he cried out
Mark's Gospel opens with the Servant at work, and His teaching runs straight into conflict. The shock here is not that a man was under an unclean spirit, but where he was sitting — inside the place where God's people met to hear His word.
The setting is the point. The Servant's work begins in the religious sphere, and that is where the enemy shows up.
We are not surprised that the Lord's service in this book of service began in the inner sphere of God's interests — in what people would call the religious sphere. What surprises us is finding an agent of the devil in that circle, an unclean spirit. We might expect to find the unclean spirit in the theatre or the cinema, or moving in business and political circles; but in the synagogue! in the church! Surely not. Yes, there was no doubt about it: the unclean spirit was in the synagogue, and it had a voice there. The rulers of that synagogue may have tried to cast it out, or to bind it into some appearance of decency with chains and fetters. If so, their efforts had failed. The foul spirit was there when Jesus entered the place.
The religious leaders there had never disturbed him.
A man held by a demon could be present there without fear of challenge from the scribes and Pharisees. But the power of the Lord Jesus in His ministry was a threat to the authority of the evil spirit.
The same evil may have been in that room long before this day. It shows itself now because Christ has walked in.
How strikingly these cases of demon possession appeared in the presence of Jesus! As we read the Gospels, we might almost think that every possible case of that time had crowded around Him. But the truth is, there may have been as many before; the presence of divine light brought it all out then. The presence of Jesus, the Son of God, cornered Satan and pulled off the mask that may have hidden his victims before. And we see this to a degree wherever the power of God's truth and holiness are at work.
Teaching with authority is one thing. Driving out an unclean spirit calls for power.
The casting out of the unclean spirit shows another mark of the perfect Servant. If He speaks with authority, His word carries power. In the place of religious profession there was a man with an unclean spirit. The presence of Jesus is intolerable to such.
The man's own words show how closely the spirit had fastened itself to him. What follows is a warning to every reader.
Think of the terrible identification of the unclean spirit with the man, which his language reveals. There is no creature in the universe that offers a den so welcoming to a demon as a sinful human heart. As long as you are far from the Lord, you are near and open to the power or the tricks of the spirit of evil. He is your great enemy; the Lord Jesus is your greater friend.
The Servant's ministry did more than deal with one man. It gave a true reading of the whole nation.
How soon the Evangelist shows that the ministry of the Servant-Prophet brought out the true moral condition of things in Israel! The Light shone into the darkness, and there in the synagogue revealed the hypocritical scribes in the pulpit, and an unclean spirit in the congregation.
The Lord deals with the spirit by speaking. Set His word beside the words of an archangel, and its weight shows.
The Lord acted in His own authority, and did what even Michael the archangel held back from doing. Michael did not dare bring a slanderous accusation against the devil. He said only, "The Lord rebuke you" (Jude 9). Jesus rebuked him and quieted his wild speech with a word. He quieted the howling winds, the tossing waves, and the raging, burning fever with a word like it. Going beyond mere restraint, He commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
- Presence exposed. The spirit sat unchallenged in the synagogue until Christ walked in. His presence pulled off the mask.
- Presence intolerable. The spirit cried out because the presence of Jesus is unbearable to it. The outburst tells you who had walked into the room.
- Presence divides. The light showed up the hypocritical scribes in the pulpit and the unclean spirit in the congregation. Nothing in that room escaped it.
- Presence claims. The man's own words showed how far the spirit had merged with him. A sinful heart is the den a demon looks for.
- Presence delivers. Christ used no more than a word. He silenced the spirit, commanded it out, and the man went free.
saying, Eh! what have we to do with thee, Jesus, Nazarene? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God.
A voice interrupts Jesus while He is teaching in the synagogue. It is not a worshipper. It is a demon, and it names Him out loud as the Holy One of God. Why does the clearest statement of who Jesus is come from an unclean spirit? And why does Christ refuse it?
Demon possession shows up again and again around Jesus. One writer explains why.
