Talk 4 Mark 1:21-28 Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit
Welcome to Talk 4 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 1:21-28. So far we have seen how Mark introduces us to the good news about Jesus who is the Son of God. He tells us of the preaching of John the Baptist whom God sent to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. His message was Repent and be baptised.
He tells us of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and how, immediately after his baptism in water, where God declared him to be his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased, he was baptised in the Holy Spirit and equipped with power to fulfil his God-given mission.. This was to be the time when Jesus would start his public ministry, and after a period of fasting in the desert where he conquered Satan’s temptations, he began preaching the good news of the kingdom of God evidenced by miracles of healing and deliverance.
We saw how Jesus called the four fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John, and we saw through the example of Jesus, and the response of the disciples to his call, key principles of how to win other for Jesus.
Now in today’s passage, and in the rest of the chapter, Mark gives us examples of what proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God actually means in practice:
21-28 Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit – a miracle in the synagogue
29-31 Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever – a miracle in a home
32-34 Jesus heals all the sick and demon possessed – miracles outside
35-39 Jesus spends time in prayer
40-45 Jesus heals a leper.
But today we’ll just be looking at verses 21-28 where Jesus delivers a demon possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum.
21-28 Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit – a miracle in the synagogue
21. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24. “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!” 25. “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” 28. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
21 They went to Capernaum
After Jesus has called the four fishermen to follow him they go to Capernaum. Capernaum was a small town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
It’s probably where the four fishermen were living. If you go there today you can see the remains of what is believed to be the house where Simon Peter lived and the synagogue where Jesus preached.
and when the Sabbath came
So they came to Capernaum and it seems that they stayed there for a few days, at least until the following Sabbath.
Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
We know that it was Jesus’ custom every Sabbath to attend the synagogue (Luke 4:16), where, like any other adult Jewish male, he had the right to teach. But his teaching was different!
22. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
It was the custom of the rabbis in those days to be constantly quoting the opinions of others, but Jesus spoke with an authority that came from Heaven. This undoubtedly sprang from who he was, the Christ, the Son of God (v1), but at a human level, resulted from the time he spent in prayerful communion with his heavenly Father (cf. v35).
In teaching and preaching in this way, he was not only instructing the congregation in the synagogue, but also setting an example to his disciples, and us, as to how the kingdom of God should be proclaimed (cf. v14). He was showing them how to become fishers of men. Of course, there is a time and place for giving a reasoned explanation for why we believe what we believe (1 Peter 3:15), but, as the apostle Paul discovered, the enticing words of man’s wisdom are no substitute for preaching with the demonstration and power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:1-4). This is nowhere more evident than in the reaction of the people to Jesus in the synagogue:
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him” (v27).
This, of course, was the result of Jesus having just cast out an evil spirit, described by Mark in verses 23-26:
23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24. “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!” 25. “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit
The same incident is recorded in Luke 4:33ff where again the NIV uses the word possessed to describe the man’s condition. However, literally translated, Mark says:
And there was in their synagogue a man with (or in) an unclean spirit and Luke describes him as a man having a spirit of an unclean demon (Luke 4:33).
I mention this simply to point out that the New Testament uses a variety of different expressions to refer to what today is commonly described as demon possession (another of which is to be demonized (e.g. Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 28, 33; Mark 1:32, 5:15,16, 18; Luke 8:36). It’s clear to me that all these expressions are used interchangeably and that it’s a mistake to try to draw a distinction between them.
What’s particularly interesting is that in the case we’re looking at the man was in the synagogue. But this is no basis for the argument that a born-again Christian can be demon possessed. There is no evidence that the man was a believer (even though the demon in him knew who Jesus was). Literally translated, verses 24-26 read:
Away! What to us and to you, Jesus of Nazareth? You came to destroy us. I know who you are – the holy one of God. And Jesus rebuked it, saying, Be silenced, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit tore him and cried out with a great voice and came out of him.
It’s important to note that it’s the demon, not the man, who is speaking, though the demon is speaking through the man. And it’s the demon that Jesus rebukes and tells to be silent. The demon says, Away! It wants Jesus to keep his distance. Jesus and demons have nothing in common. An unclean spirit cannot bear the presence of the holy one of God.
The NIV translation Have you come to destroy us? can equally well be translated as a statement rather than a question. (There are no punctuation marks in the Greek text, so it could mean You have come to destroy us). The demon knew who Jesus was. It might well have known the purpose for which he has come – to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Notice that Jesus didn’t argue with the demon. He didn’t need to. He had complete authority over it. He didn’t need to take authority. He exercised the authority he already had, because he was a man under authority – the authority of his Father. He rebuked it and commanded it to be silent and come out of the man. And, of course, it did!
Now please note that I am not teaching a methodology for exorcising demons here. But there are at least two clear principles implicit in what I have said:
1. As Christians we are in Christ (Ephesians 1:13) and Christ lives within us by his Spirit. Demons cannot cohabit with Christ. They flee from his presence. So I believe it’s a mistake to attempt to cast a demon out of a Christian. As Christians we need to resist the devil and sometimes it’s necessary for another Christian to stand alongside us in prayer when we’re under attack. But we don’t need exorcism.
2. If we’re going to be used in setting others free we need to be living under the authority of Jesus. We cannot take authority. In the Bible, authority is always something that’s given. We only have authority if we’re under authority. We either have it or we don’t. If we have it, we don’t need to take it. We exercise it. And if we don’t have it, no amount of ‘taking’ it will help.
But that leads us to the question, Why did Jesus cast out the demon? The man certainly didn’t ask Jesus to help him. There are several possible answers to this. Consider the following:
1. Because the man was causing a disturbance in the synagogue.
2. Because the man was so controlled by the demon that he was incapable of asking for help.
3. Because it was not yet time for Jesus to fully reveal who he was.
4. Because he refused to let the devil set the agenda.
5. Because he hated the devastation the enemy had caused in this man’s life.
6. Because he had compassion on the man. Compare v 41 where Jesus is moved with compassion for the leper.
7. Because the reason he had come to earth was to destroy the works of the devil. The Greek word for destroy in 1 John 3:8 is luo, which means to loose or undo. The devil binds people. Jesus unties them. He sets them free.
8. Because he knew that it was his Father’s will (cf. John 5:19).
9. Because casting out demons was a sign that the kingdom of God had come.
10.Because the miracle would cause the people of Capernaum to become his disciples?
Now, although most of these suggestions have merit – some more than others – I think the first one is improbable and the last one is definitely inaccurate. Look at verses 27-28:
27. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” 28. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
The people were amazed, but did they repent and believe? Compare Matthew 11:20-24:
20. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent…
23. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
This indicates that despite the miracles he performed there, the people of Capernaum did not repent. Possibly because of pride. The simple fact is that where miracles of healing and deliverance are taking place people will come out of curiosity and in the hope that their needs will be met. But though many are healed, relatively few become true disciples of Jesus.
So why does God bother? Because miracles are signs of the kingdom and make it easier for people to believe. God wants everyone to be saved, but the choice to repent and believe is theirs. It’s one thing to be amazed at the miracles, as the inhabitants of Capernaum were, but quite another to believe the message of the kingdom of God and to repent and put your trust in Jesus as your Saviour.
And perhaps this is why we don’t see more miracles in this country today? Even Jesus could do no mighty work in Nazareth because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6). Unbelief in a community inhibits the miraculous. And so can lack of faith and prayer on the part of God’s people. But that doesn’t alter the truth that miracles are God’s way of confirming his word (Mark 16:15-20). It’s our responsibility to preach the word and be led by the Spirit as we believe for miraculous confirmation. But we will have more to say about this in future talks.