Jesus and the apostles spent a lot of their time preaching and ministering to Jews in synagogues.  Some of us might think of the synagogue as similar to a modern church, just a place where believers meet, but in the Bible’s synagogues it’s amazing the type of people you’d find among the “believers.”  Mark 1:23-24 gives us such an example:

“And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “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.””

Here, Mark points out that there are unclean spirits even in the synagogue, perhaps in hiding.  There are probably unclean spirits even in our churches!  Like in our times, Jewish people who did not go to synagogue probably rationalized that by saying the synagogue isn’t perfect, but terribly flawed.  Why associate with those people?  Mark’s gospel was targeted at Gentile readers, who were probably more likely to criticize those in the synagogue than the Jews.  But, Mark then tells us in verses 25 and 26:

“But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.”

Who knows how many unclean spirits there were in the synagogue, how long they had been there, and how powerless the Jewish leaders were to do anything about them!  But, if Mark’s Gentile audience knew the synagogue wasn’t perfect, Jesus was saying He has authority and power to make it perfect in ways nobody else could.  Jesus wasn’t trying to draw people to the synagogue, but to Himself!

Coming back to the idea that our churches in some ways are the modern equivalent of synagogues, the world knows there are a lot of bad people going to church, from hypocrites pretending to follow Christ, to people who are just obviously bad.  Jesus, however, knows perfectly who His people are and who are not, but regardless He isn’t trying to draw people to an imperfect church, but to His perfect self!

Every group of people has a mix of good and bad, and possibly even people with “an unclean spirit.”

Therefore, no institution can accurately reflect who Christ is, not even the visible global church, which is made up of a mix of people that can’t be neatly divided into “good” and “bad.”  Everyone there is a sinner in need of forgiveness and salvation.  But Jesus, who cast out the “unclean spirit” in Mark’s gospel, can also cast out all the evil in His people’s hearts to build the one institution that will last forever in eternity.

Jesus, “the Holy One of God,” has come to build a church full of holy people, and He will not fail.  From within and without synagogues and churches with unclean spirits, God will find His people.