How strikingly these demonic possessions appeared in the presence of Jesus! As we read the Gospels, we might almost think that every case then existing had crowded around Him. But the truth is, there may have been as many before; the presence of divine light brought it all out then. The presence of Jesus, the Son of God, cornered Satan, and pulled away the mask that had covered his victims. You can see this to some degree wherever the power of God's truth and holiness is at work. Does He raise a flag for truth? Opposition appears at once, and the enemy shows himself.
Where it happened matters. Satan's power showed itself in the place set apart for God.
To meet the power of Satan in such a place was truly remarkable. The Saviour often met demon-possessed people in the outside world. That was a painful reminder that the world is under Satan as its prince. But for a demon to intrude into the very presence of God was extraordinary.
The words come out of a man's mouth, yet the pronouns are plural. One writer hears the demon speaking for himself and for his victim at once.
Until now the unclean spirit had stayed hidden behind the man's personality. He revealed himself by this public statement: "What have we [the man and I] to do with you, Jesus the Nazarene?" The spirit of lying spoke truth, for "what fellowship has light with darkness?" But it was not the whole truth, for Jesus came to deliver man from the authority of darkness (Colossians 1:13).
Note: the ESV reads "What have you to do with us" — the plural is the same. At the end of the verse the demon drops the plural and says "I".
The change of pronoun here is very suggestive. The knowledge of the Holy One belongs to the demon alone. He would draw the man in with him into the dread it inspires, and into the wish to escape Him as a destroyer. Yet this is the very One who is to be the man's Saviour!
The demon knows the highest title, yet addresses Him by the place-name people used to look down on Him.
The demon knew Him to be the Holy One of God. Even so, he used the expression "Jesus of Nazareth," a name men often used to suggest something inferior. He asks whether the Lord had come to destroy them, that is, the demons. For they can understand nothing of grace.
Notice which title the demon never uses.
Demons will not give Him the title of Lord. The evil spirit at Ephesus said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know" (Acts 19:15). He did not say, "the Lord Jesus," but gave Him no more title than he gave Paul. See also Mark 1:24; 5:7.
The question is a confession of fear. The demon is right about his own end, but wrong about the man he holds.
Yes and no, foul spirit. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). But as for the man, "the Son of Man came not to destroy people's lives but to save them" (Luke 9:56).
Note: the Luke 9:56 wording quoted here follows an older translation.
The dread was real, but the moment of final judgment had not arrived.
It is remarkable how these evil spirits acknowledge Him according to the truth. But they do it only out of dread, and they would have avoided His power if they could. It was the reluctant acknowledgment of a power they could not escape. The time had not come to cast them into the pit, but to deliver man.
Everything the demon said was accurate — and Jesus still refused it.
The demon knew Him, and did not hesitate to confess Him as the Holy One, a title assigned to Him long before in Psalm 89:19. But the Lord could not accept testimony from such a source. Nor could Paul later, when a fortune-telling spirit spoke up for him in the streets of Philippi (Acts 16:16-18). Christ and Satan have nothing in common. Between them lies the deepest moral opposition.
- Exposed. Jesus does not create the evil. His presence unmasks what was already hiding — even inside the place of worship.
- Confessed. That light makes the enemy speak the truth. He calls Jesus the Holy One of God, but he never calls Him Lord.
- Dreaded. The demon expects only destruction, because demons "can understand nothing of grace."
- Divided. The demon's "us" drags the man into his own dread. But Christ came to destroy the devil's works and to save the man.
- Refused. True words from a corrupt mouth still count for nothing. Christ accepts no witness from the enemy.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him.
A shout breaks up a quiet synagogue lesson in Capernaum. Jesus answers the unclean spirit with two short commands: stop talking, and get out. The words raise two questions. Why silence a confession that was true? And what authority can make a demon obey?
The demon had said nothing false. Jesus of Nazareth really is the Holy One of God. But the source of the words decided their fate.
He showed His complete power over demons. Yet He "would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him." As one has said, "He refused a testimony that was not of God. It might be true, but He would not accept the testimony of the enemy."
One writer adds a second reason. Enemies would later charge Jesus with using Beelzebub's power to cast out demons. Refusing the demon's words answered that charge before anyone made it.
