You best recognize!
Going on with the Crazy Dude: A couple of years ago I read a book by Lester Summerall called “Demons: The Answer Book”. After reading it I would watch these prison documentaries on MSNBC and CNN and wonder how many of the prisoners were possessed. I can honestly tell you I have never knowingly been confronted by a demon possessed person. I’m not really planning on it. I’m not one that looks for the supernatural/paranormal kind of stuff. I have been to places where I felt a strong demonic presence or so it seemed. New Orleans is a place that comes to mind. Kesha and I went there years ago; we were uncomfortable the whole time. On the flip side I remember when Kesha and I first moved to Iowa City; someone asked me what I felt when I drove into town. My answer was “opportunity” ~ spiritually speaking. I think that person was looking for an answer along the lines of “evil” or something. Whether it’s I.City or N.O., I choose this: 1st John 4:4 “Greater is He that is in me then he that is in the world” and Romans 8:31“If God be for me then who can be against me.” Romans 8:31 “Who can be against me” has to be one of the greatest “spiritual” smack talk scriptures. That is pretty much saying that anyone who comes against me is nothing; they are nobody. I love smack talk! I used to wear my OU gear into Lincoln, Nebraska every time I visited it. Lincoln definitely has some Football Demons.
Let’s read on the healing (or freeing) of this crazy dude in the Capernaum Synagogue.
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.
Let’s cover the “cast out”, shall we? In the last entry I talked about how amazed the people were at Jesus’ teaching. Now this crazy dude starts acting up. Luke 3:33-34 states “In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ’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!’” I want to focus in on that “Ha” in a moment but first we’ll look at what this demon says: “Holy One of God”. James 2:19 states “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” This “crazy synagogue dude” is a clear example of the point James is making in his book. But back to what the demon dude said. “Holy One of God”. My NIV study bible had this in the notes section: “The Holy One of God, the title is used elsewhere only in John 6:69 and points to Christ’s divine origin rather than his Messiahship. The name was perhaps used by the demons in accordance with the occult belief that the precise use of a person’s name gave certain control over him.” Sounds good to me, I told you, I don’t mess much with the paranormal stuff. Nonetheless, it’s seems like this demon is challenging Jesus. If it was not challenging Jesus then it would have stayed silent. Let’s get back to that “Ha” that Luke recorded. The Amplified states “Ah, let us alone!” I love the Message; it put’s it this way “Ho!” The Literal translation says it this way: “Aha! What is to us and to You…” “Ha, “Ah”, “Ho”, and “Aha” all show some kind of surprise or offense. What ever the demon was trying to say Jesus wasn’t going to put up with it. Jesus just simply states “Shut up & Get out”. That is New King Jimmy version (my favorite version) we can read what happens next: the demon left kicking and shrieking. I love how Dr. Luke records the “cast out”. He states in 4:35 that “Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.” Luke, being a doctor, made sure we, the readers, knew the man was set free without injury even though the demon did it’s best to kill the man. This story is telling me that no matter how big the problem is or how much the problem tries to take us out, our God is bigger. The problem could be a freaky demon or a simple cold it doesn’t matter. Our God is bigger. Colossians 2:15 states that Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” I don’t/won’t take the time to fully dive into Colossians 2:15 but the “powers and authorities” are now the “nothing” that Romans 8:31 speaks of. No matter what rises up and tries to control you, it has to let go of you because God is bigger! Not only does it have to let go of you but you will be without injury. The word injury used in Luke 4:35 caught my attention. The Greek word for injury is the same used for “hurt” in Mark 16:18: “they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." That Greek word is Blapto and it also means, besides injure and hurt, to disable, weaken, and impede. Impede means to slow down. So what I want us to grasp today is the healing power of Jesus will not only set us free but whatever we were in bondage to before can no longer injure, hurt, disable, weaken, or slow us down. Whether that’s a demon or sickness, it does not matter. We’ve got a race to run, no need to be slowed down.
Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
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