Luke 4:31-41 – Jesus: Amazed by his Word, Authority, and Power

Introduction

What would it take for you to submit to Jesus?

Today, in Luke 4:31-41, we are going to see that Jesus is not just a great teacher, but he has authority and power because he is the Holy One, the Son of God, the Savior of the World (the Christ).

Background

Jesus has just experienced an attempt at murder on him in his hometown of Nazareth for simply preaching the truth that he is the Christ, who has the Spirit and has come to bring salvation to the poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. For declaring that he has brought with him the year of the Lord's favor.

After escaping this murder attempt, he travels back to Capernaum in Galilee. Our story today all happened on one day, which was the Sabbath. When you listen, think about how full this day must have been for Jesus. Oh, and by the way, he more than likely had gotten up super early, like 3 or 4am to be with his Father in prayer and communion.

When we look at Luke next, it will be a while from now; we will talk about the rest of this 24-hour period of time. With this being said about one day, it is no wonder the apostle John said, "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

Exposition

What makes a good sermon or teaching? Solid historical research? Depth of understanding of a subject? A plethora of rich citations? The power of the quotations? The precision of the logic? Clever sayings? Incredible use of language and words?

Some might think so. But quite frankly, even if someone preaches or teaches something with great eloquence, no one can match someone who speaks as the absolute authority on a subject.

In verses 31-32 we see our first point, we should be amazed by the authority of Jesus’ teaching. Why? The people who heard Jesus, and even us today, hearing his word (teaching) were/should be amazed because he taught from the authority of God himself in the power of the Spirit.

Our day begins with Jesus, as was his custom, teaching on the Sabbath in the synagogue. More than likely, just like in Nazareth Jesus read from a portion of Scripture and preached the fullness of its meaning and application. He probably drew the people into seeing that the kingdom of God had come and was now here.

The reason that we should be amazed by Jesus’ teaching was by what didn’t say, said, and how it was said. In order to understand this, we need to understand how the teachers of the law would teach.

First, by what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say the things the other law-teachers said. They would be meticulous in their citations of other rabbis and teachers. They would appeal to human authority with quotes. They would make subtle logical distinctions. They would use clever sayings. Their teaching was a chain of references. Really, they tried to expound the Scripture by explaining the proper way to translate it or by appealing to their legal or narrative traditions, in other words, to other rabbis.

But not Jesus, and this is why people were amazed and we should be too. Jesus did not teach as these teachers of the law, but instead spoke on his own authority.

Second, by what Jesus said. He would quote from the Scriptures as authoritative, not simply tradition or what others said about those passages as having authority.

An example of this is the sermon at Nazareth in this chapter of Luke and the Sermon on the Mount that is found in Matthew 5-7. Jesus, instead of referencing tradition as the proper way to view a particular passage, he referenced tradition as a misinterpretation of the true meaning that God wanted us to understand and apply in the law.

Jesus would teach in such a way, “You have heard it said…” “but I say…” Did Jesus use quotes? Yes, but he used quotes referencing God’s law to show the misinterpretation of it and its true meaning and application.

Third, by how Jesus said it. Jesus preached clearly and simply and as if he truly knew what God intended his people to understand and to practice. Not only this, but Jesus’ words were from Scripture (think of Isaiah 61 at Nazereth, the law and the prophets he constantly referred to). 

But what does it mean that his teaching or word was with authority? It means that he taught as one who had the authority or right to say what he said. In John 8:28-29, Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” And John 12:49-50, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

You see, Jesus taught with authority that was recognized by his hearers because of what he didn’t say, what he said, and how he said it. He is the Holy One of God, the Son of God, the Christ who spoke from his authority as the eternal Son of God that was eternally begotten of the Father.

But Jesus' words were also attended with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ words convicted his hearers. What he said and how he said it cut them to the heart because his words and message were empowered by the Spirit himself.

Jesus’ words cut like a scalpel. He would so as to heal. Those who did not see their need of him saw his words as an attack against them and as false. Those who saw their need of him saw into the depths of their soul…that they needed rescued.

The reality of any preaching or teaching after Jesus is that its authority and power comes only as we preach and teach the same things as Jesus, in the power of the Spirit as well. Which is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

There is a saying…”sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” This saying, often told to small children to keep them from listening to mean people, is not true. In Proverbs 18:20-21, we read, “From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Our tongues are endowed with a spiritual power. This power targets people’s souls to either benefit or destroy them. It can either give or take life from people. In fact, Jesus said that those who speak evil, taking life and cutting into a person’s soul, of a brother will be liable to the hell of fire. Yet, words that are kind, good, and generous are life-giving. They can take a person that is struggling and lift them up.