He did accept a fourfold witness: John the Baptist, the Father, His own works, and the Scriptures (John 5:32-47). But He, the Holy One of God, refused all testimony from below. In the wisdom He held so perfectly as a Man, He saw the false charge coming — that He was in league with Beelzebub in casting out demons. So that none of the Father's "little ones" would stumble, He openly refused every link with the works of darkness. Then all could know that He did these things in His Father's name alone.
Jesus speaks in His own authority. One writer measures it against the caution of an angel.
The Lord acted in His own authority. He did what even the archangel Michael held back from doing. Michael did not dare bring an abusive charge against the devil, but only said, "The Lord rebuke you" (Jude 9). Jesus rebuked him, and one word stopped his violent speech. A word like it stopped the howling winds, the tossing waves, and the raging, burning fever. Then He used His authority for more than silence: He ordered the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
The spirit was not an idea in a sick man's mind. It could seize his voice and his body.
The unclean spirit obeyed and came out. First it threw the man into convulsions and cried out with a loud voice. Demon possession is real. There was no illusion. That spirit showed its power, and people heard its voice. But the power of the Lord was greater. And however unwilling it was to leave its victim, at the word of Christ, "Be silent, and come out of him," it came out.
The spirit hurt the man on its way out. One writer sees the enemy's usual habit in that.
The demon obeyed and spoke no more. He only cried out without words as he left, and the man he had held felt a spasm of physical pain (compare Mark 9:26). "What the devil cannot keep as his own, he will destroy if he can. Pharaoh never treated the children of Israel so badly as when they were about to escape his grip. The same thing happens all the time. Satan tempts, torments and beats no one so hard as those at the very moment of being set free from his tyranny for ever."
One writer draws out what this scene says about every person, not just the man in it.
What truths does a person need to hear more than these? That in one way or another Satan holds him as a slave. And that the name of Jesus alone can set him free. … How quickly men turn from wonder at grace in God and His Son to the anger and hatred of their own offended pride! How slow they are to admit that their own will opens the door to their slavery to Satan!
They had felt that authority in His teaching. Now they watched it free another man.
Those present had felt the authority of His word within them; now they saw that authority at work in another person — a remarkable deliverance done at the simple word of Jesus. They asked each other for an explanation. They were not yet willing to see that the Person of Jesus, standing in front of them, was explanation enough.
- Word of authority. Jesus speaks in His own name. Even Michael could only say, "The Lord rebuke you." The same word later stills wind, waves and fever.
- Word that silences. The confession was true, but Jesus refused it. He would take no witness from below. That left no room for the later charge that He worked with Beelzebub.
- Word that frees. The spirit's grip was real, not imagined; it simply met greater power and had to let go.
- Word resisted to the last. What the enemy cannot keep, he tries to damage — the fiercest convulsion comes at the moment of release.
- Word still unrecognised. The crowd felt the authority and talked about it. They stopped short of the Person in front of them. Amazement is not yet faith.
And the unclean spirit, having torn him, and uttered a cry with a loud voice, came out of him.
The scene is a Sabbath service in the synagogue at Capernaum. Jesus has just silenced an unclean spirit and ordered it out of the man it held. The spirit obeys, but not quietly. How it goes tells us about the enemy; that it goes tells us about Christ.
Where the ESV says "convulsing him," older translations read "tearing him." That older word is the one the writers below use. The violence is not a sign that the demon is winning. It is the demon acting out what it is, in the time it has left.
Controlled by the demon, the man recognised Him as the Holy One of God, yet thought of Him as One bent on destruction. Challenged like this, the Lord showed Himself to be the Deliverer and not the destroyer. The devil is the destroyer. So the demon, his servant, did as much as he could in that line by tearing the poor man before he came out of him. He could not keep his grip on his victim in the presence of the power of the Lord.
The convulsion and the shout come from a beaten power. One writer hears in them an open confession of defeat.
