Mark 1: 21-28 - 'Immediately' - The Urgency of Christ And The Indifference of Man
Updated: Sep 6
Our text this morning is in Mark 1:21-28, “And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And 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.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”
This passage emphasizes the authority and power of Jesus in word and deed. We also see that these things ‘astonished’ and ‘amazed’ the people. For example,
Verse 22, “And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Verse 27, “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!”
This text can be divided into three sections.
Verses 21-22 describes the peoples reaction to Jesus’ teaching.
In Verses 23-27 Jesus delivers a man with an unclean spirit.
In verse 28 Jesus’ fame spreads throughout the region of Galilee.
Each of these scenes begin with the same Greek word which can be translated as ‘Immediately’ or ‘At once’. This word is used over 40 times in this gospel and we’ve already seen this word in vv. 10,12,18. By using this word,
Mark is wanting us to sense the urgency of Christ’s mission. (John 9:4-5)
Mark is making a connection between the urgency of the mission and Jesus’ power and authority to fulfill it.
Mark also wants the reader to see that the Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into this world.
Let’s consider this first section in verses 21-22, “And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Let me make a connection between the word ‘immediately’ and two priorities that Jesus had.
First, it was a priority for Jesus to observe the Sabbath. ‘Immediately’ can be translated as ‘forthwith’ (without delay) or ‘straightway’ (unimpeded way). It was Jesus’ priority to gather with God’s people on the Sabbath Day. Jesus did not let anything impede this. He overcame any obstacle to obey this command.
Second, when Jesus arrived at the synagogue it was His priority to immediately teach, instruct, and give the people biblical doctrine.
Application#1:Every believer ought to make it a priority to gather on the LORD’s Day for worship and they should come with hearts and minds that are prepared to humbly receive the Word of God, to obey the scriptures, and to make opportunities to use our grace gifts as Jesus does here.
Application#2: It ought to be the highest priority of the pastor/elder to stand before God’s people and boldly, courageously, and without fear teach the Word of God.
Notice the emphasis in these verses on the word, ‘teaching’ (2x), ‘taught’ (1x). In these verses there are two verbs and one noun. Everything the pastor/teacher/elder says is to be biblical. They are to do this in season and out of season. (2 Timothy 4:2)
Being part of Varitas Christi Classical School taught me that there are three important tools when teaching our children: the classroom, the curriculum (content), and the teacher.
The classroom will either distract or help the students learn.
The teacher will either help or hinder the students to learn.
What is taught with either be helpful or not.
Note: In these verses we see these 3 things: the place (synagogue), the teacher (Jesus), and the content of His message (biblical truth).
In verse 21 Jesus came into the synagogue and began to teach (verb).1 In verse 22 we are told that those who heard Jesus were ‘amazed’. They were ‘amazed’ because of two reasons: Jesus spoke with authority (Mt. 5-7) and because of the content of what He taught (noun). The noun ‘teaching’ refers to the ‘content’, ‘instruction’ and the ‘doctrine’ that Jesus gave them. Note: Berean’s appreciate good teachers and are careful to daily search the scriptures to see if the teaching is true. (Acts 17:11)
We have an example of how Jesus taught in Luke 24. In Luke 24:13-35 we read, “And Jesus said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow in heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer theses things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (25-27) (Also consider Matthew 5-7)
Jesus did not stand before them and quote various rabbi’s, pharisees, and teachers of the law. He did not speak to them according to the prevailing wisdom of the day. No, Jesus would have spoken about what the inspired writers of Old Testament Scripture had written. Jesus would have taught them from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. (Lk. 24:44) He would have showed them that all of these things in the Scriptures referred to the coming of the Christ. Israel’s teachers did not do this, they taught the commandments of men as Word of God (Mt.15:9).
Jesus’ words must have sounded so different than what they were used to hearing. Jesus taught as one who had authority. The word ‘authority’ means that they sensed the power of His words and knew that His will and commands were to be obeyed. They were ‘astonished’ but they did not repent and believe.
The word ‘astonished’ means that ‘they were exceedingly struck in the mind’. Jesus’ hearers experienced a collision between their fleshly mind and the spiritual teaching of Jesus. They were used to hearing the teaching of the Jewish leaders who were faithless (Mt.16:1), ignorant of the scriptures (Mt. 22:29), and unable to discern spiritual things (Mt.16:3;John 3). Jesus spoke living, powerful, and spiritual words.
Application: What are our minds receptive to hearing? Do we love the teachings of men, or the Scriptures? Do we crave the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God, or do we have an appetite for worldly philosophies and teachings? Will we receive the correction, rebuke, and training of the Word of God, or do we like our ears tickled?
The Baptist Confession encourages us to have a high view of the Word of God.
