31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are —the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
31-32. In this passage what is singled out that most impressed and amazed his audiences was the authority of his teaching. Both in ancient times and today, two things can give a person’s words authority. Ideally, both should be present. (1) His mastery of the subject, acquired through careful study and reflection on evidence, and (2) the opinions of others about him, often shown by either his degrees or the position of leadership conferred upon him. Unlike the rabbis around him, Jesus had no formal rabbinic training, nor had figures in the leadership of Israel at the time conferred any teaching position upon him. Instead, the authority he possessed came from his thorough and intimate familiarity with the scriptures. From childhood he had been taught them by his foster father Joseph, and by rabbis in Nazareth. But in addition he had spent thousands of hours in private study and meditation in what we call our “Old Testament.” But in addition, as we know from the opening chapters of Luke, he was more than simply a mortal human being: he was “Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23), which means “God with Us.” He was God the Son born into a human body: fully human, yet also fully God. And finally, as Luke constantly reminds us in these opening chapters, ever since his baptism by John, if not ever since his birth itself, Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and “led by the Spirit,” each step of his life. This combination produced someone with unparalleled understanding of God’s written words, given to ancient Israel. When he spoke, especially regarding anything to do with God and His will, Jesus’ words rang with heavenly authority, and people couldn’t avoid being deeply impressed. Yet Luke seems to imply by what immediately follows, that it was not just his teachings about God that carried authority, it was his ability to repel evil, in the form of demons, and repair the human sufferings brought on ultimately by the sin of the first human couple in the Garden of Eden: disease, addiction, sin and death. Over these, Jesus as the only sinless human who ever lived, had complete control. Satan and his demons could not resist him. And so it was that Jesus went about in Capernaum, as later he would in all of Galilee, Perea, and Judea, teaching God’s word, forgiving the sins of repentant and believing individuals, and relieving their physical sufferings. It was the only truly “holistic” medicine ever practiced!
33-37. Archeologists have uncovered the remains of a great synagogue dating to the Fourth Century AD on the site of ancient Capernaum. This was not the actual one in which Jesus taught and performed this miracle, but it was probably similar in layout, since it was built on top of the remains of that earlier one. On one of the days that Jesus was teaching there, a man in attendance began shouting, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are —the Holy One of God!”
Now this man was not just a heckler, for he acknowledged Jesus as “the Holy One of God” with power to “destroy us.” Luke tells us that he was under the control of a demon, and the “us” referred to by the man was not all of the citizens of the town, or even all of those in attendance in the synagogue, but the plurality of demons speaking from inside the possessed man. Luke doesn’t clarify this in the present passage, but we know from other exorcisms performed by Jesus that there were sometimes multiple evil spirits within the same person. We are told in Luke 8:2 that Jesus cast seven evil spirits out of Mary Magdalene, and on another occasion the demons within a possessed person told him that their name was “Legion,” since they were as numerous as a Roman legion of soldiers (Luke 8:27-33)! For an analogy—although not a real counterpart—think of someone today with a whole host of harmful addictions: to alcohol, drugs, sex, gluttony, pornography, criticizing others, buying unnecessary things, etc. Where does such a person even start to solve his problems? The answer is what we see here: he was too much under the control of evil to even ask Jesus for help; yet Jesus gave it anyway!
The demons in control knew who Jesus was, yet they refused to ask for his forgiveness. Because of his superior power they had to obey him and leave the possessed man, but they were unchanged. For the time being the possessed man’s main problems were solved, but how soon would he get back into trouble? He must have been the one to allow those demons entry into him to begin with. He might make the same mistake again. For this reason it was important that he himself become a believer in Jesus and begin to follow him. This was his only hope for permanent change. A few days ago was New Year’s Eve, when many people make resolutions to change their behavior in the coming year. Most of us who have done that found that within days we have broken our resolutions! Permanent change for the better requires not only resolution and hard work on our parts, but someone to help us, especially when we fail. For those of us with faith in Jesus, he is that “Someone,” even if he also uses other believers who are our friends and encouragers—perhaps a believing spouse.
In fact, this formerly possessed man may have become a follower of Jesus. But Luke wishes to focus not onl that aspect, but on the reaction of the others in the synagogue: they saw Jesus in a different light, not just a good teacher and interpreter of scripture, but someone with the power to overcome evil in its most intense and intractable form, someone who could transform utter degradation and misery into dignity and joy. This was someone to be listened to, followed, honored, and—yes—worshiped!
38-41. Although Capernaum became, for a time, the base of operations for Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, his mother and siblings didn’t necessarily move there. Jesus had begun to gather a core group of students whom he trained, one of whom was the fisherman Simon (who eventually acquired the nickname Kefah, which in Aramaic means “rock” and was translated into the Greek of the New Testament gospels as “Peter”). Peter was married and lived in Capernaum. His wife’s father was probably deceased, but her mother lived with them, and she was very sick with a high fever. Jesus may have been living with them temporarily as well, or may have just been a guest for that one evening. But while he was there, since his disciples had seen him heal many sick persons, asked him to heal her too, which he proceeded to do. The effect of the cure was so quick and pronounced, that the gospels say that she got up and immediately joined those serving the tables! Probably this fact is mentioned primarily in order to emphasize how powerful and immediate Jesus’ cures were. But it is also likely that the gospel writer wished us to see an analogy here: when Jesus makes us well from the illness of our sins, the sure is so powerful and immediate, that we don’t just lie around convalescing, but immediately find places to serve the cause of Christ in the world. This may begin right where we are—in our relations with family members and close friends, but it quickly expands to neighbors, associates at work, and eventually to former enemies and rivals.
42-44. Sometimes you can become a victim of your own success. People clamor for your attention. You are deluged with compliments, and with invitations to give speeches and receive honors and to accept permanent positions in a particular job. All of this is fine, but what if there are other people elsewhere who need you? What if you can’t afford to settle down and be honored? This was Jesus’ problem. He was pleased with how the Holy Spirit had worked through him in Capernaum, but now he must move on. There were lots more people without knowledge of his power to heal and transform lives. Many more people sick not only in body but in spirit, who needed to be healed. Do you feel this same compulsion, now that you know Jesus and daily seek to follow him? I’m not saying that you should ever neglect “unfinished business” right where you are presently engaged. But you and I should also never become myopic in our outlook toward service to Christ. “Lift up your eyes! The fields are ripe for the harvest!” Jesus once admonished his disciples. It is so easy in our hustle and bustle world or busy-ness to rush by someone without meeting their gaze. Slow down and take the time to see opportunities to help new people in need who are standing there right in front of you.
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