Satan, the devil, bowed before that authority. Yet he still showed the frenzy that belongs to him, and admitted the defeat he suffered at the hand of the God-Man. We read that when he had torn him, he came out. That is, he showed the hatred of his nature and the terrible violence of his will, against both God and man. Satan always does that, and yet at the same time he was overpowered and bound. The obedience of the perfect Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, binds the strong man, and then his goods are taken from him. The strong man recognises the power of the One who binds him, and must release the captives in his hands.
Before this the spirit spoke in words; now it only makes noise. And the harm it does on the way out follows an old pattern.
The demon obeyed. He spoke no more, and only made unintelligible cries as he left. As he went, a fit of physical pain came over the man he had held (compare Mark 9:26). "What the devil cannot keep as his own, he will destroy if he can. Pharaoh never treated the people of Israel worse than when they were just escaping his grasp. Something similar is always happening. Satan tempts, plagues and batters no one harder than those who are at that moment being set free from his tyranny for ever."
Jesus did more than rebuke the spirit; He gave it an order. The man came through unharmed, and the praise went to the One who spoke.
Not content with rebuking the demon, He commanded him to be quiet and come out of the man he had made his prey. And the demon had to obey. Though he threw the man down in front of them all, as proof of the powerful spirit, he came out without doing him harm. The praise went to the Lord Jesus. They were used to hearing words. This word carried authority and power in Jehovah's Servant, His chosen. Amazement came on all of them then — but for a sinner to believe is far better.
Some would explain the whole episode away as a disturbed mind. One writer answers that, and points to the contrast of strength.
Demon possession is a reality. There was no illusion. That spirit's power was displayed, and its voice heard; but the power of the Lord was greater. And however unwilling it was to leave its victim, at the word of Christ, "Be silent, and come out of him," it came out.
Christ does not stop at breaking the chains. He puts the freed captive to work.
He breaks the slavery and the chains of Satan's power over the poor slaves and tools of his will and malice. Having broken that power, He has set them free. Then He takes them up to use them for Himself, according to His own love and heart, against the very power that once held them.
- Command. Jesus does not bargain with the spirit. One word orders it out.
- Convulsion. The tearing and the shout are the destroyer doing his last damage. They mark a power that has to let go.
- Compulsion. The demon had to obey. His open malice only made the power of Christ's word plainer.
- Contrast. The possession was real, not imagined. Against a real spirit the Lord's power proved greater.
- Commission. Christ frees the captive. Then He uses him against the power that once held him.
And all were amazed, so that they questioned together among themselves, saying, What is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.
The synagogue crowd had heard many teachers. None had ever given an order that an unclean spirit obeyed on the spot. So they turn to each other with a question they cannot answer.
They had already been struck by how He taught. What comes next is not teaching at all.
The second thing was not authority in teaching, but power in action. Our Lord deals with the root of the trouble in man: the power of Satan, now so little believed in. It is Satan's power over human spirits or bodies, or both. In the synagogue itself — the very meeting place, where Jesus was — there was a man with an unclean spirit. The man cried out. The power of God in the person of Jesus could not be there without exposing the one who was under the power of Satan.
The word translated "authority" means more than the ability to get something done. One writer draws out the difference from the life of Moses.
This word means holding the right or title to act, and not only the ability to do it. The ability is what the word often translated "power" expresses. Moses had zeal and ability when he first set about putting his people's wrongs right in Egypt. But when someone challenged his authority — "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" — he fled in disgrace. Later the LORD said to him, "Come now and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." He then went as a messenger God Himself had authorised. That is how Mark presents Jesus. He had an undeniable right to speak.
Part of what made this feel new was where it happened. Older translations render the crowd's question, "What new doctrine is this?"
No one had challenged Satan's power in the Jewish synagogue. Now Satan is defeated, and the people are amazed, asking, "What new doctrine is this?" The teaching of the Old Testament, if they had obeyed it, would have kept evil spirits out of Jewish places of worship. But once Satan is in, he is not easily driven out. Now, however, One stronger than Satan had come.
Behind their question stood something they had not yet named.
Even evil spirits were afraid of His presence, and begged not to be destroyed. Still, they had to let go of the wretched men they held as prey under their power. So the people said, "What is this? what is this doctrine?" Here was the testimony that God had stepped in to set man free, and to give him His perfect truth. Grace and truth had come by Jesus Christ.
