Preaching with Power – Luke 4:38-44

Archeologists have unearthed underneath an ancient church in Capernaum the house they believe to have been Peter’s house.  The house had been remodeled in the first century to accommodate large church meetings, a sign that it was an apostle’s home and used for the coming together of believers, a house church.  There’s a nice video explaining this.  Jesus apparently lived in this house with Simon Peter while he made Capernaum his headquarters for preaching throughout Galilee.  So the Son of Man did not have his own place to lay his head, but was dependent on the hospitality of others, and certainly did not have a permanent place to stay as he traveled throughout Israel.

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.  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.  (Luke 4:38-44 ESV)

Simon Peter, Jesus’ disciple, lived in Capernaum and his mother-in-law lived with him.  They let Jesus know that she is ill with high fever and he rebukes it and she is healed.  The rebuke may suggest to some that the fever was demonically caused because a rebuke is for some one, not some thing.  But it is also likely that, even as he rebuked the wind on another occasion, he is not thinking of it as a real personal entity but as if it were a personal enemy of the affected person and of God, ultimately.  Death, of which illness is the precursor, is also treated this way in Scripture.

Jesus’ fame as a healer is such that people from all over that community bring their ill and demonized to him and, as proof that he is no charlatan, he heals every one of them.  The demons are even more specific about who he is now, calling him the Son of God.  Jesus sees this as another way of saying he is the Messiah or Christ, and because he does not want those around him to believe he is the Messiah on the testimony of demons but because of their own awareness, he rebukes the demons and prohibits their speech.

When Jesus tries to leave for another town to do ministry the people beg him to stay, but he cannot deny the others a chance to hear the message of the kingdom.  He departs Galilee and goes south to Judea and speaks in synagogues there.

It is impossible not to admire Jesus, his sense of his own self, his compassion on those who suffer, and his undistracted intent to fulfill his mission, to announce the kingdom to all Israel, especially those outside of the halls of power and wealth.  This is our Savior.  This is the one who has preached to us via his apostles, and all who have followed after, intent on keeping Jesus’ commission to preach the gospel.  And signs have followed those who preached, as Jesus later said they would.