They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-- the Holy One of God!" And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
Jesus began his ministry by teaching. In the context of teaching about the kingdom of God—God’s time of coming when he sets free the oppressed—a man comes who is oppressed by an evil spirit. An evil spirit is not necessarily one who is rebellious against God, but one who wants to judge and destroy humans (see I Kings 22:19-23). This spirit wanted to make public to the human world what has only been made known in the spirit world—that Jesus is the chosen one of God. Jesus recognized that the Father did not want this information known to humans, so he told the spirit to be quiet. Then, because of the oppression the spirit caused his human host, Jesus exiled the spirit—cast him out of the region ruled by God. Jesus did this by the power to rule that the Father had given him, and so Jesus was able to just command the spirit. This displayed his authority to all the people watching, although they did not understand what that authority meant.
As disturbed as people who are under demonic control are, Jesus recognized that they are not the enemy. The person needs mercy and deliverance. It is the demonic force that needs confrontation.
We meet people we strongly disagree with often. Sometimes, in a church context, we might confront them, or consider them "evil." In a biblical definition of evil-- doing harm to another-- that might even be true. But the real enemy is not the person who confronts us or does us violence. Rather, the real enemy is the satanic force that has lied to that person. Every person we must treat with love and mercy, doing what we can to help them. Even if they destroy our reputation or even our lives, it is better to face the displeasure of men rather than God.
Thank you so much for writing this!
ReplyDeleteReally helpful! x