Mark 3 - Jesus' Authority

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.

[29] As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. [30] Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. [31] So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

[32] That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. [33] The whole town gathered at the door, [34] and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

[35] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [36] Simon and his companions went to look for him, [37] and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

[38] Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." [39] So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

When I was fresh out of seminary and working as an assistant pastor in my first church in Los Angeles, the denomination I was in sponsored a Young Presbyterian Pastors’ Conference at Mt. Hermon Christian conference grounds in northern California. As we gathered for the first meal of the conference, one of the men, whom I had gone to seminary with, stood up and announced that he would be showing a video of an exorcism the next day if any of us wanted to see it.

Now you have to understand—these were Presbyterian pastors! Exorcism was not exactly one of the subjects we had taken in seminary! So the next day, a bunch of us crowded into this meeting room where he had set up a TV and VCR. He explained that he had gone to pastor a little church in northern California a year or two before, and had begun counseling with a lady who had a bunch of troubles. Even though his undergraduate degree was in psychology, he couldn’t seem to make any progress with her. One day, he asked her about her contact with the occult, and discovered that yes, she had had some experience with occult practices in the past. As they talked, he became more and more convinced that this woman was suffering from the influence of an evil spirit, a demon.

After reading everything he could on the subject, and many false starts, he was finally able to cast it out of her; and then the news got out. Before he knew it, people from all over that mountain community were coming to him, complaining of symptoms that they had just not been able to get victory over. He found that he had some success in dealing with these spirits. Knowing that this young pastors’ conference was coming up, he asked one of his clients if he could video his attempt to cast the demon out of her, and she had agreed.

So there we were, watching this experience. On camera, he asked her a few questions about her spiritual background, and some of her symptoms, and then asked her to concentrate on Jesus doing something good for her. Then he addressed the demon. Immediately, her face contorted, her voice changed, her whole demeanor became evil and violent, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I scooted my chair back a foot or two from the TV!

If ever I doubted the existence and reality of demons before, I put that doubt to rest that day!

Our text this morning is all about Jesus’ authority. In fact, His authority was one of the things that impressed people right off. We’ll look at His authority over evil spirits, but to begin with, when He taught, he taught with authority, unlike the teachers of the law.

The teachers of the law were sort of professional students of the Old Testament. The KJV calls them “scribes”, because in some cases they were responsible for copying the scrolls of Scripture. In Jesus’ day, they were also religious teachers who often gathered around them a little band of disciples who were expected to pass on their teacher’s insights and perspective. They were also called lawyers, and this word seems to convey something important about their teaching style. Much as lawyers today will cite various cases like theirs that established a legal precedent, so the scribes would quote famous teachers in support of their interpretation of the Scripture. So they might say, “Rabbi Gamaliel says… But on the other hand, Rabbi Hillel says…” It was all second-hand theology. They didn’t feel like they had the authority to say what it meant without citing some other source. I do this at times, too: my knowledge of the language and culture of the biblical world is incomplete, so I will sometimes quote a scholar, or a contemporary writer who has some good insight into a passage.

Jesus, on the other hand, taught with authority. He knew what the Bible meant, because He had inspired it. We have a great example of that in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said do not commit adultery (for example), but I say to you that if you look at a woman with lust in your heart you are guilty of adultery.” This was so different from the way the people were used to hearing teachers speak that they were absolutely blown away by it. Mark says they were amazed; the word literally means to be struck with astonishment. They just couldn’t get over the way Jesus taught with such authority, without citing anyone else.

But there is another sense in which we see Jesus’ authority in this passage. He had the

We say that a person has authority in an organization when he or she has the ability to order something done and it happens. In the military, the lines of authority are very clear, and everyone knows whose orders they have to obey. When I was in the Air Force, they fancied themselves the more genteel of the armed forces, so the saying was, “A request is as good as an order.” So I didn’t have to say, “Sergeant, I order you to complete that report by 1600 hours today.” I could simply say, “Hey Sarge, would you get that report done by this afternoon?” and I knew it would be done. I had the authority to do that.

Jesus had this kind of authority, too. In fact, as we go through Mark’s gospel, we will see that Jesus had authority over all kinds of things. Here we see His authority over sickness and evil spirits.

Peter lived in Capernaum, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus got to his house that day, they discovered that Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Jesus went over to her, took her hand, and helped her up. Just that simple. We don’t know if He said anything, or did anything other than take her hand, but she was suddenly well, and got up and began to serve them a meal. He had the authority to heal. All He had to do was to will her to be well, and she was. He could impose His will on the physical world, on her body, on the microbes that were making her sick, and make her well.

This passage is about the authority of Jesus, but just in passing, let’s note this woman’s response: Jesus heals her and she gets up and serves Him. That’s the model for all of us, isn’t it? If Jesus heals us of a physical illness, or an emotional problem, or delivers us from a sticky relational mess, our response should be to get up and serve Him out of gratitude for what He has done. He heals us, He frees us from our impediments and bondage in order that we might serve Him.

There was a man in the synagogue where Jesus was teaching there in Capernaum, who was possessed by an evil spirit. He cried out, Mark 1:24, “‘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.’” Now we’re talking about a whole different kind of authority! This is the ability to impose His will on evil spirits.

Later that night, the townspeople brought many sick and demon-possessed people to Jesus, and he healed them all. At the end of the story, we read that He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out more demons.

This same ministry continued throughout Jesus’ life. Wherever He went, He drove out demons. That began to raise some questions in the minds of the religious leaders.

“And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.’ [23] So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [26] And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. [27] In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.’”

Beelzebub[1] was a name people called the devil in those days. The origin of the word is unclear, but it may have meanings like “lord of flies”, “lord of dung”, or “lord of the house.” The leaders were scrambling for an explanation of how Jesus could cast out these demons. They obviously couldn’t do it, and since they considered themselves closer to God than the average person, they concluded that it wasn’t God’s power, but Satan’s power, that Jesus was using.

