Jesus Christ, Demon Hunter

Introduction

Last week we saw the authority of Jesus through His upbringing and His word. Next, we are going to look at the authority of Jesus through His miracles. Jesus demonstrates His authority through all His miracles, but one stands out more, so much it needs to be discussed on its own. It is when Jesus exorcises demons out of the demon-possessed.

Demons seem to be all the rages in moves in the 21^st century. In this decade alone, already 35 movies involving demon-possession have been released, and 5 more are already lined up for this year. Can you name some of them? Some that come to my mind are The Possession, Paranormal Activity, The Devil Inside, The Exorcist, The Amityville Haunting, Devil and Insidious. Why do you think demon-possession is so popular today? Because of the modernist worldview during the modern age, one that didn’t really believe in the supernatural world, we’ve reduced demon-possession to something between fiction and fantasy. But in the 1^st century world, demon-possessions were very real, as real as the flu to us. Of course, if they see it like a “spiritual disease,” then they are also looking for a cure. Today we’ll talk about what the culture believed the cure, and how Jesus brought the real cure.

The Cultural Account

Here are the 4 steps the people of the 1^st century used for exorcising a demon:

1.      Address the demon or demons by name. The pagan religions believed that when you called a spiritual or supernatural being by name, you could control it and its power. So the first step of exorcising a demon would be to establish your power and authority over it by calling its name.

2.      Call upon your god for power. Ironically, some of the cultic worship back then was worship of “demon-gods,” in which people worshipped demons, in fear that, if they did not, they demons would curse them and punish them. So in order to cast out demons, these people would call demons into themselves first, in essence making themselves demon-possessed.

3.      Prayer a prayer or declare incantations. In Jewish Antiquities by Josephus, Josephus records watching Elezar, a country man, cast out a demon. Elezar claims that God gave Solomon a special, secret knowledge on how to exorcise demons. So Elezar calls on the name of Solomon, and then prays the incantation that Solomon wrote down.

4.      Use some kind of device. Most accounts use a root of the rue plant, but the accounts differ on how to use it. In some accounts, it’s a simple touch. In other accounts, the root is turned into a potion to drink. In another account, the root is set on fire, and the demon-possessed must inhale the smoke. Yet in other accounts, the root is used to sprinkle water on the demon-possessed.

According our culture on demon-possession and demon exorcism, has our views on how to exorcise a demon changed or stayed the same? How is the same? How has it changed? I think it has stayed the same, and yet it has changed. People still prayer and used incantations, but they have Christian language in them. People use objects, but it’s crosses instead of rue plant roots. People still call on God’s name to cast, and some even call the demon’s name, too.

The Biblical Account

There are 4 full stories of demon exorcisms in the Bible, and they are as follows:

1.      The mute boy (Matthew 17:14-20; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43)

2.      The demon-possessed man in the Geresenes (Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20)

3.      The demon-possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum (Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37)

4.      The daughter of the woman from Syrophoencia (Mark 7:24-30)

There are also a few brief statements about general demon exorcisms Jesus performs throughout the Gospels, such as Mark 1:34,39. Notice how none of them appear in the Gospel according to John, but all of them appear in the Gospel according Mark. It’s not clear why John would not mention 1 demon exorcism at all, but for Mark, it’s important to his gospel. Mark needs to demonstrate to his readers that Jesus is strong, powerful and has great authority. What a better way than to cast out a demon!

Let’s take a look at one of these accounts. Let’s look at Mark 1:21-28.

Mark 1:21-28 ESV-

²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²² And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴  “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

The Greek word for “be silence,” phimōthēti, literally means “to muzzle” or “to shut the mouth.” Figuratively, it is used to means “to silent,” but it has a stronger, more forceful connotation. The best English equivalent would probably “Shut up!”

So why is Jesus so stern about the demon not talking? It goes back to the cultural understanding of casting out demons. One of the steps of removing a demon is calling out the demon by name. Remember that this reasoning came from the pagan belief that calling out the name of a god or demon would utilize its power. The demon, or demon-possessed man, might have attempted to get upper hand on Jesus. He thought he could call Jesus “The Most Holy God” and take control of him and his power. Jesus quickly denies that by silencing the demon and casting the demon out.