Yet, our words are limited to healing or cutting a soul. Jesus, on the other hand, has words that have this ability plus the ability to create worlds, destroy evil spiritual powers, and restore health and life. Jesus’ words have an authority that is far above ours.

In fact, in verses 33-41 we see our second point, we should be amazed by Jesus’ authority over the universe. Why? The people who saw what Jesus did, and even us hearing of these things today, were/should be amazed because he exercised power over the entire universe: sickness, diseases, and even demons, the spiritual world.

Notice in verses 33-35, Jesus has authority over the spiritual world to free people who are in bondage to unclean beings. These unclean spirit, or demons, have come to dwell in people and speak on their behalf. It was thought in the time of Jesus that if certain rituals were not performed, a demon would not leave without killing its host. In these verses we see the power of Jesus’ word over the demon.

Now, in these few verses, we see the ultimate worship service interruption. Essentially, someone starts screaming out about the identity of the speaker, Jesus. The unclean spirit had nothing in common with Jesus and just wanted him to go away, which is the Greek idiom that is used. You see, the demon saw Jesus as a sign of his destruction. This demon was acting just like the people at Nazareth. He wanted Jesus to leave so that he could continue to exercise his authority over this man. 

Now, why did he say I know who you are? And then call Jesus the Holy One of God? And then why did Jesus tells him to be silent and get out? It is possible that this demon thought that knowing exactly what Jesus’ name was would give him mastery over Jesus, which was a common thought of the day.

The demon is essentially telling Jesus to leave him alone because he knows that Jesus will bring him to destruction. Jesus is there and because of the reality of Jesus’ holiness, the demon must go.

But Jesus wasn’t an exorcist of the day. He didn’t use any strange incantations, no invocation of a higher spirit to get rid of a lower one, no long phrases. Jesus simply rebukes and commands, with a word. Jesus has his own authority. As Paul says in Colossians 1:13-14, Jesus “…has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” He rescues his people from their captivity to sin and Satan.

We can see his power over the highest beings under God in the universe. He simply rebukes the demon and it comes out. This idea of rebuking is to reprove, to censure, or to warn.

But Jesus not only rebukes them, but he commands them. He tells the demons to be silent. At his command, powerful spiritual beings must shut their mouths. Jesus has complete authority over these spiritual beings that at his simply word, they must submit and obey him.

But what of this phrase in verse 34, the Holy One of God? The reality of the demon’s comment to Jesus is that no matter what the demon tries to do to get mastery over Jesus, it is Jesus who has mastery over them. He commands and overpowers this unclean spirit.

The phrase, the Holy One of God, essentially is the same as saying "the Son of God" or "Christ". We can see this by looking at the summary of Jesus’ ministry later that night where he is called “the Son of God” by other demons because they knew he was the Christ. It might also be drawing out the reality that Jesus bears the Holy Spirit. To see this, we can look at John 6:68-69, where Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

The reality is that the unclean spirit was right. Jesus is the Holy One of God. The difference seems to be that the demons are being combatitive with Jesus whereas Peter is submitting to Jesus as the one who has a special relationship to God and is empowered by the Spirit.

But why didn’t Jesus want the demons to tell the people who he was? There could be several reasons. First, Jesus may not have wanted the testimony about who he was to be given from such an evil being. Rather, he wanted his own works, validated by the Father and Holy Spirit, to be his testimony. Second, it could be that he was simply responding to the entire content of the demon’s speech rather than simply the utterance of who he was. Third, it might have been that Jesus did not want the political misconceptions associated with that title to be publicly proclaimed. Fourth, it could be that Jesus wanted to show the people that even if the demons could say his name, trying to have control over him, that they had no authority. Jesus alone had the authority. He is the ultimate authority of the universe with his Father and the Spirit.

Notice how so compete, so final are Jesus words that the demon throws the man on the ground in the middle of the people and leaves, having done no harm. This Jesus is the one who truly has authority the spiritual world, over demons.

What will do with this Jesus who has such ultimate authority that at his word, his most hostile enemies must submit, obey, and do exactly what he says? What does this mean for us? If his enemies must obey him, what should we, his friends, and those who are the children of God do?

Notice in verses 38-39 that Jesus has authority over the physical world to free those in bondage to temporary sickness.

