The Ruins of Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee
Babe
Ruth was, of course, the great home run hitter for the New York Yankees
baseball team. During one particular at-bat, the umpire, Babe Pinelli, called
Ruth out on strikes. There was a stunned silence in the stands. Ruth turned to
Pinelli and said, “There are 40,000 people here who know that last one was a
ball.” Pinelli replied, “Maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that counts.”
We
live in a world of thousands of opinions. Whose opinion counts? Who has the
authority that matters? There are experts in every field imaginable, some of
whom say conflicting things. Who do we look to as our authority?[1]
This is the question that Mark addresses in the portion of his Gospel that we are going to read
today. Listen for God’s Word to you from Mark 1:21-34….
They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he
entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he
taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there
was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and 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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent,
and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a
loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one
another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey
him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of
Galilee.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the
house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was
in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her
by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve
them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were
sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door.
And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many
demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
The first thing we see in this passage is that Jesus teaches with authority. We read
that Jesus and his first disciples (Simon, Andrew, James and John who we read
about last week), when they left their fishing boats by the shore of Galilee,
went to Capernaum, right beside the water. On the Sabbath, they went into the
synagogue and Jesus taught there.
I have stood in the ruins of the synagogue in
Capernaum. It is not a very large structure, only about 24 by 18 yards. Jesus
took the opportunity, afforded to laymen in the synagogue, to read from the
Scriptures and comment on it. This was the place to go if someone thought God
had given to them a message to deliver to his people. Thus, Jesus began his
ministry there.
We read that: “The people were amazed at Jesus’
teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers
of the law.”
How did Jesus’ teaching differ from that of the
scribes? No scribe ever taught on his own authority. He would always begin by
quoting someone else. “There is a teaching that…”
Now, in a sense, there is nothing wrong with what
the scribes were doing. I quote other authorities all the time when I am
teaching.
However, Jesus did not do that. He quoted no
other authorities. He spoke on his own authority and this was what set Jesus
apart. The very manner in which he taught the people indicated that he thought
he did not need to quote any other authority. This showed that he thought he was the authority.
Matt Woodley tells the following story….
A few summers ago I watched our
18-year-old son participate in a real X-ball paintball tournament. With
sophisticated paintball guns that shoot 13 paintballs per second, the matches
are quick and exciting. They’re also chaotic. The X-ball concept depends on
five players from each team shooting at their opponents and working their way
up a large outdoor field. The goal is to “kill” (that is, hit with a paintball)
the other team’s players so you can capture their flag.
But it’s not an easy task. The
main problem is that in the midst of thousands of flying paintballs it’s tough
to spot your opponents. The other team can crouch and dive behind bunkers and
barriers. To make matters even worse, as your team’s coach shouts the right
information about your opponents’ locations, the other team’s fans start
yelling false information.
When I heard the other fans
intentionally confusing my son’s teammates, I was shocked. It sounded like
cheating to me—or at least incivility. But after the match my son calmly
informed me, “O, yeah, that’s called ‘counter-coaching.’ They’re trying to
distract our players with false information. It’s part of the game, Dad. We
have to deal with it all the time. It just means that we have to focus on our
coach and block out all the other distractions.”
The Bible clearly warns us that
it’s not easy to listen for God’s voice. There will be plenty of “counter
coaching” from the culture, the devil, and from our own distracted hearts. As
my son said, “That’s part of the game. We have to deal with it all the time.”
And there’s only one way to combat spiritual counter-coaching: know the voice
of Jesus, hanging on every word as we trust and obey him—even when the crowd
tells us to do something else.[2]
The second thing we see in this passage is not
only that Jesus teaches with authority but Jesus
also has authority over demons.
We are told that while Jesus was teaching in the
synagogue in Capernaum a man who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out,
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I
know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Literally, verse 23 talks about an unclean spirit. The word is akathartos. We are familiar with the
word “cathartic”. A cathartic experience is a cleansing experience. This man in
the synagogue was having un-cathartic or unclean experiences in his life.
