The Power of Jesus
Simon Ladaa Part 2
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The ministry of Jesus was marked by:
Astonishing Authority
Abject Alarm
Authentic Amazement
In the past couple of weeks, we have looked at how Jesus’ hometown reacted to his teaching in the temple. What began with people having a favorable impression from the people who knew him very quickly devolved into anger when Jesus pointed out that many gentiles seem to receive the Word of God more readily than the Jews, and this indicates a lack of faith that many Jews possess.
Not only that, but this teaching cut into their pride, since they, as the Chosen People, did not consider outsiders to be deserving of the privilege of God’s grace. In the end, then, Jesus was dragged out of town in an attempt to kill him without trial. They dragged him out to the edge of town, intending to throw him off a cliff, so offended were they by his teaching. They did not succeed, since it was not yet Jesus’ time, and he went right through the mob.
Verses 16-30, then show us that Jesus was teaching in various synagogues, and went to his hometown, where he put on display his graciousness and told the people he was the suffering servant Isaiah had spoken of. If that passage showed how Jesus taught with grace, today’s passage shows how he taught with power. We will see how He proves himself to have authority over evil.
The ministry of Jesus was marked by:
Astonishing Authority
Abject Alarm
Authentic Amazement
And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
“Ha! 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.”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Last week, our passage started in a similar manner:
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
So Luke has already established that it was the custom of Jesus to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath. There he read and taught.
And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
Capernaum became a sort of headquarters for the ministry of Jesus. You will find many mentions of Capernaum in the gospels. It was in Capernaum that Jesus called Matthew. It was a place of many fishermen. In Capernaum, Jesus Healed Jairus’ daughter, fed 5,000 people, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, healed a paralytic, healed the centurion’s servant, and healed the woman with the issue of blood.
Some significant teachings of Jesus took place in Capernaum as well. His teaching in Matthew 18, which provides the guidelines for church discipline, and on humility, stumbling blocks, and forgiveness. The living bread sermon of John 6 was here as well. Yet, with all of this, Jesus cursed Capernaum, because even after so many miracles, many inhabitants of this place did not believe his message.
However, here in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He had captured the interest of the people here. Luk4.32
and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
They were astonished at his teaching. Why? because his word possessed authority. It is worth taking a moment to consider what Luke meant by this. To better understand this, it is important to understand what rabbis would normally teach. Rabbis and teachers would teach with authority that was always from someone elder. Their authority was always from a quote from some more famous rabbi, or from something they learned.
Most rabbis would not have taught something they felt was unique or a new interpretation. Instead, they would draw their authority from other sources. There is both potential for humility and for pride in this. It may indeed seem very humble to say, “I am not the authority here. I am simply passing on what someone more authoritative than me has already said.” At the same time, pride was sometimes in that as well. The pride came in never having any ideas of their own, and some rabbis would brag that they never taught anything they did not quote from others. They were proud to say they had nothing to say, other than what they had learned.
I have observed this in life. People can be proud both in their appeal to a higher authority, and some are proud in refusing to think about things any differently than they were taught. And yet, both of these ends of a spectrum are not good. We need to find balance. In the case of knowing God through His Word, we most certainly need to see our final authority as the Word. But many Christians put their final authority not in the Word itself, but in how they were taught the Word.
If we are so proud in the traditions of what we are taught, then we may be led astray. Remember what Luther said, that even church councils can make an error, but God’s Word can never make an error. And even in this room, I know many here grew up in a church that taught certain doctrines that you believed because that is what you were taught, and later, upon learning how to read the Bible yourself, you discovered that they way it was taught to you was not quite right.
So we must find this balance of knowing doctrine and things like this, but not based entirely on church councils, but always going back to the scriptures as our final authority. We must be willing to have our understanding of doctrines challenged, but those challenges must always be answered by scripture. There is a range of beliefs on doctrines throughout those who call themselves Christian. Not all of them can be right. But if we hold scripture as our highest authority, and fervently seek to know it and understand it, then we will grow closer and closer to the truth and to understanding. This is a life-long pursuit for the believer.
In the case of Jesus, though, these people saw something very different. They were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. Jesus was not teaching them by saying, “according to Rabbi so-and-so”, He was speaking on his own authority. And certainly Jesus taught from scripture, as we saw in last week’s passage. But even that scripture was His own, and He had full authority to apply it and say what it meant.
Today, if you were writing a journal article, or a thesis paper, you would have all kinds of footnotes to show you did your work, and to show that you are not speaking on your own authority. Jesus didn’t need any footnotes. He spoke with full authority. Yet it is not only that he spoke without quoting the Rabbis that astonished people. Clearly there was something additionally going on here. But the people are about to be even more astonished and amazed at his authority.
And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
“Ha! 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.”
I was in a Bible study once and a lady said something to the effect that we should be glad that people are not possessed with demons like they used to be. And just recently in that town, a news story had come out, of the horrific treatment of a child by her own parents. And I cannot even share from here what it was.
I said to the lady that if you do not think that demons were involved in that, you are not paying attention. We are in a spiritual battle, constantly and always, and Satan and his minions, the unclean spirits, or demons, are just as active today as ever. The lady seemed to think that since we have a modern era and science and so forth, that the demonic world has been defeated. But not yet. It will be, but there is clearly at work in our world many evil plots against God and His beloved.
When you see videos of people screaming at a worker because they ran out of chicken nuggets, when you see the rage people have, manifested in rioting and murder and merciless assaults on their fellow human beings, you should be able to see clearly that there most certainly is demonic activity in our world today. When you see people screaming and hitting those who go to pray outside an abortion clinic, appealing to God to spare life, you can see the demonic at work. When you see terrorists willing to kill anyone who disagrees with their religion, when you see murderers walk into churches and schools to kill as many people as possible, you would be way out of line, if you claim to believe the bible, to simply chalk all of that behavior up to psychology.
The world is full of demonic activity, and increasingly this will continue until Jesus makes a final end of it. He will, He is already victorious, and we can depend on this to happen. But in the meantime, we had better get our heads out of the sand and realize there is demonic activity all around us in our world. Satan and his minions are most certainly active, and nothing angers Satan more than the gospel being preached, so often those who preach will be subject to the wrath of the evil hoards of demons.
Sometimes those demons will come right into the church, and here in our passage we see that even when Jesus was present, demons would enter that place. Right there in the synagogue was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. Would you be surprised if that happened in a nice church like this? You shouldn’t. When the true gospel is being preached, it will be opposed by Satan.
One common theme we see in the gospels when people are demon possessed is that they cry aloud. The demon possessed often cry aloud. This is especially true when truth is being taught. The astonishing authority of Jesus’ preaching has an effect on people, and it has an effect on the demons as well, and they do not like it. This one, cried out with a loud voice, Luke4.34
“Ha! 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.”
In this statement, we find...
Fear (abject Alarm)
Acknowledgement
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
Silent: be muzzled! A command that did not require respectful obedience, for when Christ commands in this way, there was no choice but for obedience. Every knee will bow.
And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Jesus is showing that the Kingdom of God is here
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Belief is not enough to be saved. This belief must be accompanied by a willingness to be subject to Christ. The demon was not subjected willingly.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The ministry of Jesus was marked by:
Astonishing Authority
Abject Alarm
Authentic Amazement
What will we do with this message?
Understand there is still spiritual war and demons.
Jesus had full authority over them and in the end will defeat them.