With authority

Mark 1:21 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.

This week in my 7^th grade confirmation class, a few of the students were not finished with their homework. As pastor, I assigned them to writing a 100 word letter explaining why their homework wasn’t completed. Then I mailed that letter to their parents. As a coach, when my soccer players are chatting and goofing around, I will stop talking and stare at them. When they finally get the hint and quiet down, they know they have to run sprints. As a parent, I can clear my throat and my daughters’ heads will snap up or I can snap my fingers and they’ll stop what they are doing. Authority.

We see today that Jesus didn’t need to threaten or stare or clear His throat or snap His fingers to get a demon’s attention. He says a single word, “phimotheti” – “Be quiet.” As Jesus healed, so He also taught – with authority.

It is the Sabbath day in Capernaum. So where would you expect to find Jesus on this Saturday of rest and worship? Of course – in the synagogue. The synagogue literally means the “with gathering” place. We say “congregation.”

Jesus is a 30-year-old rabbi, a teacher. He is the honored guest, the invited preacher in the Capernaum synagogue that Sabbath. Understand that this happens at the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He has been baptized, defeated the devil, called a few disciples and changed water into wine. He has not done or said many of the things for which He will later be known. He has not yet preached His Sermon on the Mount or put the Pharisees in their place; He has not yet stilled a storm or healed any lepers or raised anyone from the dead. As a result, Jesus was still an unknown commodity. Capernaum’s citizenry has not formed an opinion of Him. They have not yet made up their minds about their Savior.

But then Jesus begins teaching. It didn’t take long before the people were amazed. They were baffled that Jesus taught with such authority. He didn’t quote former rabbis and teachers like was the common practice. He had no need to. He taught the Scriptures as if He was the original writer of the Scriptures … which He was!

He is the Authority!

Mark doesn’t record what Jesus said that day, but He came to teach, in the Greek – “to indoctrinate.” Many people today in our post-modern world think that “doctrine” is a bad word; that we can’t possibly know the truth; there can’t possibly be anything as complete truth or a church body – like ours – that can claim to have the truth. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. That’s not what Jesus taught. He is speaking the truth that never changes. That’s doctrine. He came to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Though we don’t have the text of the Messiah’s message, we do have the reaction of those who listened to Him. They were filled with awe, adoration and admiration at the words of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. Words they had never heard proclaimed with such clarity. With such authority.

Well, not everyone was in awe that day in the synagogue. Not everyone was comforted by the message of the Christ. Not everyone felt blessed by His presence. Not everyone enjoyed the forgiveness offered by the Son of God. There was one person in the crowd who hated what he was hearing. One person who was both frightened and furious. A man possessed by a demon 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!”

Remember, Jesus has just recently come from the desert after His victorious battle against the devil. Jesus went mano e mano with Satan – or really God vs. creature. And now Jesus enters this ancient church to do battle against a demonic soldier. It seems as if the devil and his demonic forces were putting in overtime during Jesus’ ministry. You can be sure that wherever the doctrine of Christ is being taught, the devil and his demons will be hard at work. There’s nothing the devil despises more than the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners. The devil and his demons are not afraid of lies and false doctrine. They love vague spiritualities, nebulous praise and cross-less, bloodless gospels that are really no Gospel at all. You can preach social justice and immorality until you’re blue in the face and the devil couldn’t care less. But preach Christ and all sorts of trouble will start.

God is a God of order. He creates and keeps everything in order. His world is like Lutheran liturgy – a theme, a plan, an order to follow. The devil prefers disorder, disruption and chaos. Lots of hollering and jumping around. But with a single word, Jesus silences the disruptive demon and restores order to the liturgy of the synagogue. “Be silent. Come out of him,” Jesus commands. Jesus speaks with authority. And the demon obeys. He must. He has no choice. He must obey the Word in the flesh.

By the way, Jesus uses the same word to silence the chaotic demon that he would later use to silence the chaotic storm. “Be silent.” Literally, “Shut up.” (In our house, “Shut up,” is a bad word. Right, Belle? But when commanding a demon, it’s OK to say “Shut up.”) This is the creative Word speaking – with authority – and the creature must obey.

Jesus certainly demonstrated His authority in the Capernaum synagogue 2,000 years ago in His teaching and healing, but is Jesus the authority in your life today? Is it possible Jesus is an authority, but not the authority? Perhaps, like Eve, the eye-pleasing pleasures of this world are your authority. Perhaps, like King David, lust has lured you away from your Lord and become your authority. Has fear paralyzed you, like King Saul and the Israelites hearing the taunts of Goliath? Is it possible that you, like Ananias and Sapphira, are looking to advance your life by making shady business deals; or like Achan, you find yourself caught up in a sin separating you from God’s grace or like Lot’s wife, you are looking longingly at the things of this world? Then fear, cheating and materialism are your authority.

