Demons, Diseases & Doctrine
Preached by Jason Abbott
November 13, 2016
Last weekend I was able to employ some authority. I stood with a couple from this church and, at the end of their wedding ceremony, said: “I pronounce you husband and wife.” Then boom! That man and that woman were instantly married, and it was all because I had exercised my authority . . . right?Well sometimes I’d like to think that I’m really the source of such authority, and every so often I’ll meet a couple who thinks I’m the source of such authority—who think I could just walk into a room, wave my hand over any couple I choose and say, “You are now husband and wife . . . ,” and that suddenly they’d be married. But that’s simply not the case. I’m really not the source of the authority.For starters, I get authority from the Evangelical Free Church of America which has ordained me. Along with the Free Church is the State of Pennsylvania which issues marriage licenses and allows me, by its laws, to legally wed couples. Yet in the end, the real source of authority to marry two people comes from God, who created and instituted marriage from the beginning.1In fact, it’s like this for us all. None of us have innate or inherent authority. It’s always given to us by governments or by institutions or by social structures. No person’s ever the source of his or her own authority. That is, no person except for Jesus of Nazareth. We’re going to see that he has a unique authority here.
Luke 4:31-44
31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “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.” 35 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. 36 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!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.38 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. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.40 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. 41 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.42 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, 43 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.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
We want to get to the bottom of what’s taking place here in Luke’s account; so we want to understand Jesus’ unique authority in this text and hopefully discern what it means for us today. And in order to do this, we’ll need to notice two things about Jesus’ authority—(1st) we need to notice how he demonstrates his authority; (2nd) we need to notice how he directs his authority.
1. Jesus’ authority demonstrated (vv. 31-41)
When I talk with friends, who aren’t believers, about passages like this one, the same things always stick out to them—the presence of demons and of miracles. And if I’m being completely honest about it, I blush a bit when these topics pop-up while I’m in the company of non-Christians.See we swim in thoroughly secular waters, so believers are quickly sent-off to stand in the corner (along with all those who believe in unicorns or in Bigfoot) when such topics arise. However, over 75% of Americans identify as Christian, and over 80% of Americans identify as believers in some kind of god(s).2 Furthermore, I regularly interact with agnostics who believe that God could exist, but who do not believe that demons could exist or that miracles could happen.I wonder if you’re starting to see the problem or the inconsistency in all this. Friends, if God exists (or even if he might exist) then we must consider it possible for demons to exist, as well as for the miraculous to happen. It’s simply not logical for us to assert that one unseen spiritual being could exist but not more than one. Nor is it logical for us to say that the God who created and who maintains the laws of nature cannot—whenever he chooses—suspend those very same laws of nature in order to work miraculously. Do you see?!Yet, why does this matter for our purposes? Well perhaps you’re here today, and you’re not sure you believe in God. Maybe you’re just here to find out more about Christianity. Great! I hope you are. But if you are, give God a fair hearing. Be open. Don’t let secular presuppositions get in the way.Or perhaps like me you blush when topics like demons or miracles come up. If this is the case for you, just know that rather than being irrational (or even crazy) you’re being thoroughly consistent and thoroughly logical with your belief in God, a belief—by the way—that’s reportedly shared by the vast majority of Americans. So be encouraged. You’re not being irrational, but consistent!Well let’s get to the passage and the demonstration of Jesus’ authority here. Jesus, in these verses, shows an innate and unique authority over the spiritual realm and over the physical realm. He demonstrates his authority in the spiritual realm whenever he casts out demons. Look at the text with me:
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!” (vv. 33-36).
Notice that there are two parties battling to exercise authority in this passage. Of course, we recognize that one of the parties is Jesus. That’s the easy one to see. Less apparent to us is the authority of the demon—this unclean spirit has authority. No doubt, the possessed man wouldn’t have missed it; the demon has made a mess of his life by exercising authority over him.Nevertheless, in the end, there is really no competition between the two—between Jesus and this demon. The authority of Jesus over this demon is absolute. With a word, Jesus wins. At a word, the demon flees.Maybe some of you wonder why Jesus quickly silences demonic confessions about his messianic identity. In short, why does he stop demons from proclaiming who he is? Well ironically, it’s because Jesus wants people to find out who he is.You see, by the time Jesus walked the earth there were many misconceptions concerning what the Messiah would be like. Yet none of them pointed to the cross. None of them imagined God’s grace and mercy being offered to all the nations. Rather, they were largely selfish misconceptions of the Messiah and his mission. Therefore, whenever you see Jesus keeping his true messianic identity a secret—he’s doing it in order to pursue his true mission and in order that the people might, in the end, trust him as their true Savior.So Jesus demonstrates his authority over the spiritual realm—over demons. But he also demonstrates his authority over the physical realm—over diseases. Again, look at the text with me:
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 (vv. 38-40).
