David Bahn – Reflections

And Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, ³² and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. ³³ And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Ha! 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.” ³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶ And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷ And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

³⁸ And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. ³⁹ And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹ And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

⁴² And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³ but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

We play a card game we call The Bahn Game. It’s a card game with six rounds, each of which has a different scoring scheme. The last round of the game is a scoring combination of all of the previous rounds scoring schemes. The bottom line of this is that the last round of All of the Above (AOTA) scoring changes everything. You can be in first place at the end of round 5 and come in dead last after the AOTA round. You can also go from last to first.

Jesus is no game. Nor does he keep score. But in this passage I notice how different people respond to Jesus’ message and ministry. Some are rightly astonished at his teaching. He taught with authority. It must have been quite different from the authority of the scribes and Pharisees. They claimed authority. But Jesus had it. They relied on the traditions of the Jews. Jesus relied on the truth of God. They used their authority to bolster their power. Jesus used his authority to cast out demons, heal diseases, and to bolster their faith. Jesus touched a deep chord in their hearts by his teaching.

The demons were alarmed at Jesus’ teaching. They mocked him, thinking that by calling him “the Holy One of God,” they could disarm him and thwart his mission. Alarmed or not, they could not prevent Jesus from silencing them and sending them out of the man they had possessed. 

Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was healed by Jesus. He rebuked the fever and it left her. He alleviated her suffering. So fully was she healed that she immediately began serving those who had come to offer her aid. Others come to Jesus to be healed and freed from their demons. And he heals them and frees them.

All this Jesus does because he came to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God.” This good news is that Jesus is astonishing, amazing, alleviating and more. Sometimes we jaded folks need to be astonished by Jesus’ work in our lives. Sometimes we should be amazed at God’s glory. Sometimes we ought to be alarmed at our straying and brought back to our Savior. We should always remember how gracious, glorious, and good, he truly is. 

The message of the Kingdom of God is good news. It is centered in Jesus. He amazes, astonishes, alarms, and ushers in God’s good and gracious reign and rule in all who believe. He was astonishingly dedicated to doing that. He was amazingly focused on the purpose for which he was sent. He was alarmingly intrusive into the plans of the devil. He alone alleviates our deepest pains and saves us from an eternity of despair and hopelessness.