Jesus points out the flaw in their logic: If I’m doing this by the power of Satan, then it means that Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself, Satan is working against himself, and that signals the end of his power. No, what you see here is a greater power than Satan’s—Satan is a strong man, but I am stronger, and I have the power to tie him up, to bind him so he cannot act, and then to rob him of these people he has been controlling through the demons.

These skirmishes with evil spirits are indications of a great cosmic war that is going on around us in the spiritual realm, a battle between good and evil, between God and the devil. But we may get the wrong impression about that battle. We may think that God and Satan are vying for control of the earth and humanity, and if we’re not careful, we’ll assume that this is a roughly equal match-up. We trust that God will win, but at times it seems like the battle is nip and tuck, and that God will win the final victory by a narrow margin.

But that’s not how it is at all. The Bible is clear that God will win that battle, but it is not even close. In Jesus’ life and ministry, we see that He decisively wins every battle with evil spirits. They don’t want to leave their victims, but they have no choice when Jesus commands them. They may go kicking and screaming, but they go.

The authority of God over Satan is even more clear in the book of Revelation, where we have the description of a three round fight, and Jesus wins every round decisively.

Round One is in Rev. 19:11-13, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. [12] His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. …[13] He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. …15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. …He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. [16] On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. ….

19 “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. [20] But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. … The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. [21] The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.”

The beast and the false prophet are the agents of Satan Himself, empowered by him to do supernatural things. But they are no match for Jesus, the rider on the white horse. They are thrown alive into the lake of fire. How does that happen? Surely, they don’t jump. They are thrown in, against their will, because one with greater authority—the One with the ability to impose His will on the world—commands it. As for the armies of evil, Jesus destroys them with what? The sword that comes out of His mouth—i.e. His Word. All He has to do is speak, to command, and they are completely defeated.

Revelation 20:1, “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. [2] He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. [3] He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. …”

The significant thing here is that Satan is bound and thrown into the Abyss, not through hand-to-hand combat with Jesus, like we see in the movies where the hero and the villain struggle on a bridge or a cliff high above. No—it’s not Jesus struggling with Satan, it’s an angel, a messenger of God, who seizes the devil and throws him into the Pit. How can the angel do that? Because he is acting for the One who has all authority in heaven and earth.

Rev 20:7, “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison [8] and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth… to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. [9] They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. [10] And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.”

There is this big build-up, and the anticipation and uncertainty grow as we read about the armies of evil, coming from all over the world, as numerous as sand on the seashore, marching against the people of God, surrounding them…and then there is this very anti-climactic ending: “but fire came down from heaven and devoured them, and the devil was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur.” End of story. Jesus imposes His sovereign will on the devil once and for all.

So here’s the point: we need never fear the devil or his demons. The devil is described in 1 Peter as a roaring lion who prowls around looking for someone to destroy. Paul says in Ephesians 6 that our real enemies are not people who oppose us, but “the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If that’s all you read, it could sound really frightening. But in Jesus Christ, we are safe. He is the only safe place on earth—not in a church, or some other supposedly “holy” place. Hide in Christ. Trust in Him to protect you. Peter says we are to resist the devil, standing firm in our faith in Christ. And Paul says to, “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Remember Job? None of us want to suffer like he did, but don’t miss the encouraging point in the beginning of the story: Satan has to ask permission to attack Job. God allows Satan to first take away all Job’s wealth and his family, and then to afflict his body with sores. But Satan can do nothing to Job without God’s permission. That’s true for you and me as well.

And Satan can do nothing at all to the most valuable part of you, your soul. Paul says at the end of Romans 8, Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons[2], neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You are ultimately safe in Him.

At the end of that passage in Ephesians 6 where Paul is talking about our battle with the spiritual forces of evil, and is describing the armor God has given us to fight that battle, he says, Eph 6:18, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” If we are engaged in the battle, if we are conscious of the forces that oppose us, and are fighting against them with the armor God gives us, then we will see the need for prayer, which is part of our defense.

We see the same thing in the life of Jesus in our passage in Mark. It is significant that after a day in which He not only taught, and healed, but cast out many demons, Jesus got up early the next morning, and went out to a solitary place to pray. And then He was able to go on to the other cities and towns, preaching and casting out demons. Jesus drew His strength for His ministry from His relationship with the Father.

When you are in ministry, you recognize that you cannot do it without God. One of the best things you can do for your prayer life is to take on a job for God that is bigger than you are—whether that is battling spiritual forces of evil, or trying to share the good news with someone, or extending yourself to heal the hurting and broken people in our community. If you’re sitting in the bleachers, if you’re not really an active player, then the devil doesn’t have to worry much about you; you’re already out of the game. But if you get in the game, if you decide to work for God’s concerns of love, and truth, and justice in our world, then for sure you become a target for the enemy, and you will have to learn to pray.

When you pray, remember who it is you are praying to: King Jesus, the One with all authority in heaven and earth, the One who has the ability to impose His will on the world, and on the devil. Jesus always wins!

[1] By some Beelzebul is thought to mean ba‘al zebel, the “dung god,” an expression intended to designate with loathing the prince of all moral impurity. It is supposed, at the same time, that the name Beelzebub, the Philistine god of flies, was changed to Beelzebul (“god of dung”) and employed in an approbrious way as a name of the devil. Others prefer to derive the word from ba‘al zebul, the “lord of the dwelling” in which evil spirits dwell. The fact that Jesus designates Himself as “master of the house” would seem to indicate that Beelzebul had a similar meaning. (New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, electronic version)

[2] Lit, “rulers”, from arche, the same word translated “rulers” in Eph 6:12.