“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. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.’ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

As we’ve moved through Luke’s gospel account, we’ve been given more information and context than just the things that pertained to Jesus’ ministry itself. We began with the announcement that John the Baptist, the forerunner was to be born, and showing us God’s message to Mary, sent through Gabriel that she was to bear the Christ. We moved through the birth of John and Jesus, the movement and message of John’s ministry, Jesus’ baptism, His genealogy, and His temptation – all of which give us an undeniable illustration that Jesus was both fully God and fully Man. After this we’re given a very brief synopsis of the grand beginning and widespread momentum of Jesus’ ministry in Luke 4:14–15,

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

As we read last week, this synopsis precedes Luke’s account of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth, where we see the first actual example of His teaching in Luke. As we saw from the passage, Jesus offers a wonderful, hope filled message, but the people, with eyes and thoughts darkened in their flesh, have no heart for it and respond with violence. Immediately after this we transition into today’s passage, and we see, as Luke summarized in 4:14–15 that the response of the people at large was far different from the response of the people at Nazareth. Sometimes, for those of us who are familiar with the gospel and who enter into a reading like this fully aware of who Jesus is, what He has come to do, and the power that He holds, we can come across passages like today’s and fail to grasp the scope and intensity of what’s happening in relation to how Luke is laying out the details. We read that Jesus has authoritative teaching, that He has the power to cast out demons, to heal the sick, and we think to ourselves, “Of course He can, He’s God, there’s nothing that is beyond Him.” It’s not out of a lack of faith, or reverence, it’s not that the passage isn’t meaningful, or that we’re diminishing Jesus’ work through our overfamiliarity. It’s just that this isn’t new information, and so we forget what it’s like to take it in as if it were new information. But for a Christian who is new to the faith and is being discipled, or for someone who perhaps hasn’t accepted Christ and is learning of Him for the first time, this is unprecedented information. We’ve seen the miracle of the virgin birth, we’ve seen the young Man who conversed with great knowledge with those in the temple, we’ve seen John’s testimony about Him, God’s testimony concerning His Son, and Jesus’ triumph over Satan’s temptations. We saw last week as Jesus declared that He was the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Up to this point the overwhelming divine power of the Christ has been suggested, alluded, and outright testified to, but as we transition into today’s passage we move from testimony to demonstration. Jesus is not like any teacher, prophet, or priest who has come before Him. As Jesus says in Matthew 28:18

“… All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Jesus is not just a messenger, not just a mouthpiece or a miracle worker, He is God made flesh, the Ancient of Days, incarnate in the Son of Man. What we see in today’s passage is by no means the entirety of Jesus’ authority, but is rather only the beginning. However it stands as a significant step forward in deepening our understanding and reverence for the One who is the Foundation and Cornerstone of the gospel, the One upon whom all our faith and hope rests.

The Power of the Christ

1. Power in the Spirit

““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.”

We first see that, though Jesus left Nazareth, He didn’t leave the region of Galilee as a whole, but goes to Capernaum, a place that we know He’s been prior because of what He said in last week’s passage,

“And he said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

Capernaum is a place mentioned with some degree of regularity throughout the gospels, serving as a sort of hub through Jesus’ ministry. This makes sense, as the fishing town was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and would have made a convenient centralized point as Jesus moved back and forth through the region. It also seems to have been very near to Bethsaida, with Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, Philip, and Nathanael all coming from this same region. Aside from any geographical practicality, we also have to remember the cultural significance of the region of Galilee and a place like Capernaum at this time. In the first century and under the Roman empire, there was no unified nation of Israel. To the south there was Judea, where Judah used to be, and where Jerusalem is located, while to the north there was Galilee, where the northern kingdom of Israel once was, and where we see places like Cana, Nazareth, Capernaum, and Bethsaida. In between the two and cut from land that once belonged to both Judah and Israel there was Samaria, a people with whom there was great cultural and spiritual animosity between them and the Jews. What this boiled down to was that the religious rulers sitting in the southern kingdom of Judea, where Jerusalem and the temple were located, often looked down on their northern neighbors the Galileans, separated by the mongrel people of the Samaritans and lacking the geographical significance that they held. All of the Roman empire was heavily influenced by the Hellenistic culture that Alexander the Great had imposed upon his empire over three hundred years prior, but the perception was (and this was likely true to some extent), that the Hellenistic influence was more prevalent in Galilee where they were further from the temple and this hub of Jewish culture. Bearing all this in mind, it makes sense that while Jesus ministered in both the northern and southern regions, we see Him spend a significant amount of time and work many great works and miracles in Galilee. It also makes sense when we read,

“… and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.”

