Gospel of Mark Chapter 1 Vs. 21

 

Verses 1:21 – 3:12: Mark presents a series of incidents showing Jesus’ power and the people’s amazed responses.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

Mark 1:21 “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.”

went into Capernaum... A city on the north end of Galilee where Jesus made His headquarters. A prosperous fishing village on the Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum was a more important city than Nazareth. It contained a Roman garrison and was located on a major road. Jesus made the city His headquarters (2:1), after His rejection at Nazareth (Mat. 4:13; Luke 4:16-31).

into the Synagogue... The place where Jewish people gathered for worship, synagogue is a transliteration of a Greek word meaning to gather together. Synagogues originated in the
Babylonian captivity after the 586 B.C. destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.

They served as places of worship and instruction. Jesus frequently taught in the synagogues (verse 39; 3:1; 6:2), as did Paul (Acts 13:5; 14:1; 17:1).

Greek: sunagoge, from sun, together, and ago, I bring; a public assembly of persons, or the place where they assembled (Jas. 2:2). Synagogues were numerous among Jews from the Babylonian captivity on. They were erected in all cities and towns and in the country on rivers, that there might be plenty of water for the many washings. Ten Jews could start one, as it took this many to run and support such a place. There were many in all lands for each Jew was required to attend services every sabbath. Jerusalem alone had 480 of them. They were places of instruction and worship. They were also places for courts of justice (Luke 12:11; Acts 9:2). Officers and a council of 3 to 13 men were chosen by the congregation to teach school and hold court concerning religious and civil cases (Mat. 10:17; 23:34; Acts 22:19; 26:11; John 9:22, 9:34; 12:42; 16:2). Priests were honored but had no official standing unless they were members of the council or served as teachers. The leader or president could ask anyone to speak, read Scripture, or expound the law. Christ often spoke in the synagogues (Mat. 4:23; 13:54; Mark 6:2; Luke 4:15-22; John 18:20) as did the apostles (Acts 13:5, 13:15; 14:1; 17:10-17; 18:19). Services were held in them 3 times on the sabbath. The scribes and lawyers in every community in Israel were the schoolteachers and interpreters of the law and used such places for almost daily instruction. They were built on the highest ground and were often without roofs, being situated so the worshiper entering could pray toward Jerusalem (cp. Dan. 6:10).

Chief Things in Every Synagogue:

1. An ark or chest containing the law

2. Raised platform and a desk from which to read and expound the law

3. Seats for the men below and galleries for women above, or in others a low partition separating men and women

4. Seats for officers in front of the platform facing the congregation

5. Lamps to give light in the evening services and at feasts

6. Apartments for the many utensils, alm-chests and other needful things

and Taught... Mark frequently mentions Jesus’ teaching ministry (2:13; 4:1-2; 6:2, 6, 34; 10:1; 11:17; 12:35; 14:49).

Capernaum was the home of Peter, Andrew, James and John.

Peter’s home was on the outskirts of Capernaum on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. This they included Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Jesus. The He was Jesus. Jesus taught in the synagogue. Remember that this Sabbath is Saturday.

And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching: for He taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. Mark 1:21-22 (R.V.)

THE worship of the synagogues, not having been instituted by Moses, but gradually developed by the public need, was comparatively free and unconventional. Sometimes it happened that remarkable and serious-looking strangers were invited, if they had any word of exhortation, to say on (Acts 13:15). Sometimes one presented himself, as the custom of our Lord was (Luke 4:16). Amid the dull mechanical tendencies which were then turning the heart of Judaism to stone, the synagogue may have been often a center of life and rallying-place of freedom. In Galilee, where such worship predominated over that of the remote Temple and its hierarchy, Jesus found His trusted followers and the nucleus of the Church. In foreign lands, St. Paul bore first to his brethren in their synagogues the strange tiding that their Messiah had expired upon a cross. And before His rupture with the chiefs of Judaism, the synagogues were fitting places for our Lord’s early teaching. He made use of the existing system, and applied it, just as we have seen Him use the teaching of the Baptist as a starting point for His own. And this ought to be observed, that Jesus revolutionized the world by methods the furthest from being revolutionary. The institutions of His age and land were corrupt well-nigh to the core, but He did not therefore make a clean sweep, and begin again. He did not turn His back on the Temple and synagogues, nor outrage sabbaths, nor come to destroy the law and the prophets. He bade His followers reverence the seat where the scribes and Pharisees sat and drew the line at their false lives and perilous examples. Amid that evil generation He found soil wherein His seed might germinate and was content to hide His leaven in the lump where it should gradually work out its destiny. In so doing He was at one with Providence, which had slowly evolved the convictions of the Old Testament, spending centuries upon the process. Now the power which belongs to such moderation has scarcely been recognized until these latter days. The political sagacity of Somers and Burke, and the ecclesiastical wisdom of our own reformers, had their occult and unsuspected fountains in the method by which Jesus planted the kingdom which came not with observation. But who taught the Carpenter? It is therefore significant that all the Gospels of the Galilean ministry connect our Lord’s early teaching with the synagogue.

The Cure Of A Demoniac

The four disciples accompanied Jesus into nearby Capernaum (cf. Mark 2:1; 9:33), on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was their hometown and became the hub of Jesus’ Galilean ministry (cf. Luke 4:16-31). In due course euthys; cf. Mark 1:10), on the Sabbath Saturday Jesus attended the regular worship service in the synagogue, a Jewish place of assembly and worship (cf. Mark 1:23, 1:29, 1:39; 3:1; 6:2; 12:39; 13:9). No doubt by invitation from the ruler of the synagogue, He began to teach (cf. Acts 13:13-16). Mark often referred to Jesus’ teaching ministry (Mark 2:13; 4:1-2; 6:2, 6:6, 6:34; 8:31; 10:1; 11:17; 12:35; 14:49) but recorded little of what Jesus taught.