Mark 1:21-28 The Authority of Jesus

Title: The Only Real Authority in the Universe (Mark 1:21-28)

Focus Keyphrase: The authority of Jesus

Excerpt: Jesus spoke and acted in ways that demonstrated his absolute authority to dictate what we think and how we live.

Talking Points:

• Jesus gets the final say on how we think. He cuts through endless debates by defining what is true or false and what is right and wrong. Mark 1:21-22
• Jesus gets the final say on how we live. By casting out an evil spirit, he proved that his authority must be obeyed. Mark 1:23-28
• For now, we choose who gets to influence our lives with authority. But the day will come when everyone will submit to the only real authority in the universe. Philippians 2:9-11

Discussion:

1. How many authority figures do you have in your life? List them from greatest to least importance.
2. Do you believe that people who influence you actually have some authority in your life?
3. Read Mark 1:21-22. What kind of teaching is authoritative to you? Why is Jesus worth listening to?
4. Read Mark 1:23-28. Why do you think this guy was possessed by a demon? Why would the evil spirit have to obey Jesus?
5. What are some consequences of not listening to and obeying Jesus’ commands?

See Also:

• Who Is Jesus and Why It Matters
• Who Did Jesus Think He Was?
• Spiritual Warfare

Shownotes:

Today we’re studying Mark 1:21-28, and it’s all about authority. Jesus spoke and acted in ways that demonstrated his absolute authority to dictate what we think and how we live.

Q. How do you respond to authority figures? Who has real authority in your life?

• Story about getting along with authority = maybe a time I blew off authority and reaped consequences. Or humorous: dumb laws that someone in authority enacted.
• Influencers: Young people don’t think of it in terms of “authority” figures with robes and gavels. But if you listen to them, you’re given them authority. 
• You choose who has authority in your life. (For now.)

Mark 1:21-28 (NLT) Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” // But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

• Mark 1:21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 

• Describe / explain the setting. About Capernaum and Galilee. About the Sabbath day / synagogue. Why was Jesus teaching there?
• Two things happened in the synagogue that morning that established the unique person and ministry of Jesus. In both cases, the key word is “authority”.
• Greek: “exousia”
• An important theme in Mark = people recognizing Jesus’ authority. You’ll see this again in chapter 2. More importantly, coming to grips with his authority (subjective response to it vs the objective fact of his authority - someday every knee will bow). 
• Jesus spoke and acted in ways that demonstrated his absolute authority to dictate what we think and how we live.

TRANS: Let’s look at two aspects / expressions of that authority.

How We Think

• Mark 1:22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
• The first kind of authority Jesus possessed → he was absolutely right when others guessed. He told the truth when others waffled.
• The people were amazed at his teaching. 
• Why: he taught with real authority. How this was different from the teachers of religious law: endless debate about obscure points.
• To teach with authority → he’s not guessing
• It’s not “maybe this, maybe that”
• But: “this is the truth; this is the way it is”
• Where Jesus’ authority comes from: (not just loudness or passion)
• This authority is based on creation power.
• Before he was born into humanity, Jesus made everything that exists. 
• If I want to know how something works, the most authoritative voice is the one who created it. If I want to know what an author means, no one can speak with greater authority on that subject than the author herself.
• This authority is based on perfect knowledge.
• The more you know about a subject, the more your perspective can be trusted. You gain authority.
• This authority is based on moral perfection.
• Dealing with questions not just of knowledge, but of right and wrong, the highest authority is one who best understands & embodies right and wrong. You don’t ask a thief if it’s right or wrong to steal.
• Who influences YOU?
• Self-proclaimed authority: The teachers of the law endlessly debated what was true / right
• But many of them acted like their interpretations of God’s law were absolute
• They created all kinds of rules & regulations to apply God’s law in daily life
• Problem → elevated their own interpretations to the level of God’s word
• Likewise today a lot of teachers today speak with great authority - but it’s authority they don’t have. 
• Don’t listen just because someone speaks boldly or loudly. 
• Listen because someone speaks in conformity with the Bible.
• Jesus spoke with authority because he was the Messiah. 
• As in Matt 28: authority that he was given by God the Father
• By contrast, any authority we have today to speak about anything is ultimately derived from God’s word, the Bible. 
• Jesus deserves to have the final say about what we think.
• Jesus teaches with authority. He has the right to define what is true vs. false, right vs. wrong. 
• The question we all face personally is the same question people faced as they met him and heard him. “Will I accept his authority to define what is true and what is right? Or will I insist on maintaining that right for myself?” Will I surrender to his authority?
• Will my opinions / perspectives change because of what Jesus says?
• Illustrate this with a practical example: what you do with money; how you think about marriage; how you treat people; etc. etc.
• Influencers: Young people don’t think of it in terms of “authority” figures with robes and gavels. But if you listen to them, you’re given them authority. 

TRANS: Authority starts w ideas, but it ends w action. how you think leads to how you live. Jesus has the final word on that, too. Not just who you listen to; it’s what you act upon.

How We Live

(Jesus gets the final say on how we live. By casting out an evil spirit, he proved that his authority must be obeyed.)

