The Healing Power of Jesus: Triumphing in Spiritual Warfare
Sermon Text: Mark 1:21-28
1:21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and
taught.
1:22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not
as the scribes.
1:23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,
1:24 and 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."
1:25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"
1:26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
1:27 They 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."
1:28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Opening Prayer:
Father God please open our hearts and minds, so that we may receive your WORD today, in
Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Introduction:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once upon a time, there was a substitute teacher who found herself in various classroom
settings. While most of their experiences were positive, there were also a few challenging ones.
However, nothing could have prepared her for the day she encountered an exceptionally difficult class.
Chaos reigned as kids ran wild, tossing paper wads, and filling the room with their screams and shouts.
To make matters worse, one daring student even ventured outside, bringing back mud that stained the
classroom floor. Knowing that she needed backup, she paged the office for the principal.
In what seem like no time, the principal entered the room; instantly silencing the unruly
students. With a stern expression, the principal inquired, "Who are the five biggest troublemakers?"
Although the teacher could have easily singled out ten culprits, she carefully chose only five. The
principal then pointed his thick finger directly at the chosen students and commanded, "Come with
me!" From that moment on, those five troublemakers were never seen again, and miraculously, the
teacher never encountered any further issues with that particular class.
Analysis of Introduction ( ):-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the teacher reflected on the awe-inspiring authority displayed by the principal and how the
students listened to him, my mind immediately draws a parallel to a significant event in the life of Jesus,
as described in Mark 1:21-28. This scripture passage recounts the disciples' amazement at witnessing
Jesus' healing abilities and the exceptional authority with which he spoke.
Just as the principal was able to speak the word and expel the unruly students from the
classroom, Jesus was able to speak the word in our verse of the day and expel the unclean spirits from
the man whom they were tormenting.
What can we learn from this passage as it relates to the authority of God and the spiritual
warfare happening around us? Looking at this story, we can draw a parallel between the lack of respect
shown by certain students towards the substitute teacher and her need to call upon a higher authority,
the principal, with our need to call upon a higher authority, Jesus, to cast out the problems that trouble
and torment us in our own lives.
Permit me to title today's sermon:
The Healing Power of Jesus: Triumphing in Spiritual Warfare
(List sermon points):
As we reflect on this scripture passage, we will take a look at
1. The knowledge of Christ
2. The authority of Christ
3. The power to heal
The knowledge of Christ:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In our scripture reading for today we continue in the Gospel of Mark where we see Jesus
teaching in the synagogue. Verse 1:21-22 reads “They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came,
he entered the synagogue and taught. (22) They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as
one having authority, and not as the scribes.
At the beginning of this passage we witness Jesus teaching in the synagogue with great
knowledge. The synagogue was a place where the Torah and Holy Scriptures were read and the Rabbi's
or teachers, had a great deal of knowledge. It is important to remember that unlike the times in which
we live in, during the times of Jesus, around 30 A.D., getting knowledge required a lot of time and a lot
of effort. In Jesus' times, receiving knowledge from studying took many years and much hard work.
Now I thought I knew something about hard-work and effort when I entered college. Having to
maintain a 3.6 GPA to keep my scholarships, I found myself studying every night to fill my head with as
much knowledge as I could so I could past the test. I read the textbook and poured in the knowledge
into my mind, and then I would quiz myself and summarize at times when I had studied.
Then when it came to research, I remember having to walk to the library and walk up and down
the stairs and searching the card catalog as well as the older computer systems to find a book title, then
I would have to walk all the way up the stairs in the library and look for that book. If the book was not
present at our library, I would have to do an inter-library loan and wait maybe a week or 2 to get the
book mailed to our library. I thought this was hard work and I thought this required a lot of time just to
acquire the knowledge related to my field of study.
However when I think about how the scholars of Jesus' times had to acquire knowledge, there is
no comparison. They had it much much harder. And the libraries that were present were not
accessible to most in the public. They also didn't have inter-library loans, and if by chance you found a
resource that you wanted to borrow that you knew was held by another scholar, you could not simply
send them a quick call or email. You had to send a letter, which would travel, not at the speed of fiber
optics, but at the speed of a horse, and sometimes the speed of a marathon runner. Then you had to
wait for the reply, and if it was a positive reply, you had to wait for that resource to be sent to you, or
plan a trip yourself to pick it up. While such a process for me took maybe a week or two, in the times of
Jesus, their process could take months, and at times years.
