Jesus's Ministry and Mission (Luke 4:31-44)
From giving us a key example of Jesus’s preaching, Luke proceeds to describe Jesus’s ministry in action. The setting is again a synagogue. This time it is in Capernaum. (This could be the very ministry that the people in Jesus’s hometown were referring to.) The people are again astounded at Jesus’s authoritative teaching. In this case, however, we see even more of Jesus’s authority. There is a man present who is possessed by a demon. The demon knows who Jesus really is. Jesus forbids the demon from speaking and casts it out of the man without harming the man. More impressively, perhaps, He does so by simple command. He uses no formula or ritual. Jesus is completely different from other spiritual leaders of His day. This causes quite the stir in the region.
From there, the action proceeds to Peter’s house, where his mother-in-law is very sick. Jesus rebukes the sickness and removes it as well. She is healed in such a way that she is not recovering, but fully restored. She begins to be a typical mother, serving the guests and meeting everyone’s needs. The whole city begins to bring all of the sick and possessed to Jesus, and he heals every single one of them into the night.
Luke, similar to the other Gospel accounts, is demonstrating Jesus’s power, but also His unique power and authority. There is no one like Him, as further miracles and stories will show.
After the crowds leave healed, Jesus goes away to a lonely place. People began to miss Him and they sought Him out. There were more needs to be addressed! More sick, more possessed! They asked Jesus to come back to them. However, Jesus reveals that He is not there to simply alleviate the physical needs of the people. His sermon in Nazareth could be interpreted that way. But it was not the real meaning of the Isaiah quote. Jesus had been sent into the world with a different mission. He needed to go to all of the other cities in the region and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.
From there, the action proceeds to Peter’s house, where his mother-in-law is very sick. Jesus rebukes the sickness and removes it as well. She is healed in such a way that she is not recovering, but fully restored. She begins to be a typical mother, serving the guests and meeting everyone’s needs. The whole city begins to bring all of the sick and possessed to Jesus, and he heals every single one of them into the night.
Luke, similar to the other Gospel accounts, is demonstrating Jesus’s power, but also His unique power and authority. There is no one like Him, as further miracles and stories will show.
After the crowds leave healed, Jesus goes away to a lonely place. People began to miss Him and they sought Him out. There were more needs to be addressed! More sick, more possessed! They asked Jesus to come back to them. However, Jesus reveals that He is not there to simply alleviate the physical needs of the people. His sermon in Nazareth could be interpreted that way. But it was not the real meaning of the Isaiah quote. Jesus had been sent into the world with a different mission. He needed to go to all of the other cities in the region and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.
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