A Man in the Synagogue

The Gospel of Mark is like a highlight reel of Jesus’ life – moments that show the authority of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, and the power of Jesus to change people’s lives. In this session, we drop in on a moment when Jesus meets a man in the synagogue – and all heaven breaks loose!

The setting is a place called Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus has just called his first 4 disciples, all fishermen, and they all live in this town. Jesus grew up going to the synagogue in Nazareth, but the service would have been very similar in Capernaum. Normally the teaching was from a local scribe, an expert in the Jewish Law, highly educated, and well-respected for their knowledge.

But part of the custom was a policy called “the freedom of the synagogue,” where any visiting rabbi was invited to teach. Jesus often took advantage of that. The custom was to stand up to read the Scripture from a scroll, then sit down to teach. Can't you just picture Jesus doing that? What an amazing moment that would have been. Let's look deeper at what happened.

Please find Mark 1:21-28.