The unclean spirits obey Him. But obedience comes in more than one form.
Saddest of all is that forced obedience seen in men such as Balaam, and also in demons. They will go down to the lake of fire, where all that stays unreconciled will be an eternal witness to the supremacy of God. Compared with every other kind of obedience, the obedience of our Lord must forever stand alone.
Everyone in the room was amazed. Amazement is not the same as believing.
Those present had felt the authority of His word inside them. Now they saw that authority at work in another man, a remarkable deliverance done at the simple word of Jesus. They questioned among themselves for an explanation. They were not yet ready to see that the full explanation stood in front of them, in the Person of Jesus. They can only admit that this is a new kind of teacher, teaching unlike anything they were used to.
The rescue does not stop with the man walking out free.
He breaks the slavery and the chains of Satan's power over the poor slaves and vessels of his will and malice. Having broken that power and delivered them from it, He takes them up to use them for Himself, according to His own love and heart, against the very power that once held them.
- Authority defined — It is the right to speak, not just the ability. Jesus spoke as One God had sent.
- Authority proved — They heard that authority in His teaching. Then they watched it work on the root problem: Satan's grip on body and mind.
- Authority resisted — Evil had gone unchallenged in a place of worship. Then One stronger than Satan came.
- Authority obeyed — Demons submit, but their obedience is forced. Even that is a witness to God's supremacy.
- Authority acknowledged — The crowd got as far as amazement and a question. The deliverance points further, to the Person who frees people and then uses them for Himself.
And his fame went out straightway into the whole region of Galilee around.
In the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus drives an unclean spirit out of a man. One act of power, and the whole district is talking. So two questions press in. What made the report run so fast? And does hearing about Christ do a person any good?
Those present had already been struck by the way He taught. Then they watched that same authority act on someone else, and had no category for it.
Here, in the synagogue at Capernaum, the greatest amazement prevailed. Those present had felt the authority of His word within them. Then they saw that same authority shown in someone else — a remarkable deliverance done at the simple word of Jesus. They questioned among themselves for an explanation. They were not yet ready to find that explanation in the Person of Jesus standing before them. They could only admit that this is a new kind of teacher, with teaching completely unlike anything they had known. For the word of Jesus is clearly of supreme authority even in the kingdom of Satan. The report of this incident spread fast through the Galilean district, as well it might.
Word about Him moved as fast as He worked.
In His case both were perfect. His teaching was full of authority. With the same authority He commanded obedience even from demons. So His fame spread with a promptness that matched the promptness of His wonderful service for God on behalf of man.
The talk was not about a wonder for its own sake. It was about who holds people, and who alone can break that hold.
This miracle, which Mark records as well as Luke, may be noted as the first done publicly on a demon-possessed man. It has a striking place at the opening of our Lord's service in Mark's Gospel, the Gospel given to displaying that service. What truths does man need more than these? He is in one way or another under the enslaving power of Satan, and the name of Jesus alone is able to deliver him.
The news outlived the day it started. Later, and far outside Israel, a woman acted on what she had heard.
The woman of Canaan had heard of Jesus. We read that for some time before this date His fame had spread throughout all the region around Galilee. Crowds flocked to Capernaum because they had heard what great things He did, and people from around Tyre and Sidon were among them. A wealthy queen among the Gentiles once heard of the wisdom of Solomon. She came to him with choice gifts from the ends of the earth, so she might see and hear for herself. A greater than Solomon was now living in an obscure corner of Galilee. Yet it was only one of the descendants of Canaan who came to bow at His feet and make her request.
They knew what a teacher's word sounded like. This one carried something more.
It was not only a "word", such as they were used to. This word came with authority and power in Jehovah's Servant, His chosen. Amazement came on all then — but for a sinner to believe is far better still.
One writer calls the gap between hearing and believing the saddest thing he knows.