Now I know we have a hard time believing the
parts of the Gospels that talk about demons. We have a tendency to want to explain
this stuff away. However, I think we need to think twice before we do that.
Last year, The Washington Post ran a controversial op-ed piece titled, “As a psychiatrist, I
diagnose mental illness. Also, I help spot demonic possession.” The subtitle
read, “How a scientist learned to work with exorcists.” The author, Richard
Gallagher, is a board-certified psychiatrist and a professor of clinical
psychiatry at New York Medical College. Dr. Gallagher wrote:
For the past two-and-a-half decades and over several
hundred consultations, I’ve helped clergy from multiple denominations and
faiths to filter episodes of mental illness—which represent the overwhelming
majority of cases—from, literally, the devil’s work. It’s an unlikely role for
an academic physician, but I don’t see these two aspects of my career in
conflict. The same habits that shape what I do as a professor and
psychiatrist—open-mindedness, respect for evidence and compassion for suffering
people—led me to aid in the work of discerning attacks by what I believe are
evil spirits and, just as critically, differentiating these extremely rare
events from medical conditions.
Is it possible to be a sophisticated psychiatrist and
believe that evil spirits are, however seldom, assailing humans? Most of my scientific
colleagues and friends say no, because of their frequent contact with patients
who are deluded about demons, their general skepticism of the supernatural, and
their commitment to employ only standard, peer-reviewed treatments that do not
potentially mislead (a definite risk) or harm vulnerable patients. But careful
observation of the evidence presented to me in my career has led me to believe
that certain extremely uncommon cases can be explained no other way.
So far the article has generated over 2800 comments, expressing a wide
spectrum of viewpoints.[3]
The good news in all of this is that Jesus has authority over the demonic. Furthermore, if we are truly
living as “Christ-in” people, we have power over Satan and his demons in Jesus’
name.
A third thing we see in this passage is that Jesus has authority over disease.
After their eventful visit to the synagogue,
Jesus and his disciples go to the house of Simon and Andrew. Excavations have
been done in Capernaum revealing a first century house, which eventually became
a house church, and finally a basilica. According to tradition, this is the
house of Simon Peter. The tradition makes sense.
On this occasion at Simon’s house, Simon’s
mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Fevers like this were common in the
Galilee region then and now. Jesus takes the woman by her hand, helps her out
of bed, and the fever leaves her immediately.
How simply and authoritatively Jesus healed
people and removed demons! There was no mumbo-jumbo, no elaborate ceremony.
Jesus speaks six words and a demon is muzzled and vanquished. Jesus lifts
someone up by the hand and they are healed.
By evening, word got around regarding the
exorcism Jesus performed in the synagogue. Suddenly, people are bringing all sorts
of sick and demon-possessed friends and family members to Jesus for healing.
Mark tells us the whole town was at Simon’s front door. Jesus healed many and
cast out many demons.
I believe in Jesus’ power to heal today as much
as I believe in his power to remove demons today. C. S. Lewis once wrote,
I have stood by the bedside of a woman whose thigh-bone
was eaten through with cancer and who had thriving colonies of the disease in many
other bones as well. It took three people to move her in bed. The doctors
predicted a few months of life; the nurses (who often know better), a few
weeks. A good man laid his hands on her and prayed. A year later the patient
was walking (uphill, too, through rough woodland) and the man who took the last
X-ray photos was saying, “These bones are as solid as rock. It’s miraculous.”
That woman was C. S.
Lewis’ wife. Her cancer went into remission for four years, seemingly in answer
to prayer, as well as in response to medical treatment. Joy Lewis eventually
died from cancer. I think her story shows that there can be miraculous healing
but all healing in this life is temporary.
Jesus did not heal
everyone in his day. He does not heal everyone now. I believe Jesus’ ultimate
purpose is not to perform a healing here or an exorcism there. His ultimate
purpose is to heal all creation, to get rid of all evil. And for that he had to
go to the cross. He was not interested in having demons make him famous. He was
interested in returning all creation to God’s original purpose, and that plan
is still in process.
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