Mark 1:21-28 (NIV) 21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just 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!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27The 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." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
We read that there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. He was a respected member of the Synagogue who loses it and seems beyond help. A person with an unclean spirit is someone who is messing up their life, and they do not know it, and/or they do not know what to do about it. And nothing seems to reach them or help them.
Do you know someone with an unclean spirit? Have you been someone with an unclean spirit? We do not talk about someone having an unclean spirit other than to say we just cannot reach someone like that. Then we distance ourselves from them with our pity or we try to smooth things over with our sympathy.
But Jesus wades into the defensiveness, the resistance, and the need. He reaches the person with the power of compassion and the authority of his teaching. He says, “let go of that woman” or “let go of that man.” And this is His teaching. For teaching is more than a miracle. Teaching equips us. Teaching lasts.
Maybe you have seen the power of Jesus at work but did not recognize it. Maybe you have been healed by a new teaching, having been trapped by your own unclean spirit. You have found yourself saying, “You have told me what I suspected and refused to hear. And I am grateful. You have brought to the surface something that I did not want to face, but now that I have, I have peace. Thank you.” Someone’s words and actions have come to us as a new teaching that has set us free. That, too, is of Christ.
And they went into Capernaum … and Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to out of the man. Have you been to Capernaum?
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 2, 1997
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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