Lesson for March 17, 2021
The Life of Christ
Lesson 13
Christ Returns to Capernaum
Matthew 4:13-25, Mark 1:14-39, Luke 4:31-44
After Christ performed His second miracle – the healing of the official’s son – He returned to Capernaum where He had earlier set up headquarters for His ministry.
You will remember that earlier Jesus had called Peter, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael as His disciples. (John 1:35-51) These men had been followers of John the Baptist until they met Jesus. A period of time had now elapsed since He first called them, and they had apparently returned to their homes.
Jesus once again saw Peter and Andrew and recalled them to follow Him as His disciples. On this same day Jesus saw James and his brother John and called them to follow Him as well. We know from other Scriptures that these two families were partners in the fishing business. It is interesting to note that there was no hesitation on the part of these four men to leave their family business and follow Christ. After calling these four, Jesus continued His practice of teaching in the synagogues in Galilee. He also continued to perform miracles in order to establish His divine authority.
On the following Sabbath Jesus entered into the local synagogue and began to teach. The reason that Christ went to the local synagogue was to reach the Jewish population. The synagogue was a place where most Jews gathered on the Sabbath. The response to His teaching on this occasion was quite different than the week before when He was in Nazareth. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus taught with authority unlike the scribes (the Greek word for scribe is “grammateus,” which is taken from the root word “gramma” and literally means “a writing”). The scribes were teachers of the Mosaic Law and men of letters. They were originally chosen from the ranks of the priesthood and were most often identified with the Pharisees or the High Priests. They occupied themselves with the study and interpretation of the Law. Of course, we know that they misinterpreted the Law and attempted to force their legalism and manmade traditions on the Jewish nation.
The congregation recognized the difference in how Jesus taught and reacted as if they had been struck by lightening in their minds. The Greek word for astonished (the word from the King James translations in Mark 1:22 and Luke 4:32) is “ekplesso” and means to strike out, to be struck in the mind or two items being struck together. So different was the teaching of Christ that the entire congregation was “knocked out” of their normal way of thinking. Christ’s message was with “exousia”, the Greek word for authority in these passages. But Christ’s authority was not just any authority, it was divine authority given to the humanity of Christ by God the Father. This authority was to fulfill the Father’s plan by presenting Himself as the Messiah.
While Jesus was teaching a demon-possessed man began to cry out in a very loud voice. Satan, once again, was trying to discredit Christ and His ministry. It was obvious that this group in the synagogue had a positive disposition to Christ’s message and ministry. Therefore, Satan, using one of his demons, attempted to stop people from hearing the message from Jesus.
Demons are fallen angels who are spirit beings. (I Timothy 4:1, Matthew 8:28) Demons can possess unbelievers and animals but not believers. (Luke 8:36; Mark 5:8-13; I John 4:4) However, demons can influence the believer, do harm to the believer, and seduce the believer who is not filled with the Holy Spirit and not executing the Christian Way of Life. (I Corinthians 10:20-21; Luke 4:35; I Timothy 4:1) Sometimes God will use a demon to discipline a believer. (II Corinthians 12:7) Demons have been known to produce all kinds of illness, including mental illness in an unbeliever. (Matthew 12:22; Mark 5:5,15, 9:17-27)
The words that the demon uttered tell us a lot about his satanic influence and his attitude toward Christ. Remember that demons are fallen angels who chose to rebel against God in favor of Lucifer (Satan). Satan has an army of these demons that he commands and directs to do his evil bidding.
The demon cried out, “Aha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know Who you are – the Holy One of God!” These were insincere statements, which were meant to question Christ’s authority to teach in such a way, His motive and His Messiahship. The demon assumed to speak for the entire audience in telling Jesus to go away and leave them alone. This demon used “Jesus of Nazareth” as a sarcastic statement meant to put Jesus on the same level as all men. But the demon did know Who He was talking to and recognized Christ’s ability to destroy him and all other demons, if He so chose to do so. In modern English we would say, “You’ve come to destroy us, haven’t you?” What we had was an attempt to distract the congregation from the message and ministry of Christ. These demons will be destroyed in the future, but this was not the purpose for which Christ came.