1.2 states that the Word of God consists only of all the books of the Old and New Testaments. There are only 66 inspired, authoritative, and innerant books in the Bible.
1.3 states that that the Apocrypha (and all other books) have no authority for the church of God.
1.4 stresses that the authority of the Holy Scriptures obligates belief in them because they are God’s testimony.
1.5 stresses that the divine authority of scriptures comes from the internal work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by the Word in our hearts.
Because the Pharisees liked to teach the commandments of men let me remind you of 16.1 which stresses that good works are only those works that God has commanded in His Holy Word. Works that do not have this warrant are invented by people out of blind zeal or on a pretense of good intentions and are not truly good.
May we all be able to say with the psalmist in Psalm 119:24, “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.” One of our core values at Community Church is that we ‘crave the Word’ because they are the words of life. (John 6:68)
Let’s consider verses 23-27 which says, “And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And 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.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”
Isn’t it surprising that there was a man in this synagogue who had an unclean spirit. This man may have been gathering in this synagogue for some time and no one knew that he was being afflicted by this demon. Mark writes about this in a way that is intended to amplify the surprise of this moment, writing, “There was in their synagogue a man in spirit unclean.” (23) Only at the end of this sentence is it revealed that he was afflicted with an ‘unclean spirit’.
When Jesus comes preaching true doctrine this unclean spirit is outed. The demon said, “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.” (24) Notice three things regarding the testimony of this unclean spirit.
First, the unclean spirit speaks of the humanity of Jesus saying, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. Jesus (the Second Person in the Trinity and the Eternal Word) took upon Himself humanity to save sinners. (Rom. 1:1-4; Philippians 3)
Second, this unclean spirit also speaks of Jesus’ deity (1:1) when he says, ‘You are-the Holy One of God’. Peter confesses this in John 6:69, saying, “...we have believed, and come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Last week in Luke 5 we saw that when Jesus did a miracle and Peter began to see that Jesus was the eternal Son of God, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (5:8)
Third, the demon references the power and authority of Jesus when he says, “Have you come to destroy us?”. Observe that this demon speaks twice on behalf of Satan and his kingdom, saying, “What have you to do with us...Have you come to destroy us?” Then he also speaks for himself, saying, “I know who you are-the Holy One of God”
Observation: Jesus will destroy Satan and every principality, power, and rulers in high places! (Colossians 1:17-19) What a confession of Jesus’ power and authority by this demon!
Jesus’ responds in verse 25, “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’” Jesus gives two commands, ‘Be silent (be muzzled)…come out of him!’ The first command stops the demon’s interference and the second command removes it entirely. When Jesus gives these commands three things happen: the demon convulses the man, the demon cries out with a loud voice, then the demon comes out of the man. When Jesus commands these thing the demon is forcefully removed from this man. The demon tries to resist but cannot. What a display of Jesus’ power and authority!
Application: Like this demon, unbelievers suppress the truth in unrighteousness and resist the LORD and His powerful Gospel Call. Unbelievers plot against the LORD and do not repent and believe the Gospel! (Psalm 2) If you are doing this, do not continue any longer in these things. Instead, repent and believe and you will be saved and made right with God
In verse 27 Mark shows us the reaction among the people, “And they were all amazed (astonished), so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”
The grammar of the words ‘were amazed’ and ‘they questioned’ speaks of the fact that the people continued doing these things long after this day. In other words, the people who witnessed these things continued in amazement and continued saying among themselves, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”.
Jesus’ message at this time is no different than it was in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Since this is the case, it is notable that the response of these people is primarily about what happened around them and not what should be happening in them. They marvel at Jesus’ teaching, they observe Jesus’ authority in word and deed, they acknowledge that the unclean spirit obeys Him; and yet, there is no indication that they responded to these things with repentance and faith. (Mt. 11:21-23)
Last week we saw in Luke 5 that when Peter observed a miracle by Jesus he became aware of his sin in the presence of Jesus. (Is.6) This type of response is not what we are seeing here. The people in Capernaum continue in amazement and continue to discuss these things among themselves, but do they ever repent? In Mark 2, when Jesus forgives a man of his sins in this very city He is accused of blasphemy. Therefore, it does not appear that this city is repenting and believing.
We were surprised to see a man with an unclean spirit in church, however, we should be shocked that this synagogue can be full of people who refuse to believe and be saved. There are many people today who respond to Jesus the same way the people do in our text- fascinated, impressed, stirred, and emotionally moved- but they do not come to Him through repentance and faith to be saved. Admiration is not repentance. Interest does not mean one is a disciple of Christ. Amazement is not saving faith. May the Holy Spirit move our hearts to respond appropriately to what we have seen in God’s Holy Word this morning. Amen.
1We have an example of what this might have sounded like in Matthew 5-7 and Luke 4:17-21.
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