A new teaching with authority

JANUARY 11, 2005 EVEN UNCLEAN SPIRITS OBEY HIM Mk 1:21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; 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!"Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet! Come out of him!"The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him." His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

It was the man possessed by the unclean spirit who could see that Jesus was the Holy One of God. I am often struck by the unique vision of the dispossessed, the outcast, those whom we as a society might call unclean. It strikes me as interesting that the person with an unclean spirit was found in the synagogue. Perhaps he was seeking healing.

The people in the synagogue notice that Jesus teaches with authority. He is an example to us of knowing the Word of God. It is a life's work to learn the meanings in the Bible.