Mark through the Eyes of Jesus (5)
Mark 1.21
Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
As He walked with His disciples to the synagogue, Jesus must have been thinking about what He would teach. Equally, He must have been thinking about what would happen as a result of His teaching.
The basic message would be of repentance and the coming of the Kingdom. But which texts would He use? Would He draw something from Nahum, whose home town this might have been? “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him” (Nah. 1.7). “For now I will break his yoke from you, and burst your bonds apart” (1.13). “Behold, on the mountains the feet of Him Who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace” (1.15).
Did He turn such words over in His mind? Did He see the people rapt and wondering? The demoniac healed? His disciples astonished and perhaps even a bit fearful? His fame going out from there throughout all the region of Galilee?
Surely He saw all this before He rose to speak, and His heart must have been filled with joy and rejoicing. His words would have been spoken clearly and with confidence, bolstered and fixed in those who heard Him by the healing of the demoniac - itself a powerful demonstration of the binding of Satan and the plundering of his holdings. J
esus would have entered that synagogue with great anticipation and delight, joy abounding in His soul, and firmness reflected in His face. He reminds us that the end of teaching is life in the freedom of God's Presence and Kingdom.