Is it the same or different from how the culture would exorcise demons? Very different. How is different? There’s no addressing the demon by name, no calling upon a god or deity for help, no incantation spoken, nor is there a device used. Jesus uses none of the above. No special prayer or incantation is spoken. No object is needed. His words are enough. He doesn’t need to call the demon by name. He doesn’t need to call upon a deity for power. To me, that’s the most important one. Why is that so important? It proves Jesus is God; it proves his deity. When the apostles cast out demons in the book of Acts, even they call on the name of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t call on any other name because He’s using His own power, His own godly power.

Let’s take a look at another passage. Let’s look at Mark 5:1-20.

Mark 5:1-20 ESV-

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. ² And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ³ He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴ for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. ⁷ And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” ⁸ For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹ Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, ¹² and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. ¹⁴ The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ¹⁶ And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. ¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Why does the demon call Jesus “The Most High God”? Once again, the demon or demon-possessed man might be trying to get the upper hand on Jesus by calling him by his name. He might be trying gain power or authority over Jesus. Why does Mark states in Mark 5:8 that Jesus had already said, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit”? Because in Mark 5:9, Jesus asks for the demon name. Mark wants to make it clear that Jesus never needed his name to cast him out. The deed was already done.

One thing I do want to point out is the people’s reaction. The best way I can do it with is with an analogy…

 

Imagine you are in a city, in one of the parks. There’s a madman in the park, going off on crazy ramblings. All of a sudden, a homeless man, with shaggy hair beard, ragged clothes, and a shopping call full of junk, walks by. All of a sudden, the madman begins freaking out, screaming and yelling even louder, begging this homeless man for his life! Then the homeless man yells something at him and walks way. Now, the madman is dressed in a 3-piece suit, speaking perfect English, perfectly sane and acting like everyone else.

That is what is happening in Mark 5:1-20. Jesus most likely came from a lower class family, and he probably looked like it too. And here comes that average, lower class man, and the demons freak out when they see them. And he has the power to rid people of demons. It leaves the people amazed, astonished, and even scared. They don’t know how to deal with him, so they just send him away.

Let’s look at one more passage. Let’s look at one of those general mentions of a demon possession, and pay close attention to the Pharisees’ reaction. The passage is Matthew 12:22-32.

Matthew 12:22-32 ESV-

²² Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. ²³ And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” ²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. ²⁶ And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. ³⁰ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Where did the Pharisees got the idea that Jesus must be Beelzebub, the prince of demons? It goes back to cultural idea of how to exorcise demons. According to the culture, you need to call upon a higher being for the power to cast out a supernatural being. Sometimes this call was on demons to take out other demons. Ironically, this person would make himself or herself demon-possessed to de-demonize someone else! This was a common practice of witch doctors. The Pharisees might have known of this practice, and accused Jesus of it. In essence, they were accusing Jesus of being a witch doctor and being demon-possessed. How does Jesus respond? Jesus not only denies it with pure logical argument (division only tears down), but he uses that against the Pharisees! The Pharisees also practiced demon exorcisms, even using the common formula stated above. If Jesus was demon-possessed to cast out demons, then surely the Pharisees must be as well! But if the Pharisees are not demon-possessed, then neither is Jesus.

Conclusion

Jesus truly displayed His authority every time he cast out a demon. He never needed any help from an object. He never had to say any magic words. He didn’t even need to know the demon’s name. Just being Jesus, by being God, it’s all Jesus needed to cast out demons. For some, it struck fear, so much they just wanted Jesus to leave. For others, it struck awe and amazement, so much that they wanted to follow Jesus. I hope the next time you read or hear about Jesus casting out a demon, you’ll be struck with the awe and amazement.

Education + References = Authority?

If your computer crashed, would you go someone who has a degree in computer programming or geology? Obviously, you would go to the one with the computer programming degree. If you got the flu, would you go see someone who went to med school or someone who went to law school? You’d obviously go to the med student over the law student. If your car won’t start, do you go to a mechanic or a carpenter? Once again, the answer should be clear: mechanic. I hope it’s obvious where I am going with this. When we need help with something, we usually want a professional or some kind of expert to assist us. To determine if they are an expert, we usually want some kind of credentials, like an education, job experience, or references. Is the same true for the Christian faith? In 1^st century Israel, the Jews believed credentials were very important. They needed those credentials to accept a rabbi’s teaching. Today, we’ll talk about how a rabbi got credentials, why it seemed to the Jews like Jesus had no authority, and why it might have taken a little more faith for the Jews to believe in Jesus.