• Mark 1:23-24 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 
• (“I’m not demon possessed. I can tune out here.)
• There is an unseen spiritual world. 
• Not always recognized in our culture today. For many, all that exists is what we can see and measure. 
• But popular culture understands (see the popularity of horror movies) there are things that can’t be understood / explained by science / technology. 
• I’ve traveled in other countries around the world: there’s no question in other societies that malevolent spiritual forces exist.
• In the Bible, they are called: evil spirits; unclean spirits; demonic spirits; just demons.
• Demons know who Jesus is = the Holy One of God
• They know his mission is to defeat them.
• Biblical perspective is that demonic spirits can take some measure of control of human beings. 
• In English, the most common way to talk about this is to say that this man “was possessed by an evil spirit.” 
• Verse 23 simply (literally) says: “there was a man in the synagogue WITH an unclean spirit.” 
• The English translation is an attempt to unpack what “with an unclean spirit” means. 
• You can see in verse 25: In some sense the demon was “in” the man. 
• In verse 26: the demon exerted a crude sort of power over the man’s voice and body. 
• That’s why the word “possessed” has become commonly used. 
• The Bible also uses the word “demonized” to describe the same thing.  
• Again, this may be very hard for modern, secular people to accept.
• But these kind of phenomenon are not unknown in secular America
• Certainly not uncommon in the two-thirds world
• Plenty of documented examples from around the world of people demonized in this way
• We don’t know how or why a person becomes possessed by an evil spirit. 
• The Bible doesn’t say. That’s an area where a lot of teachers speak with great authority (see point 1) but go way beyond what the Bible actually says. 
• When we look at how Bible describes demonic activity, it can resemble some expressions of mental illness
• I don’t know the boundary between the two
• I do think - just my opinion - that evil spiritual beings can take advantage of mental illness to increase human suffering
• But I don’t think you can look at mental illness and simple assume it’s demonic and can be fixed by spiritual solutions
• I think that’s an oversimplification
• The brain / mind is complex → there’s so much we don’t understand
• But demonization is a real thing just as mental illness is a real thing

• Mark 1:25-26 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
• The Point: Jesus gets the final say on how we live. By casting out an evil spirit, he proved that his authority must be obeyed.
• Apparently the demon didn’t want to leave this man. 
• It fought against Jesus’ command. But I didn't have a choice. 
• The struggle was intense but brief. The spirit screamed (through the man’s voice / vocal cords). It threw the man into a convulsion. 
• But he wasn’t going to win this one.
• If you’re worried about the power of evil spirits → they do have power
• Based on what we see in NT
• But you can see here that Jesus is more powerful
• Time and time again in Mark’s gospel → Jesus proves his power over evil forces
• Here’s what the Bible promises to followers of Jesus:
• 1 John 4:10 …the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
• Application: Don’t live in fear!
• Mark 1:27-28 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
• Look how the people in the synagogue that day responded to what Jesus just did
• Amazement gripped them! WOW!
• Illustration: a big-time WOW moment for you
• Perhaps this man had been coming to that synagogue for years, seeking help
• No one could do anything to set him free
• The teachers of the Jewish law couldn’t do anything to give him relief
• The religious leaders and experts couldn’t release him from this terrible condition
• But Jesus could! And did!
• That got people talking! Not just there in the synagogue that day, but throughout the whole area.
• Capernaum was the leading city of Galilee.
• When something happened there, word of mouth took it outward to all the surrounding area.
• The point: Jesus casts a demon out of a demonized man. Visibly demonstrated his authority over all spiritual forces and powers. 
• This is closely related to the first kind of authority: Jesus has authority to tell us what is true and what is right. 
• You can see: the people recognized the connection: “Jesus’ teaching has so much authority that even evil spirits obey his orders.”
• This is authority to command. To be in charge. 
• It’s the power of a person whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed.

The Final Word

So who gets the final word in your life? (Not subjective ultimately.)

• The evil spirit didn’t have a choice. Jesus spoke, it obeyed. Period. 
• What about us? What happens if you blow off what Jesus says?
• #1. You introduce chaos and loss into your life.
• Ever use a product in a way it wasn’t designed to be used? (Example: pair of scissors for a hammer; etc.) 
• Didn’t really work very well, did it? 
• You might have actually done some harm. 
• Same in life. Jesus knows how the world is supposed to work because he created it. Disregard what he says: it’s just not going to work that well. 
• (Choose an example, such as: sexual revolution threw off God’s boundaries on sexual activity. How much hurt has been introduced into people’s lives as a result: young women used and rejected; fatherless homes; millions of unplanned pregnancies, abortions, single moms struggling; sexually transmitted diseases; heartache; etc.) 
• #2. You put your eternal destiny in jeopardy.
• You don’t become right with God by doing all the right things. But by trusting in what Jesus did to pay for your sins on the cross. 
• Yet a key part of accepting his provision for our sin = we turn from directing our own life to let him take charge. 
• Can’t really have a relationship with him without giving him that central place in your heart & life. 
• No one gets to say: I want what Jesus will do for me, but I don’t want what he says to me.

You choose who has authority in your life. For now. But the day will come when everyone will submit to the only real authority in the universe. 

Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT) Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• Jesus deserves to have the final say about how we live.
• Not just over demons. Matt 28: “all authority in heaven and on earth,”
• Matthew 28:18 I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
• This is why he is called “Lord”
• The question we all face personally is the same question people faced as they met him and heard him. 
• “Will I accept his authority to define what I should do or not do? Or will I insist on maintaining that right for myself?” 
• Will I surrender to his authority and obey him? Or will I passively ignore or actively rebel against what Jesus commands?