“What Have You To Do With Us Jesus?”
Text: Luke 4:31-44
1-30-2022
In the name of Him who heals our souls, dear friends in Christ. While I was pondering the Gospel reading for today, I was tempted at first to title my sermon, “The Exorcist.” That’s because the text tells us that Jesus performed several exorcisms on demon-possessed people in Capernaum. However, did you notice there weren’t any levitating beds, pea soup-looking vomit, or heads spinning around like in the movie? It’s true that at other times the afflicted people acted creepy and weird, but in our reading for today we find that these folks appeared to be pretty normal. That ought to alert us to something, which we’ll come back to in a bit.
While those exorcisms were certainly spectacular miracles, they are not the main focus of this Bible passage. If you look a little closer, you’ll see that Jesus was also healing people. But that isn’t the key point either. Rather, in verse 43 Jesus directs our attention to the real issue. He says, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” Make no mistake, Christ didn’t mind using His divine power to help people who were suffering and oppressed by demons and illness. In fact, He enjoyed it. Not because it brought Him fame, but instead, because He’s loving and compassionate towards us humans and He hates to see us suffer. Also, these miracles highlighted the glorious truth of His preaching: that He was the Son of God who came down to save us from our sins. So, preaching the good news was really His primary mission.
It’s always a good idea to read a passage in the context of the surrounding verses. That’s especially important with this one. Chapter 4 begins with Jesus going out to the wilderness where after 40 days of fasting He was tempted by the devil. How did He defeat Satan? Not with flashy miracles but with the powerful Word of God. When He had finished, verse 15 tells us that He went back to Galilee and “taught in their synagogues.” Then, as you may recall from last week’s Gospel, He went to His hometown of Nazareth. And where did He go? To the synagogue. When He had finished reading from the Scriptures, He preached the good news that this prophecy was now fulfilled in Him. There it is again: He was busy preaching.
But do you recall how the people in Nazareth responded? It began with mild resistance to Christ’s words and then erupted into violent anger towards Him. When I was a kid if someone was trying to tell you to bug off, they’d say, “Why don’t you take a long walk off a short pier?” Well, the folks in Nazareth were so enraged that they took Jesus to the edge of a cliff and were about to help Him take that “walk.” But in a somewhat unnoticed miracle, He simply slipped away from their deadly plot.
Now believe it or not, those people in Nazareth had something in common with the demon-possessed man in the Capernaum synagogue. And it’s something we need to take notice of. In both cases, the scene takes place where people were gathered for worship. Both times, Christ was proclaiming the good news. And in both instances, that Word of God disturbed the hearers. Really, the words of that demon are a summary of what the folks in Nazareth were saying: “What have you to do with us, Jesus?” They didn’t like what they heard and they basically wanted Him to shut-up and leave them alone. Neither of them wanted Him to disrupt their thoughts and way of life.
There are several crucial things to point out to you in our text as we prepare to apply it to ourselves. First, it’s quite telling that the demon recognized the true identity of Jesus as the “Holy One of God” whereas many of the humans didn’t or wouldn’t accept it. That ought to strike us as odd. The demons knew that ultimately Christ’s appearance meant their destruction and therefore they feared Him. It makes sense they didn’t want Him around. But the Son of God came to preach the good news to the people He came to save. They should have been overjoyed to acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior. And yet they didn’t. Why? Because they didn’t want Jesus to disrupt their sinful way of life which they had grown comfortable with and quite fond of.
In our text St. Luke uses the word “rebuked” 3 times as Jesus was casting out demons and the fever in Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. And that’s what He does when His Law convicts us of our sins. The good news of Jesus includes a call to repentance. And that’s something that us sinners don’t want to hear. He rebukes our sinful nature and performs an exorcism on us. That began when you were Baptized. In the ancient church, and even in Luther’s day, the rite of Baptism was preceded by an exorcism. That’s because we’re all born with original sin and therefore possessed by the devil. We’re under his power and control. But through the mighty Word of God, the Holy Spirit comes in and evicts Satan. We become a Child of God. But that old sinful nature in us likes to rear its ugly head and invite the devil back in. And so, we find ourselves giving in to his temptations. Thanks be to God, though, through His authoritative Word He again rebukes that demonic influence and drives it out. That is, if we listen to the good news of Christ and don’t reject it.
Ah, that’s the rub, isn’t it? There are certain sins that we’ve grown fond of and comfortable with. We’re like that demon-possessed man in Capernaum. We’ve entered into a kind of agreement with the demon of our sinful nature. It goes like this: “You behave so that I can look respectable and normal on the outside. I’ll indulge you whenever I can. Just don’t do anything that would make me look obsessed with the evil we’re planning on doing.” The problem with this deal is that the demon of sin is never satisfied. It craves more and more of the bad stuff. Funny thing is, we think we’re controlling IT, when in reality, it is controlling US! Jesus never made such a deal with the demons He encountered. Instead, He drove them out so the person could finally be totally free. And so, He comes and rebukes the sinfulness within us. But we don’t like hearing that. And we end up basically saying the same thing as that demon-possessed man, “What have you to do with us, Jesus?” In other words, shut-up and leave that part of my life alone!
Oh… does that offend you? Do you seriously think you’d NEVER say that to Jesus? Well, whether you realize it or not, you have! In 2 Timothy 4:2, St. Paul tells this young Pastor, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” The Greek word there for “rebuke” comes from the same root that Luke used in our Gospel. That’s because our sinfulness and the demons arise from the same evil source. Christ gives the authority and responsibility to rebuke it to His Church here on earth. But we don’t like hearing it. Since God’s Word, which rebukes our demon of sin, is spoken through a mere human, we feel at liberty to say, “Mind your own business, Pastor! Who are you to judge? Leave me alone!” The sad truth is that you’re not saying it to humans, but to God. The Pastor and the Church are just His messengers.
Our demonic, sinful nature wants to avoid that message. And there are plenty of churches out there that will help you do that. God’s Word is diluted down until there is no rebuke for sin. Instead, the preaching and teaching is sugar-coated with words that don’t offend our sinful nature. Quite often they tout themselves as being “accepting and welcoming everyone.” (Insinuating that a church like ours isn’t!) So, if you’re caught up in a deviant lifestyle or living outside of God’s clear commands, don’t worry, you won’t hear it condemned as a sin in those churches. And you know what? The devil loves it. Didn’t you find it odd that the demon-possessed man in Capernaum was in the synagogue? Isn’t that the LAST place you’d think a demon would be comfortable? But obviously it felt safe and secure. Why? Because there was no rebuke from God’s Word being spoken there. If it was being properly preached in all its power, that demon wouldn’t have been able to stand it.
I’m happy to say that you don’t have to worry about that here. Both the Law and the Gospel are preached and taught in its purity. That’s not said with sinful pride. Rather, I’m boasting about what the Lord has given us in His precious Word. A Word that both rebukes and heals. A Word that also convicts and forgives. So you see, when you listen to God’s Word here and it stings or makes you uncomfortable, then rejoice! His rebuke is having the desired affect. Your demonic, sinful nature wants to avoid that message because it fears it will be destroyed. That’s a justifiable fear because it’s precisely what Christ seeks to do: drive out and destroy that demon of sin within you. But here’s the good news. He does it so that your eternal soul won’t be destroyed in hell. He does it so that you can be free once again to live as a holy Child of God. Now, you can listen to Christ’s “good news of the kingdom of God” without fear, knowing that He has removed your sin and provided you with His blood-bought forgiveness. Your soul is now healed so that you may arise and serve Him throughout your days here on earth. May God strengthen our faith so that we are able to joyfully do just that! Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!