This closely favors the wording of the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, where Matthew 7:28–29 says,

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

It merits remembering that during the intertestamental period between the events of Malachi and the start of Matthew, approximately 400 years elapsed. During this time there were many religious teachers who had taken the Law that God had given and set that in place of God Himself. Their idol was their own piety, their allegiance was to the rules that they themselves had heaped upon the Law, and their teachings were self-aggrandizing interpretations of interpretations. There wasn’t much clarity, partly because these wicked teachers didn’t have the clarity to give, and partly by design – because if it was only the religious elite who held true “understanding” then the common man could never be as righteous as they were. And so while we’ll talk a bit more about this later, the first thing we can see is that as Jesus is moving among the people who many of the religious leaders would have thought of as second class, He’s providing clear and authoritative teaching, because He’s delivering the Spirit and not the hyper legal letter of the Law. The ruling Jews layer rules upon rules and made burdens that were impossible for the people to bear, while Jesus, full of authority, offered a yoke that was easy, and a burden that was light, despite the life changing, revolutionary nature of the gospel.

“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.”

Demons, much like angels, are Biblical figures that inspire much debate and speculation. For many, demons are believed to be fallen angels, those who aligned themselves with Satan in his rebellion against God and were cast down from heaven. For others, largely taking inspiration from extra Biblical sources like 1 Enoch, the demons that we read of are the spirits of the Nephilim, the race so briefly mentioned in Genesis 6:4,

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”

These are matters that, again, as with angels, it can be incredibly easy to become bogged down in. People will wander down endless rabbit holes, and while the subject is certainly interesting and merits some discussion, it’s not a central matter. The things we don’t know are just that – they’re things we don’t know. Theories are fine, but theories that are treated as fact are a problem. Bearing this in mind, let’s take a look at what we actually know. Matthew 8 records the event of Jesus casting out the legion of demons, which is also written of in Mark 5 and Luke 8. In Matthew’s account there’s a specific phrase we see come from the host of demons, Matthew 8:29 saying,

“And behold, they cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’”

“Have you come here to torment us before the time.” What this single statement tells us is that – there is a judgment coming against the demons, meaning that there’s something for them to be judged and punished for, and also that they know this judgment is coming. Later, when Jesus speaks of the final judgment and gives the parable of the sheep and the goats, He says in Matthew 25:41,

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

2 Peter 2:4, addressing the judgment that awaits false teachers says,

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”

And Jude 1:6, closely following this same event says,

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…”

Do these passages solidify demons and fallen angels being the same thing? No – again, that’s not a question that we have a clear answer to, and that’s perfectly fine. Because what it does tell us is that, whether they’re one and the same or two different things they’re operating from the same place. They’re spiritual forces that are in opposition to God that are awaiting a day of righteous judgment. After Cain’s sacrifice is rejected, God mercifully counsels him as to how he might do rightly before Him, and tells him in Genesis 4:7,

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”

And Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8–9,

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

This is our position on our own, in our flesh – one of complete vulnerability and submission before the dark forces that move in the spirit and power of the enemy. This is not the position that we hold under the mercy of God, as His redeemed children, and it’s not the position that we see from Jesus who is fully Man, but also fully God. Specifically looking back to today’s passage, the first thing we see is that the demons know who Jesus is on sight. His name is known to them, His role and deity apparent, and they are filled with fear before the power of His righteous glory. We also see that Jesus allows them to give no testimony concerning who He is. We have to remember that Jesus is God – He and He alone can define Himself, He alone understands the height and depth of His own nature. The same Holy One who spoke to Moses and declared, “I AM WHO I AM,” is the same One who stands and teaches in the synagogue in today’s passage. God the Father has already given testimony to the identity of God the Son, and so Jesus shows no regard for the testimony of the spirits of the enemy. Showing no consideration for their words, Jesus commands the demon that it be silent and leave the man it’s possessing. There is no argument, no struggle, the demon gets no other word in, it can’t even harm the man that it had possessed, it is forced out of him. In this we see through the words of Christ an absolute and complete power of the Spirit. Later during the days of the early church and the ministry of the Apostles there is an account of the sons of a Jewish priest that show in harsh contrast what the power of the Spirit versus the power of our flesh looks like in opposition to demonic forces. Acts 19:11–16 tells us,

