I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent

 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them.

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that 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 out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

- Luke 4:38-44

Yesterday we read that Jesus went down to  Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.  And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.  Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is!  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."  And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  And immediately she arose and served them.  The Lord's healing miracles are diverse, my study bible reminds us.  Here He heals by touch, but elsewhere He heals with a word (such as in yesterday's reading, above, when He rebuked the unclean spirit).  Peter's mother-in-law is immediately well, but at other times healing is gradual (Mark 8:22-25) or requires the help and cooperation of the person or their loved ones and friends (Luke 8:50) or even the removal of some who ridicule (Luke 8:54-55).   And we note that in yesterday's reading, Jesus rebuked the unclean demon, while in today's Peter's mother-in-law's fever is rebuked with a command from Christ.  My study bible quotes Cyril of Alexandria:  "That which was rebuked was some living thing unable to withstand the influence of Him who rebuked it, for it is not reasonable to rebuke a thing without life and unconscious of the rebuke.  Nor is it astonishing for there to exist certain powers that inflict harm on the human body."  Here the Gospel also gives us a hint that Peter is a married man, with a full household.  Peter's mother-in-law isn't just restored to health, but also to her place in this home that becomes headquarters to His ministry.  To serve Christ and those who follow Him is to be blessed (Matthew 10:42).

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that 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 out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.  Here Jesus heals various diseases and does so by touch.  Out of many of these demons come out, and are once again rebuked with a command and told not to speak.  Their "revelation" that He is Christ is contrary to God's will for the unfolding of this ministry -- for God's purposes, it's crucial that Christ's revelation as Son be done in a particular way.  (See also Matthew 16:21-23.)

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place.  And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."  And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.  Christ's primary mission was to preach the kingdom, my study bible says.  Miracles and healings are those things that testify to the truth of the message and to the identity of the Teacher (see 5:24).  The same pattern holds true in the Church (Acts 4:29-30).  We can assume that Jesus, true to His pattern, goes to a deserted place for renewal in rest and in prayer.

To preach the kingdom of God has to happen in a particular way and through particular means.  Everything that happens in Jesus' ministry is done in a certain way, with particular aims and guidelines, and always with cooperation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We may think it is "obvious" that great healings and miraculous signs portray Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.  But if we look to the temptations in the wilderness (see this reading) with which Jesus was tempted by Satan in terms of how He would conduct His ministry, we see that in fact nothing is really obvious from our point of view.  We might think it expedient that Satan's particular temptations would function to declare the Kingdom to the world, to establish Christ as all-powerful king in the eyes of the worldly, to decree and declare all things as done and just.  We may even suspect that Jesus really should have healed every disease of the world and corrected all evils, and thereby brought everyone to faith through proofs, declarations, and manipulation.  But expediency in our sight is not expediency for God's purposes.  Like Job, we're not all-knowing, with the point of view of God, nor can we adequately discern all of God's purposes and intentions.  We're only capable of learning afterward what we glean from God's ministry to the world -- and even then, there are infinite understandings yet to be discerned and known.  What becomes crucially important, then, is exactly how this ministry is conducted and unfolds.  That requires constant prayer on the part of Christ, constant communion with the Father.  And it also sets the example for us of how we, too, are to conduct our lives.  St. Paul teaches us to pray without ceasing.  He also adds that in everything we are to give thanks.  We don't know how God will use even an evil situation for God's end and purposes.  The ultimate example, in fact, is Christ's Passion and Crucifixion, in which the Church declares that Christ "trampled death by death."  In this understanding and in his own ministry, St. Paul tells us that "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  It is with this understanding that we observe Jesus, and how carefully His ministry is conducted, how deeply committed He is that it unfold according to God's purposes alone, and in such specific ways.  So we should pray for our own discernment over the events of our lives and how to meet them.  The world isn't perfect but rather a kind of battleground through which we journey as His faithful.  Let us observe Him, and pray through all things -- and give thanks -- as St. Paul teaches us.