Luke 4:31-44.
Also Revelation 22.
Introduction
We have come to an end of our year long focus on Luke’s Gospel.
And in today’s passage we focus on 24 hours in the life of Jesus.
It is striking how much of the gospels focus on Jesus final week and death and resurrection.
We cover 3 years in the gospels over a set number of chapters – in Luke that is chapters 3-18, and then time slows down and in the remaining chapters we are covering days and hours instead of weeks etc.
That points us to the incredible importance of those key events. The death and resurrection of Jesus. The core of the gospel.
And yet. Luke, John, Matthew and Mark all want to tell and teach us about Jesus ministry before that final week. It is worth our attention they say. Luke writes 15 chapters about Jesus ministry – his words and deeds.
In our gospel, Luke shares about 24 hours.
In fact if you were the original reader, Theophilus, this is the first proper look at what the Jesus ministry looked like.
Theophilus had heard the promises and prophecies before and around Jesus birth, in Luke 1-2, he has heard john the Baptist speak about him, he has seen him baptized – my beloved son heaven declared, he goes off into the desert, we hear his sermon in Nazareth – so now Luke shows the original reader – for the first time, what Jesus ministry looked like.
Previously.
In Bible study it is helpful often to see what has come before the passage you will focus on – so previously – as many shows now say.
Luke 3 Jesus was baptized. As Luke 4 begins, we hear of how he goes into the desert for 40 days.
But he does not go of his own choice – we learn – Jesus is full of the Spirit and he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended on him in bodily form.
We learn in Luke 4, that the Spirit is not a passive presence. He has filled Jesus and he is leading Jesus. Jesus is Spirit filled and Spirit led, even when the Spirit is leading into uncomfortable places.
In those 40 days, there is temptation through spiritual warfare. It is Satan who tempts and attacks and tests.
The main question – what ministry will Jesus have, and what motivations will he have for doing it.
So we see these themes of Spirit, of Spiritual Warfare, of ministry. v14-15.
Jesus goes to Galilee, he is teaching, news spreads about him, and he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. These verses cover some time.
And again, the Holy Spirit – is not a temporary presence –he returned to Galillee in the power of the Spirit. Again an ongoing presence with Jesus.
v16-30
Jesus is in Nazareth, his home town.
In the Synagogue he reads from Isaiah 61.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19
He says today this is fulfilled in your hearing.
This is now taking place he is saying. It is happening among them.
This has been called the Nazareth Manifesto. Jesus says this is what my ministry will be.
And is not something new – it is something promised – in Isaiah 61. As Peter reminded us last week when he preached about Luke 23, it is easy to forget how many OT prophecies Jesus is fulfilling in his ministry.
This is the shape of the ministry.
Good news preached.
To poor and not only wealthy or famous.
Freedom, prisoners being freed, people seeing who are blind, oppressed freedom.
The Lord’s favour has come…
Overview
We come to v31- our passage – 24 hours in Jesus life.
v31-32
It is Sabbath, there is teaching, people are amazed.
v33-35.
A demon is cast out.
v36-37.
Response of the crowds – again – amazement and news spreads.
v38-41
The evening arrives.
Peter’s mother in law is healed of sickness.
Then many people come to Jesus – some are healed, others have demons cast out.
v42-44
The next morning Jesus sets aside time to pray.
He says it is time to move on.
Other places need to hear the good news of the kingdom of God, for that ‘’is why I was sent’’.
Digger deeper.
The Manifesto
I said Luke 4v14-30 is called ‘’Nazareth Manifesto.’’
Jesus declared – this is the plan, the shape of my ministry.
And having said it, we now read about it.
He was teaching, and preaching – the good news was going out to all sorts and all ages and all backgrounds.
The prisoners were being set free, the oppressed freed, the blind were seeing, and God’s favour is felt.
People were being healed of what imprisoned them. It wasn’t just one healing on one day.
Many are healed from ‘’various kinds of sickness’’.
People were being healed of what oppressed them.
Spiritual warfare is taking place. Satan attacked Jesus. Now Jesus is on offensive as he
encounters it. Demons cast out. People freed.
Again not just one occasion – but ‘’demons came out of many people.’’
Now you may wonder where is the blind. Well, there are various occasions elsewhere in the gospels, where blindness is removed. But Isaiah 61 will have in mind spiritual oppression and imprisonment as well and thus spiritual blindness.
I said the crowds are amazed – constantly – they realise there is someone unusual among them.
God at work… Eyes are being opened.
In the gospels we see this Nazareth Manifesto ministry again and again.
Healing.
What are we learning about Jesus and healing?
Healing here is physical. It has been said that there are a number of dimensions of healing: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, relational, and healing as our death approaches. By spiritual this is both salvation, but also people freed from demonization or possession.
Here we see physical described.
As I said, it is all sorts of sicknesses are healed, not one type.
And these are individual healings. He laid hands on them.
This was not some group healing where there is a big crowd, Jesus waved his hands and they were healed. This is one on one ministry.
That suggests time – with each; each person was seen, and when you think – each one of us is valuable and loved by God for his Son to die for us, and it makes sense that Jesus is focusing on each one who comes…
In another place Jesus is described as having compassion on people.
Jesus rebuked the fever.