I love that Luke adds verse 40 here. It’s central to the point he’s making about the extent of Jesus’ authority. If he stopped after verse 39, you might think: “Well, Jesus is pretty good with fevers.” Something like a doctor who specializes in one kind of medicine or another. Yet, that would be totally missing the point. Jesus isn’t an authority of one area in the physical realm—of one type of sickness. Jesus is the authority over the physical realm—over all diseases.Note one other thing here concerning how Jesus demonstrates his authority. Notice the way he connects with the people whom he cures of various diseases. Look again at the final verse of this section:
. . . and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them (v. 40).
What’s significant about that? What’s important about these healing touches from Jesus? Well they’re incredibly important because they’re totally unnecessary. He doesn’t have to touch them, yet he does anyway.Look, Luke has just shown us that Jesus has the authority to cast out demons with a word and to cast out fevers with a word. But now he shows us that Jesus heals many people and is laying his hands upon them as he does. Why not just say, “You’re healed!” to them? What’s going on? Well a couple of things are:First, Jesus is doing this to make a caring physical connection with the sick. In the Ancient Near East—when people got a disease—they were often banished from their community. They were regularly quarantined in some kind of colony with other people who were ill. We can only imagine how isolating this would feel. Yet into their isolation steps Jesus, who intimately breaks through their exclusion and their pain with his loving and healing touch. Don’t miss that!Second, there’s perhaps even a symbolic connection which is being shown through his laying on of hands. This act would signal that “spiritual blessing [was] flowing from one person to another.”3 In this case, the Incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, through his spiritual perfection, gives the blessing of physical healing to all those who were diseased. No doubt that is taking place here. But that is not a symbol; rather, that is literally happening.The symbolism is in what these healings by Jesus are ultimately pointing to. Are they not signs or symbols of the healing from sin that he has come to bring through his life, death, and resurrection? Friends—they must be signifiers of this since this is the very reason that Jesus came (as we’ll see in just a moment).Jesus didn’t come primarily to heal sick people so that they could die later from some other disease. Jesus didn’t come primarily to cast out unclean spirits from those who were oppressed so that they could continue to be oppressed by sin. Rather, Jesus came primarily to defeat death and to defeat sin once and for all through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. The Christ came in order to lay his hands of eternal life on dying sinners like you and me.That’s what is being signified through the exorcism of demons and healing of diseases here. That’s what is being demonstrated through Jesus’ use of authority in this passage. Freedom from sin and death has come in the person of Jesus Christ. This is his mission. This is his purpose.So, as we conclude, let’s look at how he centers himself on this goal.
2. Jesus’ authority directed (vv. 42-44)
When you have great power and authority, people will likely want to use it to benefit themselves. That, Luke tells us, is exactly what happens to Jesus here. Look at the text one last time with me:
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 (vv. 42-44).
When these people intend to make Jesus stay, Jesus asserts his true purpose and that purpose is doctrine—namely, the proclamation of the good news of God. Jesus is going to teach the gospel through his actions: exorcisms and healings. However, he’s especially going to teach and proclaim it through his preaching, whether with his disciples or the people at large or the religious leaders of the day. Jesus must proclaim “the good news of the kingdom of God . . . for . . . [he] was sent for this purpose.”And yet, the priority of Jesus’ gospel preaching never excluded his practice of gospel works. In other words, we see Jesus constantly teaching the good news while simultaneously being the good news in action. Even the night he’s betrayed, Jesus reaches out his hand to heal and restore the ear of a man who’s arresting him. Jesus proclaimed the gospel in word and in deed to the end.But still there are groups of Christians who believe that we preach the gospel through our good works—that no words or doctrines are necessary.And still there are others who think that we should proclaim the good news in word alone—who wouldn’t lift a finger to bind-up the wound or feed the hunger of a non-Christian in order to love them.And these two groups will often argue with one another about whom is right. But the dilemma is false. Jesus came to proclaim the gospel in action and in word. To attempt to live the gospel without speaking the gospel is not good news at all. To attempt to speak the gospel without living the gospel is not at all good news. Both are incomplete; both are indecipherable without the other.Consequently, we must be holistic proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, preaching it in word and deed. There are a multitude of ways to teach the gospel through action:
You could tutor a child through the ministry of Center for Champions; Jeff Bruce would love to help you do this.
You could talk with Jane Delsordo about serving with our Partnering with a Purpose ministry here in the Lawnton neighborhood.
You could volunteer with Bethesda Mission in various ways.
You could see Neil and Tone Hess about ways to help serve the refugees who’ve been relocated to Harrisburg.
There are truly many, many ways in which we can begin to be gospel actors in order to preach good news with our lives. Yet as you begin to live in these ways, don’t leave people guessing as to why you do it. Proclaim both humbly and gently the reason for your ways—the grace that is offered through faith in Jesus.Join me in praying that we’d be such a holistic good news people.
1 So Genesis 2:24 explains, “. . . a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
2 See this recent Gallup poll.
3 I. H. Marshall, “Laying on of Hands” in the New Bible Dictionary, 678.