The Gospels don’t use the term “credentials,” but they use something close to it. Go read Matthew 7:28,29 and Mark 1:22,27. What’s the common word used in these passages? Authority. As you can tell from both passages, the Jews cared about credentials, or authority. Where did the typical Jewish rabbi get his authority from? First, he got it from his education.

In 1^st century Israel, school was not required for children, but most Jews believed a good education was mandated by God in Deuteronomy (4:9; 6:7,8; 11:19-21), so they would send their children. Children began school at the age of 5 or 6, like they do here in America. School was held most of the time in the synagogue. The class size averaged around 25 students because if a teacher had more than 25 students, he needed an assistant, and if a teacher had more than 40 students, he needed a second teacher. Some schools had girls, while other schools did not, so scholars cannot clearly decide if girls were or were not allowed in school, or why or why not a girl would or would not be allowed. In school, the students learned reading and writing in Hebrew (and maybe Greek), the Torah, the Talmud, and other Rabbinic teaching. The teaching style was mainly repetition and rote memorization.

Jesus most likely had this education because Jesus was literate, and his father Joseph was most likely a good, law-abiding Jew.

After completing school between ages 12 and 13, most boys ended their education to learn the family trade for their occupation. Girls would prepare to be married. The smartest boys, however, would continue their education in what we might call an “internship.” A rabbi would select a student who he thought had potential and that student would become his disciple. The student’s job, as a disciple, would be to learn everything from his rabbi, so much that he could fully imitate his rabbi. This usually included memorizing the whole Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament), as well as his rabbi’s teachings.

Jesus most likely did not have any schooling past what we would call “8^th grade,” which is after turning 13, because none of the New Testament writers mention it. If Jesus would have had this education, the Bible most likely would have mentioned it because it would have given Jesus instantly credibility. By not having this academic training (or at least not mentioning it), every audience listening to Jesus, from the original listeners, to the original readers, to the listeners and readers of today, would just have to take His word for it.

Where else did a Rabbi get his credibility? By quoting other rabbis! Hear what Sanhedrin 2:1–5 has to say about lighting lamps on the Sabbath:

“1. With what may they light [the Sabbath lamp] and with what may they not light it? They may not use cedar-fibre or uncarded flax or raw silk or a wick of bast or a wick of the desert or duck-weed; or pitch or wax or castor-oil or [Heave-offering] oil that [is become unclean and] must be burnt, or [grease from] the fatty tail or tallow. Nahum the Mede says: They may use melted tallow. But the Sages say: It is all one whether it is melted or not melted: they may not light therewith.

2. [Heave-offering] oil that [is become unclean and] must be burnt may not be used for lighting on a Festival-day. Rabbi Ishamel says: Tar may not be used out of respect for the Sabbath. But the Sages permit all kinds of oils: sesame-oil, nut-oil, fish-oil, colocynth-oil, tar, and naphtha. Rabbi Tarfon says: They may use only olive-oil.

3. Naught that comes from a tree may be used for lighting [the Sabbath lamp] excepting flax; and naught that comes from a tree can contract uncleanness by overshadowing excepting flax. If a wick made from [a piece of] cloth was twisted but not singed, Rabbi Eliezer declares it susceptible to uncleanness and not to be used for lighting [the Sabbath lamp]; but Rabbi Akiba says: It is not susceptible to uncleanness and it may be used for lighting [the Sabbath lamp]

4. A man may not pierce an egg-shell and fill it with oil and put it on the opening of the lamp so that the oil will drip from it; [it is forbidden] even if it was made of earthenware (but Rabbi Judah permits it); but if the potter had joined it [with the lamp] from the first, it is permitted in that it is a single vessel. A man may not fill a dish with oil and put it beside a lamp and put the end of the wick in it so that it will absorb [the oil]. But Rabbi Judah permits it.

