The previous passage related that the people in the synagogue Jesus was visiting were, "amazed" (In the Greek, exeplēssonto; thunderstruck, astounded) that he was teaching with authority. They were not astounded because he was teaching in a confident or assertive manner, they were "thunderstruck" because he thought he had the right to give his own teaching. He was giving his own new teaching and interpretation of the Scriptures rather than passing on the teaching of a recognized Rabbi who had been certified by semicha, rabbinic ordination. As an independent, self appointed teacher, Jesus did not have, s'mikhahto, "authority" to make his own teaching that interpreted Scripture and made legal judgments.
Why would anyone listen to this man, or take his self appointed authority seriously? The answer the Gospel writer gives is that Jesus had been appointed directly by God, bypassing the approvals of the accepted systems of Jewish society. The proof of this comes in the form of testimony from supernatural beings. This direct appointment and the authority Jesus holds is portrayed as being recognized by "impure spirits" who it would be presumed would be aware of the order of things in the heavens and who held sway with God.
In the preceding passage, these beings testify that Jesus is, "the Holy One of God". In the Greek, "Holy One", is ἅγιος (hagios 40), "set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred". If we look ahead to the identification of Jesus by the writer in the next chapter as the, "Son of Man", of Daniel's vision, then these spirits are identifying Jesus as the one God has chosen or set apart as king and to be, "...given authority, glory and sovereign power" (Daniel 7:13-14).
In the preceding passage, these beings testify that Jesus is, "the Holy One of God". In the Greek, "Holy One", is ἅγιος (hagios 40), "set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred". If we look ahead to the identification of Jesus by the writer in the next chapter as the, "Son of Man", of Daniel's vision, then these spirits are identifying Jesus as the one God has chosen or set apart as king and to be, "...given authority, glory and sovereign power" (Daniel 7:13-14).
The spirits are portrayed as fearing the position and power given to him by God and ask him if he has come to destroy them. They then meekly accept his orders to be silent and to leave the man they are possessing.
The people are so amazed at the testimony and deference of these heavenly beings that instead of mobbing Jesus and driving him out of their synagogue, as might be expected with his presumption and threat to their ways, he becomes the talk of the town and they spread his fame.
Given this, it is no wonder that Jesus gets into such conflict with the Religious Authorities in the following chapters. They would have seen him as a threat to their control and authority. People were giving credence and respect to someone who had not been certified and vetted by their system. This undermined their monopoly on dictating social custom and legal decision rights.
The "teachers of the law" would have particularly found him galling. These were people who had spent their whole lives striving to be the best at their Beth Sefer and then their Beth Midrash, and may have already spent time as a student of a famous Rabbi in order to work their way to the point where they might someday be considered as a candidate for semicha, Rabbinic ordination, and be granted their own s'mikhahto, "authority", and be able to give their own teaching. And here was this rural nobody that had done none of that being made much of by the crowds, giving his own teaching, and expecting people to respect him like people as themselves who were working so hard to earn it.
So far in the story his right and authority to give his own teaching is based solely on the testimony of supernatural beings and supernatural events such as the voice from Heaven when he is baptized, and the healings and exorcisms he has performed which demonstrated God's favor. This begs the question of how the writer and his community viewed supernatural beings and events. Living in a wider community where these stories were abundant in the literature of the time, was it just the accepted cultural norm that these beings existed, like everyone knowing that the world is flat? Or, were they metaphorizing the story using the accepted literary devices and mythology of the wider culture to express who Jesus was to them and didn't expect these aspects of the story to be taken literally?
This is an important enough question for any literary investigation of the Gospel that it will be the subject of the next post. What was the writer and his community's understanding of, "impure spirits", and how metaphorical or literal did they intend their use in their story?
The people are so amazed at the testimony and deference of these heavenly beings that instead of mobbing Jesus and driving him out of their synagogue, as might be expected with his presumption and threat to their ways, he becomes the talk of the town and they spread his fame.
Given this, it is no wonder that Jesus gets into such conflict with the Religious Authorities in the following chapters. They would have seen him as a threat to their control and authority. People were giving credence and respect to someone who had not been certified and vetted by their system. This undermined their monopoly on dictating social custom and legal decision rights.
The "teachers of the law" would have particularly found him galling. These were people who had spent their whole lives striving to be the best at their Beth Sefer and then their Beth Midrash, and may have already spent time as a student of a famous Rabbi in order to work their way to the point where they might someday be considered as a candidate for semicha, Rabbinic ordination, and be granted their own s'mikhahto, "authority", and be able to give their own teaching. And here was this rural nobody that had done none of that being made much of by the crowds, giving his own teaching, and expecting people to respect him like people as themselves who were working so hard to earn it.
So far in the story his right and authority to give his own teaching is based solely on the testimony of supernatural beings and supernatural events such as the voice from Heaven when he is baptized, and the healings and exorcisms he has performed which demonstrated God's favor. This begs the question of how the writer and his community viewed supernatural beings and events. Living in a wider community where these stories were abundant in the literature of the time, was it just the accepted cultural norm that these beings existed, like everyone knowing that the world is flat? Or, were they metaphorizing the story using the accepted literary devices and mythology of the wider culture to express who Jesus was to them and didn't expect these aspects of the story to be taken literally?
This is an important enough question for any literary investigation of the Gospel that it will be the subject of the next post. What was the writer and his community's understanding of, "impure spirits", and how metaphorical or literal did they intend their use in their story?
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