Or does the devil make a claim on your life? No, you may not be demon-possessed (although there may be times when you want to walk up to your child, put your hand on her head and say, “Demon, be gone!”) But when you won’t allow Jesus to be the authority, then you are giving permission to the devil to fill the void. The demon-possessed man was afraid that Jesus was going to wreck all of his fun. Do you ever get that way? You think that Jesus has no right to interfere with your lustful longings, with your unrestrained greed, your wicked wants and your desire to seek all that is sinful, sensual and immoral. You think that Jesus has no right to expect you to worship Him every Sabbath, no right to tell you how to better your marriage or raise your children or spend your money or correct your sinful sex-life. Satan still suggests that Jesus has no authority to interfere with our depravity, our dishonesty or our decadence.

If your authority is not Jesus Christ, it is a false authority, a demonic authority. It is an influence that is controlling you; that will rob you of joy in this world and remove your assurance of a home in the world to come. It leaves you uncomfortable, screaming because you know that the Messiah is coming to crush these things and end their party. These things have a stranglehold on your spirit – as this demon did with this poor man.

But when Jesus, by the Holy Spirit’s power, rules your head and heart; when Christ is the Authority above anything and everything else; when the Savior is allowed to save you from yourself, then your life is changed immensely for the better.

Satan does battle with you every day. He is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He hates that you follow the truth. He wants to create disorder and dysfunction in your life. Satan wants to hold on to you. He wants to keep you in the chains of your sinful desires. He needs for you to stay dead in your sin, plagued by false pride and inflating your ego with independence. But Jesus comes to release you. He sets the captives free. He breaks the chains of your sin. He busts open the prison of your guilt. He wants to take over the authority in your life. Allow His voice to be heard through yours as you command all the authoritative voices clamoring for your attention to “shut up.” Let Jesus drive out the demons that plague you.

Jesus does all this. Not with amazing, fantastic or stupendous displays of power. But with words. “I forgive you.” “I baptize you.” “This is my body. This is my blood.” “Go in peace.” “The Lord bless you and keep you.”

Those simple words from the Word made flesh. They contain the power of the Almighty God. The power to forgive sins, calm fears, dispel doubts and drive away your demons. The same force to cleans lepers, part waters, shut lions’ mouths, slay giants or wake the dead. The same authority to rip a convulsing and crying demon from the chest of that man and send that demon screaming back into the pit of hell. The same power and authority you have in your Bible, in your hymnal, in your church.

Simple words. Words we hear every Sabbath in our synagogue. But there is power in these words. Authority in these words. Forgiveness in these words. Life, death and resurrection in these words.

The Bible prophecies about Jesus, the Son of Man, “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Authority over all? Find an exception. Peter’s mother-in-law has a fever; Jesus rebukes it. A tax needs to be paid; Jesus pays it by sending first a coin and then a fisherman’s hook into the mouth of a fish. When five thousand stomachs growl, Jesus renders a boy’s basket a bottomless buffet. Jesus exudes authority. He bats an eyelash, and nature jumps. He spits, and sight is restored. His cloak is touched, and blood stops pouring. He draws in the dirt, and accusers drop their stones. And so no one argues when, at the end of His earthly life, the God-man declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

Jesus may not have looked like much when He walked into the Capernaum synagogue. He may not have looked like much as He hung from the Roman cross. He may not have looked like much as He was laid in Joseph’s tomb. But those are the places where Jesus demonstrated His victory over death, the devil and his demons. It was with authority that He healed, taught and commanded demons. It was with authority that He preached sermons, calmed storms and raised the dead. It also was with authority that He allowed Himself to die, with all hell breaking loose in jubilation, thinking they had silenced the Son of God. Yet it was with authority that Jesus powerfully took His life back up again and then descended into hell to ruin Satan’s victory parade. Jesus’ death and resurrection meant their destruction. And our salvation.

This is Jesus’ authority. Not with a stare, the clearing of the throat or snapping of the fingers, but with words, death and resurrection.

That’s the truth. That’s doctrine.

Epiphany Lutheran Church – this is your Capernaum. Your congregation. A synagogue of the baptized, gathered to hear the Word spoken every Sunday Sabbath. The words of the Christ speak into the darkness of your sins, reclaiming your life, silencing your demons, bringing salvation, healing and life to your soul. Come to the synagogue. Listen to Jesus’ teaching. Believe His doctrine. Receive His healing. Accept His authority. Amen.