But the report, though accurate, is not belief in His Person or in His word. I do not know anything more sad or distressing than to see the Son of God in a lost and estranged world. People admired Him. They testified to the grace that showed itself in Him. His fame spread on every side, so that crowds were always waiting on Him. Yet they did not know His Person, and His word did not convert them. In the end they got rid of Him, so they could have their own way. How much of this we sometimes see! He, however, knew why He had come, and patiently did His Father's will while it was called "Today."
A famous man can trade on his fame. This Servant would not.
So, at the outset of the Lord's path of lowly service, His perfection as the Servant passes before us. Authority marks His service, and power goes with it. He stays within reach of the lowly and the needy, and He uses His power in dependence upon God. He refuses to use it to gain popularity. His power goes with tender compassion, and He never uses it just to exalt Himself.
- Word. They felt authority in His teaching. Their usual teachers had never sounded like this.
- Work. Then they saw that authority set a man free. Even Satan's kingdom obeyed one sentence.
- Report. The news travelled as quickly as He served — the speed of the rumour matched the speed of the Servant.
- Reach. The news went past Galilee. A Canaanite woman came to His feet because she had heard.
- Response. Fame is not faith. The crowds were amazed but never knew Him. To believe is better than to be amazed.
And straightway going out of the synagogue, they came with James and John into the house of Simon and Andrew.
The day began with teaching and a demon cast out in the synagogue at Capernaum. It ends in a fisherman's house, and Mark moves from the one to the other without a pause.
The move from a place of worship to a family home is not a step down in this Gospel. One writer sets the two scenes side by side.
Directly after the Lord's service in the synagogue we are called to witness His service in the home. His activities and perfections glorified God in the public synagogue. Here they are shown to be just as active in the privacy of the family circle.
Human need did not stop at the synagogue door.
There was no waste of time with our blessed Master, and none with His new followers either. They bring to Him at once the case of need in that house. Human need, the fruit of human sin, met Him at every turn. It was as clear in the house of His new followers as it had been in the synagogue, their local centre of religious observance.
One writer sets Peter's house beside Matthew's, and the mood in each was different.
Matthew's home was a place of feasting on that occasion (Luke 5:29); Peter's home was rather a place of mourning. His wife's mother lay sick with a fever — "a great fever," adds Luke the physician. Peter's home appears to have been shared not only by his mother-in-law but also by Andrew his brother. A godly family circle, we may be sure.
Simon was a married man, and that did not keep him from following the Lord.
It has often been taught that a man must remain unmarried to follow the Lord fully. But here we learn that Simon was a married man. His affections were large enough to take in his wife's mother, not only into his heart but into his house. We live in a day when mothers-in-law are often thought little of. It was not so here, and God has not recorded this in His Word for nothing.
Mark's order of events fixes when this healing happened.
So we have positive certainty, from God's own word, that the healing of Peter's wife's mother took place a short time after the call of Peter and Andrew, and considerably before the healing of the leper.
Simon's family brought their trouble straight to their Guest. Who He was makes that remarkable.
How wonderful this is to us, especially when we remember who He was. He was the High and Holy One who inhabits eternity, and the hosts in heaven bow down before Him in worship. Yet Simon's family were not afraid of Him. To them He was so gracious, so approachable, that they could bring their trouble to Him and talk to Him about it. He is the same today. He invites our confidences and wants us to let Him into our homes and lives.
The healing in that house was not the end of the day.
Leaving the synagogue He enters the house of Simon and Andrew. The apostle Peter had a wife, and her mother was sick with a fever. The Lord takes her by the hand; the fever disappears, and the woman begins to serve them in perfect health. As soon as the Sabbath is over, the whole city gathers at the door of the house… Still He remains the Servant of God. He gets up before sunrise to go to a solitary place to pray.
- Straight out. He leaves the synagogue and walks into a home. The perfections that glorified God in public were just as active in private.
- Straight in. Peter's house held a brother, a wife, a mother-in-law, and a sickbed. Following the Lord had not made his home trouble-free.
- Straight to Him. They told Him of her at once. The family were not afraid of Him, and that access is open to us in our own homes.
- Straight up. He took her by the hand, the fever went, and she began to serve — health given and at once used for Him.
- Straight on. After the crowds at the door, He rose before dawn to pray — still the Servant of God.