Dear Christian friends:

I'm sure that many of you remember the crisis in authority that happened several years ago when a disturbed young man attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, who was wounded and rushed to a hospital. During the ensuing confusion, Alexander Haig asserted, "I'm in charge here!" Haig's claim to authority was ridiculed by some and welcomed by others.

When Jesus visited the synagogue in Capernaum, as the Gospel Lesson for today relates, there was no doubt that He taught and acted with authority, that He was in charge. Jesus' firm but quiet assertion of authority was not debated or ridiculed by His audience; rather it was acknowledged, welcomed, and publicized!

As we today consider this Gospel Lesson may we gain a better sense of Jesus' authority and power to save us, and more excitement and enthusiasm in publicizing His authority among those around us.

I. Jesus asserted His authority through teaching. (read v. 22)

A. There was authority in the way He taught.

A T.V. commercial used to say: "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." As with most T.V. commercials that's just spin. However, when Jesus spoke people really did listen. When the Source teaches He doesn't need to quote other sources. He would say, "You have heard the old teachers say this and that, but I say unto you! I tell the truth! Verily, verily, I say unto you!" Jesus acted and spoke like the God He was.

Although we may have difficulty defining authority, most of us recognize it when we see it. This is especially true when we encounter God's authority, and we do encounter it when we read His Book and enter into His House.

Summary: There was amazing authority in the way Jesus taught.

B. There was also authority in the content of His teaching.

1. He did not teach what the teachers of the law taught. He avoided the irrelevant, burdensome rules that the teachers of the law added to the Law of Moses. For example: minute details on how to wash your hands before eating, so you would not be unclean, and then how to wash dishes and pots and pans after eating. Jesus later on accused them of teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Mark 7:7) Consequently the people did not receive the precious truth and were not freed from the chains of sin, Satan and death. The truth was so hidden by these inept, bungling teachers that when the people heard the truth from Jesus that day they thought it was "a new teaching." (v. 27)

2. Actually, the teaching which Jesus taught, salvation by God's grace through God given faith in Himself, the promised Messiah, was as old as Adam and Eve and the fallen world. After Satan had lied to Eve and she and Adam had fallen, God said to Satan, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; He,(the woman's seed) will crush your head, and you will strike His heel. (Genesis 3:15) Through various prophets God enlarged upon this old Gospel during the Old Testament period. But in the course of time this old teaching had been obscured by the encrustations of the law teachers. Jesus removed these encrustations and revealed His teaching more forcefully than any previous teacher had done because He Himself embodied the grace of God and the truth of God.

Sad to say, we still have these teachers and preachers who obscure the Gospel with us today. Some preach a gospel of glory and triumphalism instead of the Gospel of the cross and cross bearing sacrifice, and suffering for the Gospel's sake, and for the neighbor. Some just tell the people what they want to hear; rather than what God wants them to hear. I've been tempted to do that, too and probably have done it.

Transition: Whenever someone brings God's grace and truth out of darkness into the light, not only false teachers and preachers, but also Satan rise up to challenge it. That was the case also in the synagogue of Capernaum that day.

II. The challenge to Jesus' authority

A. (A man with an evil spirit interrupted Jesus' teaching.) We read in our text: (read vv. 23-24)

1. The evil spirit displayed knowledge of God. He clearly recognized Jesus' identity, testifying to both His human origin by calling Him "Jesus of Nazareth" and to His divine origin by calling Him "the Holy One of God." But like the demons James refers to in his Epistle (2:10) this demon believes there is one God who will judge and condemn him and he trembles at the thought. While he knows there is no salvation for himself and his fellow demons, he nevertheless wants the people in the audience to believe that too, that Jesus has come to get them, that He has come to judge and condemn them.

2. This is Satan's big lie and millions have believed it and do believe it still. Some of these try to appease God by various good deeds and sacrifices. This is the basis of all false religions in the world. Others have sincerely tried to be good, but now despair because deep down in their hearts they know that they are not good enough. They try to forget God in excessive pleasure or work. Still others deny that there is a God, that there is a judgment day, a heaven and a hell. They say that the Ten Commandments are irrelevant, that society determines ethics and morality, not some deity. And oh how the people of the U.S.A. and the world have bought into this lie today! These people may say that there is no God. They put on a good face, a good mask, but underneath they fear and tremble.

Summary: What a terrible lie Satan has spread! Jesus says, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-18 quote all three verses).

Transition: However, Jesus rejects the lying testimony of the evil spirit, telling him to "Be quiet!" and then He promptly casts him out of the man possessed!

B. He shows His authority over Satan and he entire kingdom of darkness.

1. Some people are surprised at the frequency of our Lord casting out demons during His ministry. But its frequency is understandable once we grasp the purpose of Jesus' mission here on earth. He came to battle Satan and the powers of darkness in order to free mankind who was held in damning slavery by Satan. In Hebrews 2:14-15 we read: (recite it)

This battle recorded here in our text is only the second one. The war with Satan and his legions went on for three years and finally ended with Jesus' victory on Easter morning when He arose triumphantly out of the tomb.

2. Jesus also frees us today from slavery to sin and Satan and welcomes us into His kingdom. Already through Holy Baptism many of us were freed from Satan's power as infants. One of the questions the pastor asks the person before he or she receives this washing regeneration is this: "Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways? Then the candidate replies: "I do renounce them." If the candidate is an infant the sponsors answer for it. Later on, after instructions, the former infant renews it's baptismal vows in the Confirmation ceremony. In order for God to help us in our baptismal covenant we need to remember our baptism daily and it's significance. In his Small Catechism Martin Luther asks this question: "What is the significance of baptism? The he answers: "It signifies etc. .... " Then he asks: "Where is this written? And the answer: "St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 6, "We are buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as he was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." And, of course, the Lord has provided other means of grace whereby He keeps us in the faith and in the freedom of His beloved children, namely the Word: the Word in the Bible, the Word read and preached, and the Word of the Sacrament. If we stay in His Word Satan will not be able to enslave us again, not even in adversities, not even in the hour of our death. Especially in those traumatic times Satan seeks to have us believe that God is angry and can't possibly love us or forgive us. Then the Spirit will help us to answer. "Yes, I am a sinner; true, God should be angry with me and forsake me, but I am baptized; His Son Jesus has lived and died for me! Get lost, "Father of lies." (John 8:44)

Transition: What a wonderful freedom we have due to Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth, who by that authority has defeated sin, death and the devil, bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light!

III. How should we respond to His amazing authority that has worked such a great salvation?

A. Just like the people did that day long ago in the synagogue of Capernaum. We read of their response: (Read vv. 27-28)

1. These people probably had an incomplete understanding of Jesus' person and work at this time. After all, Jesus had just begun His ministry; He had not yet suffered and died on the cross; nor had He yet risen from the dead. They did not have the New Testament yet either. Incomplete as the people's understanding and faith may have been, they sure had a good beginning in understanding and a terrific response! They spread the news about His authority quickly over the whole region of Galilee! (v. 28)

B. If only we would have a response like that!

We with all our Biblical knowledge; we with a better understanding of the person and work of Christ; we with 2000 years of church history; we with instant means of communication; the printing press, radio, television and now the internet; what is our response? What has it been? What will it be in the future? Can we not spread the news about His amazing authority over the whole region of Southern California?

Conclusion: May God be gracious to us and help us catch the excitement and enthusiasm that these people had that day long ago in the synagogue of Capernaum as they observed His amazing authority in teaching and in delivering a man from Satan's terrible bondage.

Amen.