The final statement demonstrated that this demon knew exactly Who Christ was and he even used Old Testament language to describe Jesus. “The Holy One of God” was used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the coming Messiah. The demon knew Who Jesus was, but he was making every effort to keep the people from recognizing Him. The demon was attempting to place himself above the authority of Christ by announcing Him as Messiah before He was ready. This was the same thing that Mary, the mother of Jesus, attempted to do in Cana at the wedding feast.
Christ certainly didn’t want a demon announcing Him as Messiah. Therefore, Jesus silenced this demon by rebuking him. The Greek word for rebuke is “epitimao” and means to dishonor or disrespect someone. In other words, Jesus had no respect for this demon’s right to speak against Him and further tells this demon to hold his peace and come out of this man. The language in Greek is much stronger than what we see in the King James English. Jesus issues two commands. In Greek it was “phimotheti”, which means to be muzzled and “exlthe”, which means to come out. Both of these words are in the aorist imperative tense, which means these commands were to be carried out immediately. The Gospel writers tell us that this is exactly what happened, but the demon had to exit in a dramatic way by throwing the man to the ground. Since this demon had called into question the authority of Christ, He uses this miracle to establish His authority.
After this event the crowd was once again amazed at what Jesus had done. The Greek word for amazed in this passage is “thambos” and means amazement or wonder, and it often is associated with terror. The ability to command evil spirits was a demonstration of God’s power and I don’t think the word amazed quite conveys what this group felt. Perhaps awestruck is a better translation. After this event, the word about Christ as Messiah began to spread throughout the region.
Upon leaving the synagogue, Jesus was invited to the home of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was in bed with a very high fever. The four disciples asked Jesus to heal her, which He did immediately. We know that it was a complete recovery because she got up and began to wait on them (bringing food, drink, etc.). Then the entire town seemed to turn out bringing all their sick, diseased and demon-possessed to Jesus to be healed.
These events, according to Matthew (Chapter 814-18), were fulfillment of prophecy. In Isaiah 53 we read, “He took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” The physical healings, which Christ performed, paralleled the spiritual healings that occurred because of His spiritual death on the Cross. There is no physical healing in the atonement of Christ, as the so-called faith healers and others teach. The physical healings were a demonstration of God’s power, which established the authority of Jesus and His disciples. It is not God’s will for every believer to never be sick or to always be healed. Paul was a perfect example of a believer who had a “thorn in the flesh” that God used to keep Paul humble. (II Corinthians 12:7-10)
All believers will experience suffering and sickness in this life. How we handle these problems can be a wonderful testimony to others and even to the angels who are observing us. In order to orient to suffering, the believer must exhibit the same mental attitude that Jesus Christ exhibited when He suffered in His humanity. What was His attitude? Peace, joy, stability, single-mindedness, humility and obedience to the plan of God. (Isaiah 26:3-4; Hebrews 12:2; II Timothy 1:7; II Corinthians 13:11; II Corinthians 10:5-6; Philippians 2:5-8)
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” (I Peter 4:1)
We are given a command in this verse to arm ourselves with the same mental attitude as Christ had. This is a command, not a request. This command is a military term referring to a fully armed Greek soldier. What is the believer’s equipment? We find a list of the believer’s equipment in Ephesians 6. In this verse we are commanded to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ. You will recall that Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ. In other words, there will be no orientation to suffering apart from Divine Viewpoint Thinking.
The second half of I Peter 4:1 is a reference to undeserved suffering. We know this because it is a reference to what Christ accomplished at the Cross regarding sin. The suffering He endured was totally undeserved. The word “cease” actually means to pause, to desist, to refrain or to stop. When you are armed with the mind of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, the suffering that comes your way will not be due to sin in your life. Christ has delivered us from the power of sin over us. Therefore, when we are under the control of the Holy Spirit and are thinking divine viewpoint, any suffering that comes our way is undeserved and is for our spiritual benefit.