And even after spending the time to get resources, they still have the spend effort and energy to
study and read it. They did not have computers by which they could use search features to find a word.
For example, if I was doing a research and I had an online resource of 100 pages, I could use a search
feature and find all the places in that book where the word, human appears. But in there days
computers were not present, so they would literally have to search manually, or rely on some type of
concordance or index reference.
All of this meant that for the religious teachers to be well educated on the Torah and the Holy
Scriptures, in Jesus day, it required much time and much effort. They had to spend years and years
studying to gain knowledge and become proficient in knowing God's WORD. This is why many of the
teachers had gray hair, because it took that much time and energy to acquire that knowledge.
Therefore you must imagine the surprise that the people had when they saw Jesus, a young 30
year old quoting the WORD of God seemingly from memory. They were baffled, how could someone
this young, who never trained under the guidance of the Bible teachers of his day have so much
knowledge. And even more impressive is that we are told in the scriptures that Jesus started teaching
in the synagogues at the age of 12. Clearly the depth and breadth of knowledge that Jesus displayed, in
a time where getting that level of knowledge required much time and effort, made him stand out in a
different and special way, from all of the other religious teachers.
The authority of Christ-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now we transition from speaking about the knowledge of Christ that set him apart, to speaking
about the authority of Christ.
In our verse of the day, not only was Jesus speaking with knowledge, he knew things, but He was
speaking with authority, He had power.
We read in verse 21 to 27 of Mark chapter 1:
1:21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and
taught.
1:22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not
as the scribes.
1:23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,
1:24 and 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."
1:25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"
1:26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
1:27 They 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."
We see that not only did Jesus have great knowledge, he also had great authority. So what is
the difference between knowledge and authority, well I'm glad you asked.
Knowledge refers to information, understanding, or awareness that a person possesses about a
particular subject or topic.
Authority, on the other hand is the ability to exert power and influence over others.
Mark points out to us that Jesus spoke as one who had authority, which was unlike all the other
teachers.
Now, when I was in college and having to write papers, one thing that could get you in big big
trouble is plagiarism or the lack of citations. Plagiarism has to do with taking another person's ideas as
your own, and the lack of citations has to do with speaking without backing it up by using an authority.
And you will find this all over the scholarly world of academia. If you are writing a paper, you need to
point to your source. And you know what is funny. If you go to that source that I was pointing to in my
paper and read that person's book or article, you would find in their writing another list of references,
pointing to other sources. It is an ongoing web of smart people pointing to other smart people who are
pointing to other smart people to support their claims.
However, Jesus was different, Mark said he spoke as one, with authority, meaning he wasn't like
every other teacher in their day. In fact if Jesus was completing His Masters in Divinity or PhD in
Theology, the professors probably would fail Him. You know why? Because He wouldn't feel the need
to cite a reference or point to another authority. Why? Because He spoke as one with authority. He
didn't point to an authority, He was the authority. The things that Jesus was saying were true because
He was the truth. The things that Jesus were saying were the WORD of God, because He was the WORD
of God.
In John Chapter one we are told that in beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God
and the WORD was God. We are also told in scripture that God's WORD does not return void. Meaning
that it accomplishes what is sets out to do. Jesus had authority because Jesus was the WORD of God,
and the WORD of God gets it done.
We see this authority of Jesus demonstrated when he encounters a man with an unclean spirit.
Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man, and the spirit obeys, recognizing Jesus' authority.
The people witnessing this event are amazed at Jesus' ability to command even the spiritual realm.
I feel bad for some parents because you see them in the grocery store and little Johnny is just
misbehaving and hitting his sister Susie, and throwing a temper tantrum, and the mother says, “Johnny,
I want you to stop it. Johnny you stop right now. You're going to be in big trouble Johnny, if you don't
stop. Stop right now Johnny. I'm going to put you in time out. I'm going to count to 3. 1, 2, 1.”
And in that parent's attempt to exert authority over the child, we see that her WORDs are
returning void. They are coming out of her mouth, and the sound waves are resonating in the ears of
the boy, being processed into recognizable speech, into the English language, and recognized as a
command; but the boy is resisting and thus the WORDS lack authority and power.
