Mark 1:21-28 - A Different Way of Thinking
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Authoritative, Biblical preaching is truly amazing.
Gospels: Week 2 - Jesus' Preparation & Beginning of Ministry
We're visiting a different book each day as we work through all four gospels chronologically over the coming months.
SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Jesus has returned from the devil testing Him in the wilderness and begun His public ministry with the announcement that the kingdom of God has come near so people must repent and believe the good news. He's just called the first four of His twelve disciples to follow Him.
Mark 1:21–28 (NASB95)
21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.
27 They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 31
Q. Why is Jesus called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?
A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father
and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit
to be
our chief prophet and teacher
who perfectly reveals to us
the secret counsel and will of God for our deliverance...
Q&A 32
Q. But why are you called a Christian?
A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ
and so I share in his anointing.
I am anointed
to confess his name,
to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks,
to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil
in this life,
and afterward to reign with Christ
over all creation
for all eternity.
Summary
We're going to see an interesting tension develop between what Jesus wants to do in His ministry, compared to what the people want to see Him do. Mark makes Jesus' purpose clear as he begins to tell the story, reporting that Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. Remember, Jesus' primary directive - the first thing He publicly announced - was for people to repent.
Certainly He was calling people to be genuinely sorry for and to turn from their sins, but the word repent means more - it literally means to think different. It means, as Paul would later put it, to stop being conformed to the world's pattern of thinking, and instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). So it makes sense, as Jesus here demonstrates, that being taught - that is, having your renewed mind filled with true and good knowledge - ought to be a Christian's top priority.
It doesn't take long for those who'd came to synagogue that morning to realize they'd never heard anything like Jesus' teaching before, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes, who'd apparently just been going through the motions, blandly reading the words on the scroll.
While it would have been wonderful to hear Jesus teaching in person as these people did, you can be confident that the preaching and teaching you experience, when it's based on God's living Word and infused with the Holy Spirit's blessing, also carries divine authority. Are you consistently amazed by it? If not, what barriers are keeping you from that blessing each Lord's Day?
Dig Deeper
Even though they were amazed at Jesus' teaching, it's what happened next that stunned the people in the synagogue (the literal translation of the second instance of amazed in this passage). Just then, Mark notes using his customary fast paced style, a man with an unclean spirit cried out, having recognized Jesus for who He truly is: the holy one of God.
Most of us have probably never seen a demon possessed person. But yet in the gospels, it seems so common place. It's not that demons no longer posses people (although Christians need not fear this happening to them), but rather that Satan was throwing all of his efforts into a concentrated area containing thousands of people during Jesus' life, while the world is now filled with billions of people with the same finite amount of demons.
Yet the demons there in that synagogue on this particular sabbath bowed (albeit violently, throwing the man into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice as it came out) before the One who has ultimate authority over all things. Notice how calmly Jesus handled the situation - He simply spoke and the demon obeyed.
Yet for as amazing as this first exorcism was, it was still Jesus' new teaching with authority that captured the first place in their minds as they reflected upon what they'd witnessed. Mark notes that immediately the news about Him spread everywhere. But you don't need to read much farther in Mark's gospel (or the others, for that matter) to see that the people's ongoing interest in being taught by Jesus would soon give way to just wanting to receive miracles from Him.
Jesus can and does do many miraculous works in your life, some of which you're aware of, and most you've never even noticed. Be thankful for this, but be sure to not let your desire for Jesus do simply do good things for you eclipse your desire to be taught by Him.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose Son has been given authority over all things;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for a deep and longing desire to be taught by Jesus through His Word;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
