You are the Christ, the Son of God!

 

Peter's mother-in-law healed by Jesus, mosaic, early 14th cent. Byzantine Church of the Holy Savior in Chora

 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, after His rejection in His hometown of Nazareth, 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.  From this passage, among others, we know that Peter was married and had a family home.  My study bible quotes St. Cyril of Alexandria regarding Christ's rebuke of Peter's mother-in-law's fever:  "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.  Now is it astonishing for there to exist certain powers that inflict harm on the human body."

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.  Let us note here as well the signs Christ does in this glimpse of His early ministry.  With Peter's mother-in-law, He stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her.   Here He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  But also, demons came out of many, who cried out and identified Him as did the demon in yesterday's reading (above).  Now the demons become even more specific, saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"  And Jesus also rebuked them, as He did the fever of Peter's mother-in-law, in addition to using His power to disallow them to speak.  My study bible remarks on the different ways that Christ heals:  by touch, by a word, sometimes the healing is immediate and other times it's gradual and requires the cooperation of the healed person or loved ones (Luke 8:54-55).  

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.  My study bible says that Christ's primary mission was to preach the kingdom.   It adds that miracles and healings testify both to the truth of the message and the identity of the Teacher (see Luke 5:24).  The same pattern holds true in the Church (Acts 4:29-30).  

It's interesting to think of the varying ways that Jesus healed people.  But one thing that is consistent in the picture of this early ministry is the establishment of Christ's authority and power, a theme continued from yesterday's reading, above.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus rebuked the demon who both feared and publicly identified Him as the Holy One of God.  In today's reading, the demons are more specific, giving Him the titles of Christ (meaning Messiah) and Son of God.  In both yesterday's and today's readings, it is as if the presence of the power and authority of Christ stirs a challenge and conflict, both revealing and opening up the reality of the presence of the demons in order to heal the people and that the demons may be rebuked.  He has the power to command that they are not allowed to speak.  Once again, as in yesterday's reading, all of these things become signs of the presence of the Kingdom, effects of the power and authority of Christ.  It may sound strange to find the presence of the demonic manifesting openly as a sign of the presence of God's holy power, but it is Christ's presence that reveals the truth about what was there already, and what was ailing the people.  This is something we might also take as metaphor in many ways, that like any other Physician, it is part of Christ's power to reveal an ailment, what is wrong, and shine a light on the hidden darkness.  This is an important teaching for us, because if we don't understand the revelation of what ails or is wrong, then we will see perfection in hypocrisy, in a false front, like the "whited sepulchres" to which Jesus compared the hypocritical religious leaders:  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" - Matthew 23:27-28.  We cannot be healed of things when they remain hidden; they must come to the light so that we can be healed, and this is the healing work made possible through the power and authority of Christ.  Sometimes when something is awry in our lives, it needs to rise to the surface to tell us there is a problem we need to address.  What today's reading suggests to me is that when we put effort into our prayer and the state of our spiritual lives, there might be times when things seem to go worse, or some sort of disaster we need to address comes to our attention.  Possibly, as with the terms used in physical medicine, we might find a crisis breaking.  But if we're wise, we can read today's text and understand that Christ's way is not to sweep problems under a rug, but to expose them to the light of truth so they can be healed, so that action can be taken.  Sometimes while we bide our time keeping a lid on problems, we might have a solution that is found in drastic action rather than tolerance.  Possibly something was there all along we just learned to ignore, but spiritually this is bad for us to continue.  So let us learn to look at problems through the light of the Gospels.  As with the healings we see performed by Jesus, some problems need to be "brought out" and exposed in order to be resolved.  Hypocrisy, a "good look" on the surface is the last thing that leads to spiritual health.  This can be true in an individual or a group of any kind; a crisis may simply be the effect of God's energies propelling us to make a hard choice.  Let us consider the power and authority of Christ and the mysterious ways they work.  Our "perfection" is not in a worldly idea of seamlessness or a problem-free life, but rather in the courageous journey toward deeper faith and what that entails in an imperfect, conflicted world.  Jesus' power and authority reveal the "arena" of this world, and the struggle into which we enter, and in which we engage in faith.