And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out…
Mark 1:23
Think about it. Here is a man going to worship in the synagogue. But his life is bound by a dark power that lurks within him, and coming to the synagogue hasn’t changed that.
This still happens today: A man goes to church, and his life is in the grip of a dark power that he cannot overcome. He has heard the teaching. He has sung the songs. But his life has never changed, because there’s a compulsion within him that’s too strong for him to overcome.
But when Jesus went to Capernaum something extraordinary happened. He confronted the dark power that was holding this man: “Come out of him” (1:25). Mark tells us that the evil spirit “came out” (1:26). The people were astonished. Nothing like this had ever happened in their synagogue: “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (1:27).
Many people who heard Jesus speak never followed Him. The rich young ruler would be an example. But in the Gospels, when Jesus calls someone directly, they always respond. When Jesus rebukes a dark power directly, it moves.
You won’t find an occasion in the Gospels where Jesus gives a command or rebukes a demon and then He is frustrated. The disciples faced this frustration, but not Jesus. You never read in the Gospels that Jesus tried to heal someone, but it didn’t work. Why? What Jesus determines gets done. What He decrees gets accomplished. When God says, “Let there be light,” there is light. And Jesus is everything that God is in the flesh.
What’s your level of confidence in the authority of Jesus?
