Series on Luke
III The Initiation
B The Authority of His Ministry
1 Over Demons and Disease
Text: 4:31-44
Introduction
The atmosphere in Capernaum is much friendlier than Nazareth as we read in verses 31 and 32, Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. In Nazareth you recall, they tried to murder the Savior, but we should not make too much of this difference. Later in His ministry His reception in all of the towns of Galilee cooled and we read His words in Luke 10:13-15, “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. The reason for this development was that Jesus did not give them what they wanted. They wanted more raw demonstrations of power. They wanted personal favors which some received an others did not. Whether He fed them or healed them or delivered them, they always wanted more. The key to understanding this particular portion of Scripture is in the closing verses, 42-44, At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Thus the themes of this passage are unprecedented power and unwelcome popularity.
I Unprecedented Power
In verses 33-36 we see one example of this unprecedented power, In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” The people were amazed because they had never seen anything like this, more than that, nobody had ever seen anything like this. Many people misunderstand the significance of miracles. The Bible is not a miracle book. It is not ”full” of miracles. Miracles are thinly scattered throughout the Old Testament and are found primarily during periods of intense revelation. Their purpose is to validate the spoken Word of God. They also validate the people speaking as authentic messengers of God, people like Moses and Elijah. This is the primary purpose of Jesus’ miracles, but the difference is in the sheer number of signs. Jesus was doing countless miracles and that was to demonstrate that He was the Messiah. It was also to authenticate His preaching because the message he brought was the greatest, most climactic and important message of all time. He was preaching the fulfillment of all things, the consummation of God’s revelation, and the beginning of the end. Jesus preaching was greater in sheer amount and greater in content than anything that had ever been said before. I have often joked with my wife that there are more miracles in a televised pentecostal or charismatic meeting than in the whole Old Testament. However, that would not be true of Jesus’ ministry as we read in verses 37-40, And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. The multitudes were coming to be healed. This was indeed unprecedented power to accompany an unprecedented message of deliverance. Unfortunately, it brought unwelcome popularity.
II Unwelcome Popularity
It is clear from our text that Jesus did not need a publicity agent. Remember what we read in verse 42, At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. And then there was all the commotion of the demons screaming out His true identity as in verse 33, In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” They call Him the Holy One which is tantamount to declaring that he is the Messiah and deliverer. And then again in verse 41 he silences them because they are revealing His identity as the Christ, which means Messiah, and the Son of God, Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. Jesus did not want this publicity. He was who they said, but He had a mission and that mission had a timetable and the mission would be aborted if the people tried to make Him King. Often in His ministry he refers to the fact that it is not yet time for a particular development because it will precipitate effects that will interfere with His message as we read in verses 43 and 44, But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. There are many references to the timetable of Jesus ministry, here are just a few. In John 2:4 Jesus replies to His mother at the wedding feast in Cana when she asks His help because the wine has run out, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” In John 7:30 as Jesus taught in the temple courts, he accused the leaders of not knowing God the Father, and we read, At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. In John 8:19 and 20 in a debate with the Pharisees over His Father we read, Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come. Finally as His death approaches Jesus leads His disciples to an upper room where He washes their feet and they celebrate the last supper, and we read in John 13:1, It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. There are more references, but this should be sufficient to indicate that there was an exact timetable for His life, ministry and death, and he scrupulously kept it. His mission was to preach the good news of the kingdom and its fulfillment and He did this for approximately three years, and in order to complete that mission He frequently delayed His death and forbid the disclosure of His identity.
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