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Busy and Happy Days at Capernaum
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Friend, and they wanted to know more of the truths He taught. They
longed to have the comfort of His love with them continually.
Jesus watched the faces of His hearers. Faces that expressed in-
terest gave Him satisfaction. As the arrows of truth pierced through
the barriers of selfishness and brought about repentance and grati-
tude, the Savior was glad. When His eye recognized faces He had
seen before, His own face lighted up with joy. When plainly spoken
truth touched some cherished idol, He noticed the change of expres-
sion that revealed that the light was unwelcome. When He saw men
and women refuse the message of peace, it pierced His heart to the
very depths.
In the synagogue, Jesus was interrupted while speaking of His
mission to set free the captives of Satan. A madman rushed from
among the people, crying out, “Let us alone! What have we to do
with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know
who You are—the Holy One of God!”
The scene was all confusion and alarm. The people’s attention
was diverted from Christ, and His words went unheard. But Jesus
rebuked the demon, saying, “‘Be quiet, and come out of him!’ And
when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him
and did not hurt him.”
Satan had darkened the mind of this poor sufferer, but in the
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Savior’s presence, the man began to long for freedom from Satan’s
control. But the demon resisted. When the man tried to appeal to
Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words in his mouth, and he cried
out in an agony of fear.
The demon-possessed man partially understood that he was in
the presence of One who could set him free. But when he tried
to come within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him,
another’s words found expression through him. The conflict between
the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible.
The demon exerted all his power to keep control of his victim. It
seemed that the tortured man would surely lose his life in the struggle
with the enemy that had ruined his best years. But the Savior spoke
with authority and set the captive free. The man stood before the
amazed people, happy in the freedom of self-possession. Even the
demon had testified to the divine power of the Savior. The eye that