Luke 4:31-39

April 20
Luke 4:31-39

“Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. (32) And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

(33) Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, (34) saying, Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!

(35) But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

(36) Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. (37) And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

(38) Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. (39) So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.”

What Jesus did on the first Sabbath of His ministry was to level an attack against the forces of evil. He began a holy war to free mankind from Satan and from sin. The demon understood His intent, which is why it reacted with a challenge to Jesus' action.

The demon was not about to give up easily. It was probably a strong demon, but it was compelled to obey its Master and came out, but not without thrashing the man around.

So we see here that the first 'shot' fired in the spiritual war that Jesus came to wage against God's ancient foe was a spiritual healing: Jesus liberated a man from a demon on the Sabbath day.

It is significant that His first public act as part of His ministry was the liberation of a man who was spiritually bound by evil one.

This began the war for control of the earth, for the right to rule over it. After He had already defeated the demons' master, Satan. Jesus was showing that the demons would not fare any better than he. By casting out the demon, He restored order and peace to the congregation, as the possessed man had been behaving tumultuously.

The second thing He did, a physical healing for Peter's mother-in-law, shows us that service to others was to be part of our ministry. She had been an unfortunate woman, bound by disease, but she was relieved of it by Jesus Christ. Then she rose and immediately served everybody else.

This should give a clue to those of us who receive healing as to what we are supposed to do with our healing. We are to rise and serve.

Here, in a nutshell, are major principles by which our activities can be judged. Our effort in the behalf of Christ's Kingdom's purposes is to be for redemption, liberty, joy, peace, and service that comes through fellowship as well as for instruction that reorients our devotion to the direction of His perfect will, which is to bless His people and to set them free.