This however was not the case with Jesus, when he commands a demon to come out, He does
not have to count to ten, he does not have to make threats. He simply gives the commands and His
authority is so great that even the demons cannot resist the WORD of God, because God's WORD does
not return void.
Creation could not resist the WORD of God when God created the whole world out of the dark
abyss. The winds and the waves could not resist the word of God when Jesus told the storms , “Peace
be still”, The laws of chemistry could not resist the word of God when Jesus changed the molecular
structure of water turning it into wine. And even death could not resist the WORD of God when Jesus
called Lazarus from the grave and said, Lazarus “come out”.
While the people were moved first by the knowledge of Jesus, they became even more amazed
when he demonstrated His authority as he cast out the demons.
The power to heal:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally we transition from the authority of Christ in the spiritual realm shown by His command
over the evil spirits, to the power to heal.
Now we ask, how does the ability to cast out demons relate to the ability to heal? While the
Bible clearly illustrates that all diseases and sicknesses are not simply a manifestation of demon activity
or sin, there is ample evidence that a great deal of illnesses are related to demonic activity.
For example we see the man with schizophrenic like symptoms in Mark chapter 5 who Jesus
cleansed of uncleaned spirits and immediately he was returned to his right mind. We see a lady with a
spirit of infirmity in Luke chapter 13 which caused her to have a crippling condition for 18 years, healed
of her ailment with a WORD from God. From this man to this women, the Bible shows us plainly and
simply that mental health conditions as well as physical conditions are sometimes attributed to evil
spirits.
In our scripture reading for the day, we not only see a correlation between the expelling of the
unclean spirits and the man's healing, but we are also told about the degree of causality in the
relationship. Meaning, it wasn't just a coincidence that the same time the evil spirits left, the man
became well, they were the cause of his infirmities.
As a professional who is licensed and certified working with the body, the mind, and the spirit, I
believe that one of the biggest hindrance to spiritual healing is that we tend to separate the body, soul,
and spirit. We see them as 3 separate entities, and sometimes we wrongly believe that evil spirits have
no power to impact our health, physical or mental – this couldn't be further from the truth.
We see in Genesis 2:7 all three aspects of a triune man created in the image of a triune God. It
reads “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul. “ We see the body formed from the ground, and scientist
will tell you that all of the elements in the body, from carbon, to nitrogen, to phosphorus to calcium,
are all found in the ground. We see the Spirit of man, which comes from the breath of God. And we see
the soul of man which is the union of the body and the spirit. Listen again, “And the LORD God formed
man of the dust of the ground[body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life[spirit]; and man
became a living soul[soul]. The body is not the soul, the soul is not the spirit, and the spirit is not the
body, but they all impact each other.
If you don't eat food and don't get enough calories in your body, you can impact your soul and
your mood may be negative. If you fall into sin and stain your spirit, you could enter a low state of
depression feeling separated from God and tired. Not tired because you lack physical calories to power
your cells, but tired because of what is happening in your spirit. So what happens in the spirit impacts
the body and the soul, What happens in the body can impact the soul and spirit, and what happens in
the soul, your thoughts and emotions, can impact your body and spirit. When we become sick the
source is from 1 of these three domains of the human-being. The source is either something that
started in the body, the soul(thoughts and emotions), or the spirit. But regardless of where it starts,
once we get sick, there is a potential for it to spread to other areas of our being.
Jesus has the power to heal the body and the soul because he has all knowledge of the body
and the soul because he made us. He has all knowledge of psychology because He is the creator of our
mind and knows how to heal our emotions. Jesus also has the power to heal our spirit because He has
the authority to cast out the evil spirits that may be tormenting us and causing physical and mental
diseases and diagnoses. ,
Closing statement:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we may not always know if an illness is simply physical in nature or physical, mental, and
spiritual. We do know the one who has all knowledge of the human-being and has all authority of the
spiritual realm. This knowledge and authority of Jesus translates to having Power to heal. Let us appeal
to His higher authority because there are some problems that we just can't face on our own power and
strength. These problems require someone with greater knowledge, they require someone with greater
authority. They require the healing power of Jesus.
Let us pray.