The same word used for what he does with demons. This is the only place in the gospels where Jesus speaks to a disease. It says in this rare case there was a demonic power behind that sickness.
This is rare in Jesus ministry – most sicknesses are from natural causes – but it suggests that from time to time the demonic can be involved. Later in Luke 13, Jesus heals a woman who was bent over for 18 years ‘’ a disabling spirit’’ and Jesus says ‘’ought not this woman whom Satan bound for 18 years be loosed.’’.
It needs important discerning if there is a demonic cause.
But we assume it is natural but to be open to the possibility of the demonic.
Healing for service.
John Wimber noted why was this lady healed. Well, you could say she was ill.
But her healing enabled her to serve.
Theologian David Pao takes it a step further. Luke 5 – starts with Peter and Andrew and James and John leaving their fishing business and following Jesus. Pau says that the healing of Peter’s mother in law prepares the way for Peter’s own long term and then life long calling. If she was long term ill, how could he leave everything and leave his wife to care, with no support? But she is healed and the family situation is stabilized and then the calling for Peter comes and he can leave everything.
Healing enabled a person to serve and clearing the way for another to serve.
Spiritual Warfare.
Jesus casts out the demons with a word. He shows his authority over them.
Jesus conquers and controls the demons.
They cannot remain in people when he casts them out. He conquers them,
And when they want to speak about who he is, he controls them.
This victory shows that God’s kingdom was breaking into the present age. The kingdom of God was always expected to defeat Satan – that was part of the Jewish belief – and now it is happening. Demonic forces are driven back.
People are set free to follow and serve God.
The mother in law is not the only example of this. In Luke 8 Mary Magdalene had had 7 demons cast out of her, yet she became a loyal servant and messenger of the gospel.
Jesus had declared his manifesto and now it is in action. The dominion of darkness is being attacked, pushed back. This is spiritual warfare. It is also spiritual healing as we mentioned earlier.
Closing verses. The Kingdom
What happens next after this 24 hours.
Jesus says why he has come – preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. This is the first time the kingdom is mentioned.
What Jesus is saying and doing is about the kingdom. The Nazareth Manifesto is the Kingdom of God being described. For many Jews in their day they only saw kingdom as political or and military. But for Jesus it is spiritual. It is about freedom. It includes the defeat of the enemy. It is not about geography but about individual lives.
So Jesus is showing the kingdom. The kingdom of God is breaking in. however the
consummation is to come with his return.
Today is Christ the King. This is the name for the last Sunday before Advent. Jesus ministry is about the kingdom – preaching about it and demonstrating.
BUT how does he do all this.
By the Spirit
That is why those frequent mentions about the Spirit are so key. Chapter 4 is soaked in how Jesus and the Spirit are connected.
Jesus is full. He is led by the Spirit. He returns in power of the Spirit and then he says ‘’the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.’’ And we see his ministry with the Spirit upon him.
We see why the Spirit rests on him – Isaiah 61. We learn that Jesus ministry is not coming from his divinity but he is ministering out of his humanity. He is fully God fully human.
But his power for ministry, his leading of ministry, comes from the Spirit.
That is how and why he does what he does.
Application.
If we finished here, we could say – well that was Jesus. But Luke does not leave it there.
Luke 5 onwards Jesus calls disciples.
Then in Luke 9 – ‘’And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.’’
What we see Jesus doing, he now sends them out to do.
And in Luke 10, 72 others are sent out with the same commissioning. To do what he did.
They had seen what Jesus had done and now they were sent to do what he did.
And what Acts teaches us – is that this commissioning and power and authority was not
something limited to the days of his ministry on earth, for in Acts we see the apostles but also others in the church, involved in the same ministry: good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed – for Jesus is the King – healings happen, demons are cast out, all in the power and leading of the Spirit who was poured out on Pentecost and was forever with the disciples from then on.
And I believe today, when we talk about ‘’doing what Jesus would do if he was in our shoes’’ prayer for healing, spiritual warfare, preaching the good news, is all part of that.
Two points to close.
In Revelation 22, in v2 – the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations. Healing is described in the full kingdom. Healing for all.
Rev 21 talked about no more death, mourning, crying, or pain for the former things have passed away. Yet when we think of those words, those things had caused wounds, we read Rev 22 it says – the wounds caused by all those evil days – will be healed. We are fully healed in the kingdom.
By the time we get to Rev 21, Rev 19 – 20 describes how Satan, the false prophet, the beast are all cast into the fire. The great enemy defeated.
So the healings in the ministry of Jesus, his disciples and in the life of the church – point to that glorious future when the kingdom will be here and all will be healed. And the demonic cast out, points to that glorious future when Satan and his minions will be in the lake of fire.
Each healing, each deliverance is a foretaste of the full kingdom to come.
Secondly. I believe Jesus ministry, which he then commissioned his disciples with, and was continued in a familiar way in Acts, gives us a vision and a direction that today he invites us, as his disciples, to be involved in similar ways.
Shall we pray.
Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord.
May your Spirit rest afresh on us,
use us to share the good news with all;
to proclaim freedom for those imprisoned,
recovery of sight for the blind,
may we be used to set the oppressed free,
and we ask that we would see the Lord’s favor,
time when the future kingdom breaks in as we pray with and for people.
In Jesus name.
Amen.