Jesus’ Authority

"Evil Spirit Declares Jesus God’s Holy One in Capernaum Synagogue!"

If there had been a local Galilee newspaper at the time perhaps this would have been the sensational headline. In Mark’s gospel, this is the first time that Jesus is teaching in public and right away there is satanic opposition.

We don’t know what Jesus was teaching but we do know that people were “amazed.” He taught with authority, unlike the teachers of the Law of Moses who were professionally trained to interpret and apply the law. “Amazed” is one of Mark’s favourite words. I can only imagine that it was Jesus’ familiarity with what he was teaching, that he knew it intimately as part of his own story, that amazed his listeners.

Mark tells us that a man with an evil spirit entered the synagogue yelling. The contrast between Jesus’ authoritative teaching and what the evil spirit spoke must have caused a lot of dissonance for the people in the synagogue. The evil spirit’s words were insidious: some simple truth, Jesus being from Nazareth, some spectacular truth, that Jesus is God’s Holy One; and then questions that were seemingly intended to try and make Jesus look as if he was a liar, and hiding something.

Jesus’ authority was immediately seen to expand beyond teaching to having complete command over evil spirits. Mark describes the people’s reaction: surprise and wonderment—"He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him." No wonder news about Jesus spread quickly.

The New Testament is filled with images of Jesus. We think of him as shepherd and saviour to name two, and here we have the image of Jesus as Satan-fighter, a role he continues to fill even now.

Respond in Prayer

Lord God, thank you for your Son and the role he played and continues to play in fighting evil. Help me to be aware of the evil in the world and to be confident in Jesus’ authority over evil. In his name, I pray, Amen.

Sarah Patterson