Monday, September 24, 2012

The exorcist, episode 1 (Mark 1:21-39; Luke 4:31-44; Matthew 8:14-25)


Jesus is still in Capernaum, which was where the feverish child was the Jesus healed remotely from Cana.  

Jesus goes to the local synagogue on the Sabbath.  Jesus began to teach and amazed the crowd.

A man within the synagogue is possessed by an evil spirit.  The spirit causes the man to cry out "what do you want from us?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are - the Holy One of God!"

Jesus tells the spirit to be silent and then commands it to leave.  It does.  Up to now, the Mark 1 and Luke 4 are nearly verbatim identical.  There are a few differences in how it exits.  Mark tells us the spirit shook the man violently and came out with a shriek.  Meanwhile, Luke tells that the spirit threw the man violently and came out without injuring him.

The crowd is even further amazed.  Not surprisingly, the news about Jesus spreads around synagogue.

This is the first demonic exorcism in the Bible.  Jesus will do a lot more and there are a handful in Acts.  

A pattern is established:

1.  The demon asks why Jesus is there.  Other demons that encounter Jesus will ask this same question.  One possible explanation for this is that the demon just does not know why God has appeared in the flesh.  In short, the whole ministry of Jesus took them off guard, including the crucifixion.  This theory is heavily expounded on in the book God At War, by Greg Boyd.

2.  The demons want to reveal Jesus identity when Jesus is not yet ready to publicly do so.

3.  If you have ever seen actual exorcisms, this pattern is very typical.  Demons shriek, complain, shake and throw.  But following Jesus example, just tell them to be silent and come out.


Back to the story, Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to the home of Simon and Andrew.  There, he heals Simon's mother-in-law of a fever.  She gets out of bed and begins to wait on them.  

So, if Simon (Peter) has a mother-in-law, he might be married.

Meanwhile, the whole town is talking about Jesus.  That same evening, they bring to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  We don't get any specifics, but Jesus heals many and drives out many evil spirits.  Luke 4 notes that as they came out, they shouted "you are the Son of God".  But again, Jesus did not let them speak because they knew his identity.

Matthew 8 notes that the healing of the sick is in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah.

Jesus leaves the house in the next morning while it is still dark and prays alone.  One wonders if Jesus stayed up all night healing the sick and driving out demons.

Simon and the others look for Jesus, find him, and tell him that everyone is looking for him.  There probably still is another line of people who need healing and exorcism.  

So, Jesus tells them that they will have to go to another town and do the same.  They travel around the area and Jesus preaches, heals every disease, and drives out demons.

People from the region come to Jesus for healing and large crowds begin to follow Jesus.

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