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Mark 1:27-28
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.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Today’s passage takes place when Jesus was teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum. In attendance that day was a man possessed by an evil spirit. The man cried out, “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!”
Jesus commanded the evil spirit to be quiet and ordered him out of the man. The evil spirit shook the man violently and “came out of him with a shriek.” Can you imagine the scene? The people were amazed at the power of Jesus. Not only did He teach with authority, the evil spirits obeyed Him! This news about Jesus spread over the region.
Why did Jesus direct the evil spirit to be quiet? Jesus did not want people following Him for the wrong reasons. Jesus taught with authority, but He did not come to be a great teacher. Jesus commanded the demon out of the man, but He did not come to be a miracle worker. Jesus — fully God and fully man — came to pay the penalty of our sin on the cross. He came to address this supreme problem: We are sinners in need of a Savior. He came to be that Savior.
Father, thank You for loving me so much that You sent Your Son to die on a cross for my sins. Thank You for knowing that I need a Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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