Advent 2025: Tue 9 Dec
Mark 1.21-28 Spiritual entities
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 impure 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 impure 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 impure spirits and they obey him.’ 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Jesus encounters a shouter. What to do with someone who interrupts your church service?! Thank goodness we in the CofE have Churchwardens who are charged with keeping order. I’m guessing that this man was a regular at the synagogue. Firstly, these days you can pick the church you’d like to be part of– get in the car and drive into or across town. The people in this synagogue were regulars – week in, week out, through the seasons of the year. No-one went anywhere except to their local synagogue – why would they go elsewhere, except for the occasional trip to the Temple in Jerusalem? Our man with the impure spirit was probably a regular, too. Where else would he go?!
He may have been quiet during worship on other Sabbath days, but today someone had turned up who was to turn his life around. If in the past he’d have had moments when he interrupted the worship it’s possible that he may have been excluded, but he was present today, so perhaps he’d not presented a problem to the assembled worshippers.
Something stirred within him as Jesus spoke. Something deep-seated was challenged by words that carried authority like nothing heard before in that place. The entity that possessed this man was affronted and frightened by the presence of Jesus. That entity knew exactly who this teacher was, and this person, his words, his authority cut deep into its impurity, challenging its own authority to be there. It screamed out – there was no other possible response. “I know who you are!”
Jesus made a two-fold response. The first was to silence the entity. He did not need the Enemy’s minions to publicise who Jesus was. It was, and still is, for each of us to recognise and acknowledge for ourself the divinity and lordship of Christ Jesus. We will see that Jesus had significant problems managing his image and consequent personal time and space as we read on in the Gospel. Secondly, he banished the impure spirit from the man.
The reaction of the people in the synagogue suggests that impure spirits were not uncommon. Their astonishment also suggests that no-one else had been able to deal with impure/unclean spirits. We might think that this sort of thing comes from the minds of simple people. Today there is an unholy industry that profits from New Age “spirituality”, film and documentary entertainment that promote dark topics (e.g. Help! My TV is haunted [I made that one up]) and the stuff that appears blatantly in shops throughout October. What are we doing about it? Perhaps the Church needs to look to the Master once more.
Did Jesus know that the man would be there?
Is this work of Jesus something we do or do not need these days?
Have the words of Jesus ever caused something positive to stir in you?
Father God, our modern world sees people like that man in the synagogue as suffering from some mental disorder, but his reaction to Jesus was razor-sharp in its accuracy. I pray that you help me understand more clearly what really happened in cases like these. Amen.
It’s good to be reminded that the flowing fountain of faith can run a bit dry at times. Christ came for those who are not always faithful, joyful and triumphant.
Paul