Luke 4:31-5:16

Recap

We’re looking at the Gospel of Luke. Now, remember, Luke is trying to show us that Jesus is the Messiah, the one whom God will send to rule the world in his place and serve him.

To this end, last week we saw Jesus being tempted in the desert. Now, importantly, this is to be contrasted with the temptation of Adam. While Adam, standing as humanity’s representative, fell in the garden first time, what Luke wants to show us is that his new, second Adam, can stand up to the temptation. He can face it.

Now, Jesus faced three temptations. The first was when the devil tried to convince him to turn the stones in front of him into bread. Jesus had been fasting for forty days, so this must have been mighty tempting. But Jesus didn’t fall for it. Here, as in every other place, Jesus used the word of God to resist Satan’s temptation.

The second temptation was to have authority over all the kingdoms in the world if only Jesus would bow to Satan. When we looked at this, we said that this wasn’t simply the promise of authority, but it was the promise that Jesus would be able to get what he had come for, his new kingdom, but without doing it God’s way, which required him to go to the cross and die. Jesus, naturally, didn’t buy into this, but instead replied that it is right to worship and serve God alone. By doing so, Jesus showed his submission not only to God and his authority, but also to God’s plan and his way of establishing the kingdom.

Finally, Satan tempted him to throw himself off the top of the temple. The point here is that if he can do this and avoid dying, then not only has he done something great, but with how packed the temple is likely to be, Jesus will have won over the people too. They will see that he is special, and he won’t have to face the struggles the rest of his ministry will face. But Jesus doesn’t do it. He simply says that we shouldn’t test God.

After this, Jesus begins his public ministry. He goes about preaching the word of God, anointed and favoured by the Spirit of God. This preaching takes him to his home town, where he preaches and teaches about himself from the book of Isaiah. The people are so enraged with what he has to say that they threaten to kill him, and actually do try. But Jesus is miraculously able to escape by walking through the middle of them.

Today we are going to look at some of the points of Jesus’ ministry. In particular, we’re going to be looking at Jesus’s ministry in Capernaum. The point of looking at Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum is that it functions much like a summary of Jesus’ preaching for Luke. We will look at it like this:

4:31-37 - Healing the Demoniac

38-41 - Healing Many

42-44 - Preaching

5:1-11 - Calling the First Disciples

12-16 - Cleansing the leper.

Summarise the Passage:

Jesus leaves Nazareth (from which he was chased) and heads to Capernaum. He teaches the people, who are amazed at his authority. To illustrate this authority further, he is confronted by a man possessed by demons. This man identifies him as the Son of God, but Jesus casts the demon out of him. This amazes the people further, and means that Jesus heals many. One of these is Simon’s Mother in Law. After this, Jesus is teaching and ends up calling Simon Peter, James and John as disciples. The final thing is that Jesus heals a man with leprosy and tells him to follow the Mosaic rituals to purify himself.

Healing the Demoniac:

Main Point:

Jesus shows his authority with his teaching and then backs it up by healing a demoniac.

People:

Jesus

The crowd

Demoniac

How does it tie with the main point?

It shows Jesus doing two important parts of his ministry.

Healing Many

Main Point:

Jesus undertakes a ministry of healing, but with the purpose of exalting and gloryifying God.

People:

Jesus

Simon Peter

His Mother

Crowds

The sick and demon-possessed

Important Ideas:

The kingdom of God: The understanding that now that Jesus has come (4:21) so has his time of rule. He is proclaiming that and all that means. What we will see in Luke is that the kingdom is a thing that has come in Jesus’ birth and ministry, but it is also something that is going to come in a fuller sense, firstly through the spirit empowered church, but more fully after the second coming. All we need to see about it for now is that it is characterised by Jesus’ healing and reversing the effects of sin.

Christological emphasis on Christ, who he is and what he is like (his authority and his power etc.

Expansion of the programmatic sermon in 4:18-19. Luke is explaining what it looks like for Jesus to proclaim good news to the poor.

Demons: Former angels fallen into sin (Revelation 12:1-12 esp. v4; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Scriptures distinguish between Satan and demons. They sometimes possess people, though we should be careful with this language. They engage in cosmic warfare with angels (Daniel 10:13). They can blind people to spiritual truth (1Timothy 4:1) and they can tempt people to sin (Ephesians 6:11). Can even possess people, like our passage here.

Demon Possession: Grudem says that the words traditionally used in English translations for the effect of demons (possession and the like) are unhelpful becuase they create the idea that they possessed person can’t do anything about it. True in cases like Gerasene Demoniac (Mark 5:1-20) but nevertheless, very rarely true in other cases. In most cases they are just under the influence of a demon, to either a greater or a lesser extent. For Christians, one can come under a strong influence of demons, leading either to strong temptation or depression, but not outright control because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Calling the First Disciples:

Main Point: This is an illustration of the proper way to respond to Jesus’ teaching. To be seen not as a miracle story but as a theophany, or as an appearance from God (cf Isaiah 6)

People:

Jesus

Crowds

Peter

James and John

People on other boat.

How does this fit into the main point?

Demonstrates Jesus’ omniscience - knows more about the seas and the fish than these experiences fishermen. Provides them with a theophany. Also a call to service attached to this theophany, which provides a paradigm for Christian service, leaving everything to follow Jesus.

Healing the Leper

Main Point: Jesus heals from mercy, but is interested in keeping his identity a secret for now.

People:

Jesus

The Leper

The Crowds

How does this fit into the main point?

Shows a couple of things: The positive opinions of the crowds, the power of Jesus and sets the stage for Jesus’ conflict with the religious leaders.