We note in passing that, while Jesus was at Cana, He healed a nobleman’s son who languished up in Capernaum. Then Jesus Himself went on up to Capernaum some time later. Our backtrack loop is almost complete.
Let’s review the context. Israel is still under the Covenant. Because the leaders had all but vacated the conditions of the Covenant, there was no hedge around the people to protect them. Demons came and went at their leisure; they had permission under the Covenant that bound them. The Father specifically places some of them in the path of His Son so that there can be a clear witness of the Covenant authority behind His teaching, for Jesus had laid aside His divine authority (Philippians 2:7) and operated as a man of faith under the Covenant. Jesus was calling His nation back to the Covenant.
Shortly before He called His disciples into full time service, He began a teaching campaign in the area around His new based of ministry in Capernaum. Instead of quoting a jillion other rabbis, He simply spoke from the Scripture and from His heart. It was readily apparent to those listening that He knew what He was talking about. While on this campaign, He showed up in the local synagogue for a Sabbath service.
There is no use speculating why a demonized man would be there, nor anything about how the synagogue leadership dealt with him, or if they even knew about this problem. About the closest we can come is guessing that perhaps he came to seek relief of some sort. From what we’ve seen already in the Gospels, deliverance at the hands of the synagogue leadership was highly unlikely.
At any rate, the demon spoke through the man, and it was obvious the demon recognized Jesus, using a specific title for the Messiah. The demon asked if this free ride for his ilk was over. Jesus had come to get His nation to repent and recognize Him as Messiah, but this kind of witness from a demon grated on His nerves. It was obscene and His irritation was obvious. Also, note that Jesus is not yet ready to declare Himself the Messiah, and the demons knew it would cause Him trouble. He commanded the demon to leave the man. The words are pretty specific: The demon tossed the man to ground quite suddenly and left him without any further harm.
John carefully leaves out all the details except how it seized the attention of the people attending services that day. There was no fancy ritual; Jesus simply demanded the demon leave and that was it. There’s a good chance the man was already well known as a victim of demonic presence, so there was no doubt in their minds what they had seen. It was obvious He had a level of authority they had never seen or heard of before. The news of this event spread across the entire region.
After the service was over, Jesus and His disciples went over to Peter’s house there in Capernaum. Sadly, Peter’s mother-in-law was bedridden with some fever. Peter’s family asked if Jesus would do something about it, a natural request, having seen a few healing miracles already. So Jesus went to her bed and simply spoke to the fever, ordering it to leave her body.
John makes much of this simple act of speaking to Creation as if it were conscious and alive, but sometimes out of place. Keep in mind that this is still the winter season when fevers were more common. It’s not a matter of inconvenience that justified His demand, but that things weren’t supposed to be this bad under the Covenant. It wasn’t just demons, but without the full protection of shalom, sickness was out of its bounds, too.
As soon as Jesus had done this, she recovered to the point that she got up to help with preparing the Sabbath meal. She needed no extended recovery time, as was common with people who beat back a fever. Things from there followed the typical Sabbath observance until sundown, which ends the calendar day. At that point, everyone within walking distance brought out all their sick and demonized relatives, seeking to have Jesus heal them. As He did so, the demons were still trying to cause Him trouble by blabbering about Him being the Messiah.
It was only natural that everyone wanted to keep this activity going right here in town. Jesus insisted that His message had to be taken to the other cities and towns in the region. This was His mission, to call His people back to the Covenant, so He visited synagogues all over Galilee.
