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Home Mark 1:21-28 NRSVue

Mark 1:21-28 NRSVue

21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
The man with the unclean spirit was in the midst of the people. When life is tidied to remove such people, Jesus may be also put out of sight.

Reflection
The authority of Jesus' teaching was distinctive: his is the authority on which I need to rely.

Reflection
When the Jewish scribes spoke in the synagogue, they would begin: /There is a teaching that..../ and would go on to quote old traditions. When Jesus spoke, it was from his personal authority, as one who knows God. The impact was immediate and powerful.

Reflection
Thank you, Lord, for opening the door into the knowledge of God. May I enter and keep learning.

Reflection
From the beginning of his ministry Jesus is on a collision course with evil. People believed that evil was closer to them then, and thought the screaming of people who were ill were the screams of devils. We have a different approach and language now; but the presence of evil is still strong. It can take over in any ways where greed, violence, take hold of someone. Is not the abuse of children, the violence in a home, any exploitation if the innocent the effect of something bigger than just the weakness or sin of the individual? Evil knew Jesus came to destroy it. Where in my life or in my immediate circle can I pray that good will overcome evil?

Reflection
In speaking about Jesus casting out demons, one has to keep in mind that Jesus was a man of his time, like us in all things but sin. So, like his contemporaries, he could well have understood mental or psychosomatic illnesses to be forms of demonic possession. In relating the story about the healing of the troubled man in the synagogue, whatever the actual nature of the miracle, it was quite natural for Mark to speak in terms of it as a casting out of an evil spirit.