5. If a man put out the lamp [on the night of Sabbath] from fear of the gentiles or of thieves or of an evil spirit, or to suffer one that was sick to sleep, he is not culpable; [but if he did it with a mind] to spare the lamp or to spare the oil or to spare the wick, he is culpable. But Rabbi Jose declares him exempt in every case excepting that of the wick, since he thereby forms charcoal.”

I hope you didn’t get lost in the rabbis’ debate over lighting lamps on the Sabbath. The point is not whether or not this is a good or bad ruling. The point is how every rabbi carefully quoted every Rabbi for every view out there. Notice the constant quoting of Rabbis. Rabbis got their authority from quoting each other, mainly in the Talmud. Personally, it reminded me of how I wrote my Bible papers in undergrad. For example, listen to my paper on the background of Jonah. (Remember to read the in-text citation to get the point!)

By most scholars, Jonah is accepted as the author of the book. From New Testament references, it is known as fact that Jonah is a real person. Jonah was the son of Amitti (Willmington 473). Jonah’s name means “dove” and his father’s name, Amitti, means “true” (Spence-Jones v). Neither name has any symbolic meaning to their character (Stuart Jon. 1). The verse from 2 Kings 14:25 tells us Jonah was from the town Gath Hepher. Gath Hepher was founded in the territory allotted to the tribe of Zebulun when Israel settled (Hannah 1:1461). Later, Gath Hepher would be considered in the region of Galilee (Henry Jon. 1:1). Nothing is known about Jonah’s early life. Jewish legend makes Jonah the son of the widow at Zarephath that Elijah resurrected, but there is no Biblical proof for that (Kiel and Delitzsch 10:255). Not much is told about Jonah’s job as prophet before he was called to go to Nineveh. Jonah is considered one of the later prophets (Richards 546). The prophet’s preaching probably proceeded immediately after Elijah and Elisha (Hannah 1:1461). When Jonah received his call to go to Nineveh, he was probably an elderly man (Kiel and Delitzsch 10:255).  “Jonah might well be called the Old Testament’s ‘patriotic prophet’” (Richards 546). Jonah would bring messages from the Lord to Jeroboam II (Henry Jon. 1:1). Jonah was always glad to inform the king that God will flourish Israel with wealth and a strong army (Richards 546). Jonah must have liked to do this, for he seems to have a strong pride in his country and doesn’t like its opponents (Stuart Jon. 1). Apart from this information, nothing more about Jonah’s life is known (Smith and Page 205). No biographical information of Jonah appears in the book, as typical for a prophetic book (Stuart Jon. 1).

Once again, I hope you didn’t get too caught up in the background information on Jonah. My point is not the information on Jonah, but rather how I have to carefully cite my sources to build my credibility in my thesis.

It seems both back then and today our authority comes from quoting the scholars, experts and elders of the past. But Jesus was different.

Read John 7:15-17 in the NASB, ESV, KJV and NIV (both 1984 and 2011 ed.) and see how the wording is changed. If you don’t have all these Bibles available, it can be done at Bible Gateway.

The Greek for “such learning,” when translated literally, means “knows his letters.” As stated above, this verse acknowledges that Jesus got his basic schooling. He knows how to read and write Hebrew. What puzzles the Jews is that Jesus “has never been educated” (NASB), “has never studied” (ESV), “has never learned” (KJV), “without having studied” (NIV84), “without being taught” (NIV2011). The Greek word, memathekos, means “to acquire information as the result of instruction.” The word is used in both an informal or formal context. In most occurrences, this is used in a moral context. What baffles the Jews is that Jesus never got his discipleship from a Rabbi. How does Jesus know so much? Does he really know much, if he hasn’t gotten the proper training?

How does Jesus answer? His authority is from his Father.

Jesus declares that he does not need authority from any other man. He teaches on his own authority. Where did he get his authority? From the Father. The Jewish teachers of the law had thought that their authority came from the Talmud or other Rabbinic writings, but they forgot that true authority came from God and His Word. If they would have remembered that, they would have recognized Jesus as the Christ. Unfortunately, they did not, and instead they decided he wasn’t the Messiah because he did not have any credentials from education or other Rabbis.