After the sermon, which was in general what the Jews did, Jesus and whatever disciples, probably Andrew at a minimum, were with him went back to Peter’s house to eat lunch. Perhaps Peter and Andrew already knew, or maybe they didn’t, that Peter’s mother-in-law, who would normally have served them food was down and out for the count.

This fever, is spoken of pretty intensely. It is said that she was seized by a great or severe fever. The fever is spoken of as holding her captive. It, like the demon, is confining Peter’s mother-in-law. She is stuck in bed, possibly with chills, or incredibly aching. Maybe she is even feeling like she is about to die.

“They”, whoever they are, possibly Peter, his wife, Andrew, and whoever else lived there, appeal to Jesus to essentially do for her what Jesus did with the water, turning it to wine, the demon, commanding it to leave. These people are asking Jesus to use his power, his word, to get rid of the fever.

Jesus was not the healer of the day. The Jews had rites and bizarre rituals to get rid of fevers. Jesus, instead, does nothing of the sort. He simply stands over her with authority, and rebukes the fever.

Jesus, showing us his authority and power, simply speaks to the fever, just as if it was a person, rebuking it. This perhaps shows us that he attacks the power of evil as it hangs over humans in the form of illnesses.

At this moment, Peter’s mother-in-law was instantly healed, and Jesus, showing his compassion and care (which Mark draws out), helps her up with this hand (probably at the same time), and then she went about getting the meal ready, serving them. This was an instant and complete healing.

Notice how so compete, so final are Jesus words that the fever, which is something that in the natural world must simply run its course, is in a most unnatural way, instantly gone and Peter’s mother-in-law has zero recovery time. She is up and gets lunch on the table. This Jesus is the one who truly has authority the physical world, over sickness.

Notice in verse 40, Jesus has authority over the physical world to free those who are in bondage to permanent diseases.

And now, after the Sabbath was over, in the evening, when the Jews would not be afraid to ask for healing so as not to violate the Sabbath, the whole neighborhood came to Peter’s door to be healed by Jesus. In other words, the Jews of the area now felt free to walk about and even carry the sick to Jesus. 

Unlike most healings of the day, which were not hands on, but were ritual or rite-based, Jesus’ healing is personal and caring. The act of laying on of hands of Jesus to those who were sick symbolized the flow of divine power from Jesus to the person healed. This was in no way magical, like many incantations of the day. No, it was divine power.

Notice how so compete, so full Jesus’ healing was. All who came and bought people, or brought themselves were healed by Jesus. This Jesus is the one who truly has authority over the physical world, over both temporary sicknesses and permanent diseases.

Whether things are spiritual powers and authorities, or inanimate objects, or sicknesses, Jesus commands and all must bow the knee and flee. Unclean spirits or demons that have captured and are controlling people must obey and flee. At a word of Jesus, they must depart. Fevers and sicknesses that have temporarily captured and are controlling people, confining them to beds and such, must obey and flee. At a word of Jesus, they must depart. Diseases that have had a permanent and long-term effect of capturing and controlling people, confining them to isolation, pain, and the like, must obey and flee. At a word of Jesus, they must depart.

The entire universe submits to Jesus’ authority and power. At his presence demons are terrified at their coming destruction and flee. At his presence fevers are lifted and bodies are completely reenergized and restored. At his touch bodies are completely regenerated from their diseases.

Do you believe that Jesus had this power some 2,000 years ago? Do you believe that Jesus still has this power today?

Application

So, what is the application of today’s text?

It seems to me that Luke wants us to agree with the unclean spiritual beings, the fever, the sicknesses, and the diseases that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God, the Son of God, the Christ came some 2,000 years ago in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news to the poor that he has come to make us rich in spiritual blessings in him. That he has been sent to proclaim freedom to those who have been captive by sin, Satan, and if he so wills, sickness and disease. That he has come to give sight to those who are blinded by this world. That he has come to give liberty to those who are oppressed. 

Jesus fulfilled the mission he came to do. Through his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of his Spirit, he has brought victory to us.

At his word demons are silenced (v. 35). At this command demons must flee (v. 36). At this word fevers must leave and bodies be restored (v. 39). At this touch sickness and diseases are healed (v. 40).

You see, the whole universe must and does submit to him. Will you? Paul makes this clear that because of who Jesus is, God himself, and what he did, became man and died upon the cross for our sins, that because of these things, “…God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” You see, all people will submit to him one day, whether they want to or not. My question to you is whether you will willingly do this now and then enjoy his loving presence forever, or do it on the great judgment day under compulsion and be under his judgment forever.