Crazy Synagogue Guy Pt. 1 of 3

Crazy Synagogue Guy pt. 1: Authority Established.
The second recorded chronological healing in the Gospels is Crazy. Seriously! Both Luke and Mark recorded this story. There must be something that the Holy Spirit wants us to grab there because He wanted us to read it at least twice. My only question is why is the crazy dude 2nd? As I stated in the “Official’s son pt.1” John 3:23 tells us Jesus had already performed many miraculous healings, so why is this one the next to be recorded? I am not going to give you a “Thus saith the Lord” reason why I think this one was chosen second; but I am going to give you my opinion. Before I go further we should read both Luke’s and Mark’s accounts.

Luke 4:31 – 36
31Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
35"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
Mark 1:21 - 28
21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him
spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

There are little differences in the 2 recordings of this healing. One difference is Mark states that “They went to Capernaum” and Luke says “he went down to Capernaum”. In the verses right before Mark points out that Jesus calls out His first disciples Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John. Luke covers Jesus’ birth, baptism, and genealogy but doesn’t bother with the calling out of the first four disciples. It doesn’t mean he is contradicting Mark, he just simply didn’t mention them. In Luke 4:29, just 2 verses after this story of the crazy dude, Luke finally mention the 4 disciples. Mark didn’t even bother with any of Jesus’ childhood but jumped right into the adulthood of Christ. If someone gets hung up on that difference then they are really just looking for a reason to not believe. After Jesus and his boys get into Capernaum, they stroll into the local synagogue. Synagogues were places for the local Jews to worship God and study His word. Jesus took advantage of the custom that allowed visiting teachers to participate in the worship service by invitation of the synagogue leaders. With Jesus’ fame growing, what local synagogue wouldn’t want Him to come speak?

In this entry I’m not even going to get to the “healing”, I want to first point out something I just absolutely love. Both Mark and Luke recorded it. It’s something that is stated before the crazy dude acts up. Luke states in verse 4:32 that the people at the synagogue “were amazed at his teaching”. AMAZED! The King James says “they were astonished”; that’s probably better translated, but I like “Amazed.” Mark 1:22b finishes it off with “because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” The “teachers of the law” were the ones who were supposed to have the authority. They were teaching on law. Law = Authority. But yet the teachers had no authority in their teaching on the Law or the Bible. Think about this. That crazy dude didn’t act up until he heard Jesus teach. He could have been going to that local synagogue for years. Or maybe this was his first time at the synagogue--nothing like a first impression. Nonetheless, he didn’t act up till he heard true authority speak. Luke stated that “his message had authority”. Take a few minutes and just meditate on those 4 words: “His message had authority”. His message still has the same authority today as it did back then. In another synagogue guest speaking experience--the one in Nazareth that Jesus was at just before this craziness--He quoted Isaiah 61:1-2. It states: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." In the Naz synagogue experience the congregation rejected the Authority but the Cap crowd was “amazed”. We still have the same 2 choices today as those who were in the Cap and Naz synagogues: are we amazed at his authority or do we reject it? We could add a 3rd choice: do we go crazy when hearing it? And I don’t mean crazy in a good way. I’m going to choose “amazed” and let His “Authority” change me day by day.

Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Jimmy

Luke 24:32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"