I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!

 

 Then He 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.

 

- Luke 4:31-37 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His forty day period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness,  Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.    So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  

 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.   After his forty-day period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, and His journey and preaching in His hometown of Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus begins His public ministry in an even fuller sense.  My study Bible notes that, according to St. Ambrose of Milan, Christ begins preaching and healing on the Sabbaths to show that "the new creation began where the old creation ceased."  Capernaum is the city which will become His "headquarters" for His ministry, the home of Peter and Andrew.

And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. To teach with authority that Jesus' teaching differs from the prophets of old and the teachers of His day.  They taught in the third person ("The Lord says"), while Christ teaches in the first person ("I say to you").  See also Matthew 5. 

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.  Here is also evidence of Christ's authority, and we see that reflected in that the people were all amazed at his power to command the unclean spirits.  Note that Jesus rebuked the demon who identifies Him as the Holy One of God, by saying, "Be quiet."  My study Bible notes several reasons why the Lord refuses to fully disclose His identity as Messiah, and remarks that this was foreseen by Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4).  The reasons for secrecy include first, the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders which is soon to come in response to His ministry.  Second, the people misunderstand the Messiah as an earthly, political leader.  Finally, the Lord's desire is to evoke genuine faith, which is not based solely on marvelous signs.  

We might wonder at the authority of Jesus, expressed so early in His ministry.  What did He do before that?  Why are the people of His hometown so astonished at His gracious words?  (See yesterday's reading, above.)  When Jesus decided it was time to begin His public ministry, with His baptism in the Jordan by John, it is clear that this was the appropriate time.  As the prophecy of Isaiah says, He proclaims "the acceptable year of the LORD."  This is the time to begin to use His authority, to express Himself with it through His words and teaching, and even to cast out the unclean demons through that authority.  It might occur to us to consider why Jesus didn't bother throwing out all the unclean demons, and the devil, and whatever spiritual evil exists in the world while He was at it.  Why didn't He just fix everything to be always good before He left this world?  (Of course, we must also throw in upon this subject the question of why He had to die the way He did.)  All of these things are connected to what is called "theodicy."  This is the question of why God permits evil in the world.  Hidden in the notes on today's text is an important reason, that Christ wants people to come to faith not because they are convinced by "proofs" (like the miraculous signs He produces), not because they are astonished through such things, but rather willingly, of their own internal volition.  This is genuine faith He desires, a kind of longing and loyalty that really comes from love, and is a response to the love God brings to us, especially in the Person of Jesus Christ.  God does not compel us to love God back; this has to be voluntary.  Faith and love are deeply, closely connected, for they are both rooted in trust.  Who is it that you really trust in your life?  To whom do you give your trust?  This is the real concept of faith, in essence, and we can see its link to love and to loyalty.  St. John writes, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  One does not need to have been one of Christ's first earthly disciples to feel and experience this love, and it is also shared through the saints -- most notably Christ's mother, to whom so many have turned in their own pain, difficulties, and sorrow.  This kind of compassion in communion can truly be experienced through faith.  But still, even so, why does God permit evil in the world?  This is because, strange as it might seem -- and paradoxical as well -- we human beings are at the center of God's concern.  If God truly desires those who can worship in spirit and in truth (see John 4:23-24), then we must come to faith voluntarily and not through compulsion.  If we had no choices in our pathway in life, how different would life be?  Would we be those capable of faith although beset by temptations -- just as Christ faced worldly temptation in the wilderness?  Jesus has spoken of faith as work ("This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" -- see John 6:28-29), and so it is.  It is a struggle to find the true place in our hearts where we know that our Redeemer lives, just as did Job who struggled with evil in this world (Job 19:25).  It is the way we carry our own cross, as Christ carried His (Luke 9:23).  This is what it is to work the work of faith, for we are His prized precious children, who come to Him voluntarily, and through struggle, to realize His love and to return that love ourselves.  Let us consider the authority of Christ, and His love for us, for we know His struggle for us as well.