“And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?’ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

Where the power of God moves, the power that was manifest in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the darkness has no authority, His power is absolute, as John wrote in John 1:5,

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

But the power that man can bring to bear is nothing, it’s a nonexistent vapor. This is what the people knew when it came to the matters of demons – fear and weakness at the hands of dark and mysterious things. So as they witness Jesus’ power and the authority with which He brings healing and deliverance, there is awe and wonder and word spreads all over concerning the work He is doing. Jesus has a power over the spiritual realm the likes of which the people have never seen, and they marvel at Him. While we may read this with a sense of separation, not witnessing demonic activity in the same ways that the people of the first century did, we have to understand that this is the same spiritual power that guards our hearts and minds today. Jesus says in John 8:34–36,

“… Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

We know the comfort and assurance of the same voice and the same Spirit that casts out demons, that saves with all power and authority, because in His power He has given us true and eternal freedom.

• 2. Power in the Flesh

“And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.”

Moving from the synagogue to the house of Simon Peter, we see a transition in how the power of Jesus is displayed. As we read, Peter’s mother-in-law is sick and suffering from a high fever. Fever is no small thing even in our modern world, especially in the young, or those who are advanced in age. Regardless, the heating of the body in response to illness can cause great harm even in young, healthy individuals if left unchecked. There was no Tylenol or aspirin to reach for in first century Galilee, there was no hospital to go to with their complement of medicines and IV fluids. In looking into how people in the first century went about treating a fever, some of the first things I read are likely what we’re seeing here – placing the person on bedrest and keeping them in a room with as mild a temperature as possible. Given that both Matthew and Mark note that Peter’s mother-in-law was lying sick, and knowing firsthand how debilitating a persistent fever can be, it seems that this is what we’re seeing – a woman lying at what rest she might have, ill and burning with fever. It’s important to remember that the people living in the first century weren’t idiots – they didn’t have air conditioning, automobiles, an electrical grid, or running water, but that doesn’t mean they wandered around bumping off walls, eating rocks for sustenance, and staring up at rain clouds until they drowned. These were a people responsible for deep (albeit flawed) philosophical teachings, advanced architecture, and a uniform, if not frequently barbaric, system of government. That being said, for all their advancements, they could have no understanding of viruses, bacteria, and the things that we’re able to correlate today with illness. It’s not that there was no knowledge of hygiene and cleanliness, but seeing as no one had invented the microscope, compiled the ingredients for hand sanitizer, or discovered penicillin, their information wasn’t complete. For these people there would have been some key similarities between demonic possession and a sudden fever, in that, though one is a spiritual matter and the other a physical one, both can seemingly strike without warning and have a person completely at their mercy. Human beings were horribly limited in dealing with either, and though much has changed we’re in much the same position today. We may not witness demonic possession in much the same way as we see recorded in the New Testament (I’m not saying it can’t happen, just that it doesn’t seem to be a prevalent, observable thing in modern, first-world society), but the world is still very much enthralled by the spirit of the enemy, dead in their trespasses and sins as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2. We also watch countless lives end in sickness day after day, despite the medical advancements and scientific knowledge we’ve gained over time. We aren’t in a better position, just observing the same one from a different angle. What we see though is that, as with confronting the dark forces against which we are helpless, Jesus holds a power we do not when it comes to dealing with ailments of the flesh. Consider the understanding He held that is far, far outside our comprehension. As He looked upon a man oppressed by a demon He didn’t just know the heart and nature of the man, but of the demon as well. The forces of darkness that can seem so frightening and mysterious before men are nothing before Jesus, it was no mystery, there was nothing hidden, He knew and understood all the vast spiritual implications of what was unfolding and held the power to bring forth change beyond what the people could comprehend. But His power was not only a spiritual power, He held authority over the material world as well. The matter of the woman’s fever was no mystery to Jesus as He looked on Peter’s mother-in-law – He understood the functions and behavior of whatever virus or bacteria plagued her body, He understood the cause of her fever, the role of the immune system functioning within her that He Himself designed. But His authority is such that He was not limited to solving biological problems through mundane biological means – His power is miraculous, His words supersede what we hold as natural law, and so with a single rebuke Jesus drives the fever from her body just as He drove the demon from the man in the synagogue. Jesus is fully Man and fully God, and so His power over the spiritual and material worlds is absolute. It’s also worth noting that we’re afforded a wonderful example in how we are to behave as Christians in the response of Peter’s mother-in-law. So often people can drift toward the antinomian idea that our freedom in Christ is somehow a freedom to do whatever we want. The load is taken off of our shoulders and so we can pursue whatever we desire, we can indulge in our temptations and if we sin, what harm is there, as we’ve been forgiven. People fail to realize that the burden of our sins is removed to be replaced with a cross, a light burden that also means the death of our flesh and its desires, that they might be replaced by the will of God and a calling to higher things. We are freed that we might serve, and in this service we are given a joy and a purpose beyond any fleeting satisfaction offered by the flesh. As soon as Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, as soon as she’s freed from the oppression of her fever, she begins to serve. There is no delay, there’s no self-indulgent pause as she revels in her restored health, she immediately puts what God has blessed her with to use in the service of Jesus and His disciples.

“Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.”

Here we see the crossover between spiritual and material ailments, and how Jesus holds power and authority over them all. Moving from healing one man who was possessed by a demon, and one woman who lay sick with a fever, there are now crowds coming to Jesus that He might heal them, and so He does. It seems that some who came didn’t know, or maybe those who brought them were unaware if the problem was demonic or biological in nature, but it didn’t matter, Jesus healed them all. Again, where He encounters demons we see their distress and their testimony concerning His identity, and His refusal to permit them to testify. The testimony of the Son of God is not added to by the words of demons. And so the people are healed, the mercy of God is poured out on those who are suffering, and the complete power and authority of Jesus Christ, over spirit and over flesh, is on display.

• 3. Power in the Message

“And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.’ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

Returning to a point that we touched on earlier, and the authority of Jesus’ teaching, this ending helps us to see the overwhelming influence and power of His message as a whole. So often people want to separate Jesus’ teachings from His miracles, as though the two were not irrevocably linked, but they together form His perfect and singular message. When Jesus laid His hands on a blind man, or spoke a word concerning a sick person and they were healed, we have no problem with calling that a miracle, whether this was achieved by casting out a demon, or the physical healing of their flesh. But when Jesus taught, when He took the principles and message of the Law, which had become so complicated and mangled in the teachings of the religious rulers, and relayed them with perfect clarity this was no less miraculous. The mercy and grace that Jesus poured out in His physical healings and wonders, the power and mastery that was on display in everything from rebuking a fever from a single woman, to rebuking the wind to calm a storm, was present in the revolutionary and life changing clarity that He brought to the Law, and this was because of the true authority that He held. The obvious, physical miracles had obvious, physical implications on people’s lives and testified to who Jesus was, but the effect of a teaching like Matthew 5:43–45,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…”

This is something that changes lives from the inside in a way that is just as miraculous. The people’s response, while not always perfect, shows us the depth of impact that His power had upon them, and gives us a sort of model that we should aspire to. They often followed Jesus because of the miracles, but for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the message was baked into the miracles, the two coincided in perfect harmony. Jesus is to be followed and pursued – not because He’s being evasive or hiding, but because His message is Truth, and He alone is truly worthy of following. But what we also see is that the power of Christ is not something that we covet or hoard to ourselves – Jesus came not only to save the one lost sheep, but for the many. Paul writes in Galatians 6:6–10,

“Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Jesus did not weary of doing good, He did not relent in the work that He had come to do, and we see this in His response as the people of Capernaum come after Him and seek to make Him stay. He doesn’t rebuke them or reject them, but offers calm and patient explanation. Jesus did not come for one group alone – He shows no partiality to Nazareth over Capernaum, He shows no bias for the people of Galilee where we see this passage begin, or Judea where it closes out, nor did Jesus withhold from preaching the good news of His gospel to the people of Samaria, who though lost were ancestrally related to the Jews. Jesus’ authority does not give regard to borders – He is not hampered in matters of spirit, He is not limited in matters of the flesh, and His message is one that is inexorably linked to the power and authority of all the miracles He brings to bear, the shining Light of deliverance in the midst of our present darkness. In this passage Luke provides a vivid, contrasting illustration of the complete weakness and confusion we know in facing both matters of spirit and of flesh, and of the uncompromising, unwavering power of the Christ, our God, our Shepherd, and our deliverer from darkness and death.

Pastor Landon’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZLCDTSnCUM