Jesus Teaches the Capernaum Synogogue

SCRIPTURE and SERMON: Mark 1:21-28

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

*SCRIPTURE and SERMON: Mark 1:21-28

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

23 ¶ Just 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!"

26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The 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."

28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Introduction: When I was in Seminary learning to preach the Word of God, we had classed in "Homiletics:" How to preach. We preached to one another in class, and we filled out forms, and we analyzed each other. Today we are going to analyze Jesus' sermon in the Capernaum synagogue.

I. The City where Jesus Taught -- Capernaum

Capernaum is situated on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee near one of the main highways connecting Galilee with Damascus. The site is a ruin today, but was inhabited from 150 BC to about AD 750. Josephus refers to Capernaum as a fertile spring. A church near Capernaum is said to be the home of St. Peter himself. Recent excavations have revealed that there are actually two synagogues. One is made of limestone and the other is made of black basalt. The limestone synagogue is built on top of the older basalt synagogue. Of the earlier structure only foundation walls, column fragments and a cobblestone floor remain. Capernaum had a population of 1500. When Jesus abandoned Nazareth he went to Capernaum and made it His home (Matthew 4:12-16). In Capernaum he chose his first 4 disciples: James, John, Peter, and Andrew.

In 1838, the American explorer, Edward Robinson discovered the ruins of the ancient Capernaum. The city appeared to the first explorers to be a sad and desolate place. In 1866, British Captain Charles W. Wilson identified the remains of the synagogue, and in 1894, Franciscan Friar Giuseppe Baldi of Naples, the Custodian of the Holy Land, was able to recover a good part of the ruins from the Bedouins. The most important excavations began in 1905 under the direction of the Germans Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger. The excavations revealed that the site was established at the beginning of the Hasmonean Dynasty, roughly in the second century BC, and was abandoned in the eleventh century AD.

The inhabitants of Capernaum in Jesus' day were full of unbelief, and were scolded by Jesus in Matthew 11:20-24…

20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.

21 "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

Jesus has called us to take the Gospel to the whole world. In some cities, people will receive the Word with gladness. In other cities, people will be offended by the Gospel, and will reject the messenger. In Nazareth, they tried to kill Jesus after He

announced Himself as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. In Capernaum, they refused to repent of their sins, even after seeing Jesus perform miracles and raise the dead.

Jesus preached that Judgment Day was coming. In a sense Jesus was a "Hellfire and Brimstone" preacher. It is important for all of us to remember that God demands repentance from sin. Repentance and Faith are two sides of the same coin. You

can't have one without the other. You cannot have salvation and a born-again heart without repentance as well as faith.

II. The Day on which Jesus Taught -- the Sabbath

The Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week: Saturday. It is the literal day that God set aside for Israel, His Old Testament people, to rest and worship. Under the Old Covenant, God demanded a very strict keeping of the Sabbath day. For

example, in Exodus 31:14-15 we read:

14 "‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.

15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.

In Numbers 15 we have the story of a man who gathered some sticks on the Sabbath day…

32 While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly,

34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.

35 Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp."

36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.

We no longer keep the Sabbath day. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's day. Christians today are not living under the Mosaic Covenant. We are living in the New Covenant,

which is given to us in the blood of Jesus Christ, not the blood of bulls and goats brought daily to the Tabernacle. Our observance of the Lord's Day is not constrained like the observance of the

Sabbath. Paul wrote about this in Romans 14:5…

"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."

Jesus Himself lived under the Old Covenant, and He kept the Law of God perfectly, without sin. But we also remember that He was the Lord of the Sabbath, and had the perfect right to interpret

or change Sabbath observance as He saw fit. He was criticized by the Scribes and Pharisees as being a Sabbath breaker, but He was NOT a Sabbath breaker. He just knew the right way to do it.

III. The Audience -- the Congregation of the Capernaum Synagogue

Mark 1:21-28

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

23 ¶ Just 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!"

26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The 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."

28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

1. We already know that the Capernaum audience turned out to be unrepentant.

2. BUT, they were in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

Note: being in a garage won't turn you into a car. Being in church won't make you a true child of God.

3. They were AMAZED at the teaching of Jesus. The word for amazed in verse 22 is from the Greek ekplew, which means to sail away, blown by the wind. They were "blown away" by His teaching.

The word for amazed in verse 27 is from the Greek root thambos, which means "astonishment tinged with fear." The people were astonished by how Jesus taught. He taught with power. He taught as the One who is the living Word. The source of Scripture. God in the flesh. But His POWER frightened them.

4. They spread the news of Jesus' teaching and power all over Galilee.

It's sad. In modern terminology they were regular church goers. They admitted the power of Jesus' teaching. They admitted that He had supernatural power to do miracles. Yet they refused to repent of their sins and receive Him as their Lord and Savior.

Conclusion: How are we doing? Do we have a living, real and vital walk with Jesus Christ? Are we acknowledging Him as Lord of our lives, and are we trying to serve Him, and be the kind of people He wants us to be? Or are we like the people of Capernaum? Something to ponder!