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<\/p>\nText: Luke 4:31-44<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from\u00a0God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for
\nthe sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n
\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yet\u00a0again, Luke places Jesus in the synagogue on a Sabbath, this time in Capernaum.\u00a0Again, Jesus is teaching the people, \u201cand they were astonished at his teaching, for his word\u00a0possessed authority.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Authority.\u00a0Jesus has it. Luke\u2019s account is similar to one in Matthew\u2019s Gospel, but Luke\u00a0doesn\u2019t compare Jesus\u2019 teaching to that of the scribes as in Matthew. For Luke,\u00a0Jesus\u2019 word<\/u> is with authority. What Jesus says has power and authority.\u00a0In other words, His Word does something, and why shouldn\u2019t it do something? He\u00a0is, after all, the Word of God made flesh. He was present at creation, and \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Twice\u00a0our text tells us that the people were amazed at Jesus\u2019 teaching which was\u00a0authoritative. Unlike the flowery, empty and vain teaching of the day, Jesus\u2019\u00a0teaching was simple, full of grace and truth and carried His Father’s\u00a0authority.<\/span> It was likely a change of pace from the preaching and\u00a0teaching they were used to hearing.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Present besides the normal crowd one\u00a0might expect to see at the synagogue \u201cwas a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/i> The synagogue, much like our churches today, was open \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What this demon-possessed man says\u00a0is indeed true. He is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Holy One of God, the\u00a0promised seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent\u2019s head. This demon\u00a0knew that something good could come, should come, out of Nazareth. Until\u00a0Peter\u2019s confession in Luke 9, no human participant in the gospel knows who\u00a0Jesus is, but the demons do. They hold people in bondage, but they recognize that\u00a0the power of God is with Jesus to destroy their kingdom by releasing those who\u00a0are bound by it. Jesus has the power to exorcise, to prevail over demons, and the\u00a0demon knew what was in store for him.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before\u00a0this demon is permitted to speak anything else about Jesus, Jesus exorcises the\u00a0demon from the man. The reason is two-fold. First, Jesus uses this event as an\u00a0opportunity to show that He is who He has claimed to be. By teaching them, the\u00a0people see that He is unlike the synagogue teachers, that His message is\u00a0different, better, than what has been taught up until this point. But even more \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To go along with His teaching and\u00a0word having authority, He rebuked the demon and the demon came out of the man. The\u00a0demon left the man, \u201chaving done him no harm.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i>The devil left very reluctantly but had to do\u00a0Jesus’ will and not do harm.<\/span> The devil knows the\u00a0Lord, and his words were a revelation concerning Him. He knows His name: Jesus;\u00a0he knows whence He hails: of Nazareth; he knows Him to be the true Son of God,\u00a0the Holy One of God, of equal majesty and power with the Father. He wants\u00a0nothing to do with Jesus. He has no choice but to leave the man because of\u00a0Jesus\u2019 authority. Jesus\u2019 authority is in more than just preaching\u00a0and teaching. His authority is also seen in actions. Jesus commands the demon\u00a0to be silent and he is silent. Jesus commands the demon to come out of the man\u00a0and he comes out. His words lead to actions being done. Once again, the people\u00a0stood in amazement; not because the demon left the man, but because how the\u00a0demon left the man: by Jesus telling the demon to leave. The people were so \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once\u00a0Jesus leaves the synagogue, He proceeds to Simon\u2019s house, where Simon\u2019s\u00a0mother-in-law was ill. With a simple request of Jesus, the fever left her and\u00a0she began to serve those in her house, probably as she normally would.\u00a0 The people saw what Jesus had done and other\u00a0people with illnesses began to show up desiring to be healed. Jesus exercised\u00a0His healing authority to heal those who were infirmed. By His powerful Word, He\u00a0rebuked the fever and by His personal loving care with His hand of compassion,\u00a0He healed them.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0common thread through all of these events is the power and authority of\u00a0Jesus.\u00a0He taught with power and authority.\u00a0He rebuked demons with\u00a0power and authority.\u00a0He even rebuked a fever with power and\u00a0authority.\u00a0Jesus speaks to nature and nature listens and obeys.\u00a0Jesus\u00a0speaks to spiritual powers and they listen and obey.\u00a0A little word from\u00a0Jesus has power and authority over all things.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u00a0brought His power and authority to us in order to undo the damage that sin had\u00a0done to His creation.\u00a0Every sickness that He healed, every demon that He\u00a0cast out, every person that He raised from the dead was a reversal of the curse\u00a0of sin.\u00a0Every healing was a sign that pointed forward to the ultimate\u00a0healing that Jesus worked for us.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0ultimate, eternal healing that Jesus worked for us happened on a cross. On that\u00a0cross, Jesus suffered the final, eternal consequence of our sin.\u00a0He\u00a0endured the full punishment of sin for us. He endured the full wrath of God in\u00a0our place.\u00a0He satisfied the judgment of God against our sin.\u00a0As\u00a0Isaiah writes, \u201cHe\u00a0was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0message that needs to be heard\u2014shouted from the rooftops and shared and lived\u00a0out in all of everyday life\u2014is the message of Christ\u2019s all-redeeming suffering,\u00a0death, and resurrection.\u00a0This is not just religious truth, but whole\u00a0Truth. It\u2019s not just true for Lutherans or Catholics, Baptists, or even\u00a0Christians.\u00a0It\u2019s not just true on Sunday mornings.\u00a0Christ suffered\u00a0and died for the entire world!\u00a0This trumps everything,\u00a0for there\u2019s\u00a0nothing more important than this: Christ Jesus bore and suffered the sins of\u00a0everyone for all time, and that even includes the people you don\u2019t like or\u00a0those you don\u2019t think deserve God\u2019s mercy.\u00a0Contrary to popular belief, you\u00a0and I don\u2019t deserve God\u2019s mercy either, and yet He extends that mercy to us. We\u00a0must remember what Paul writes to the Romans: \u201cbut God shows his love for us in that while we\u00a0were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Christ\u2019s\u00a0Word is powerful.\u00a0It has what we need. It does what it says.\u00a0Christ\u2019s\u00a0Word has power and authority \u2013 the power and authority to rebuke demons \u2013 the\u00a0power and authority to rebuke fevers, but ultimately, the power and authority\u00a0to forgive your sins and save your soul. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. Now the peace of\u00a0God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in\u00a0Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: Luke 4:31-44 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from\u00a0God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yet\u00a0again, Luke places Jesus in the synagogue on a Sabbath, this time in Capernaum.\u00a0Again, Jesus is teaching the people, \u201cand they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16840,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epiphany","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3994"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3997,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions\/3997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\naccording to John, John 1:3, \u201cAll things were made through him, and without him was not\u00a0any thing made that was made.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\nto whoever saw fit to attend. All sorts of people are found in the church. But\u00a0what about this man? What was he doing in the house of God? Twice in Job we are\u00a0told that Satan himself came among the sons of God when they came to present\u00a0themselves before the Lord. Whether this man came by his own will or by\u00a0the will of the devil that possessed him, we do not know. At any rate, this man\u00a0cries out to Jesus, \u201cHa! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you\u00a0come to destroy us? I know who you are\u2014the Holy One of God.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\nimportant, Jesus hushed the demon because of what the demon said. While it was\u00a0indeed true, Jesus allowing the demons to identify Him could cause great damage\u00a0to His credibility. Later, it would be said of Jesus that He was Beelzebub. For\u00a0the demon to state who Jesus was would only lend credence to that false idea.<\/p>\n
\nimpressed with His authority that they spread the word of Jesus far and wide.<\/p>\n
\nwas the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n