Luke 4:31-44 "A Day In The Life"

Sometimes my dad will talk about what it was like when he was a boy living on a farm. Get up before sunrise, gather the eggs from the chickens, milk the cow, feed the horse, separate the cream from the milk—all before walking to his one-room schoolhouse. Just a day in the life. A very different world than the one I grew up in.

But my childhood in the early 70s was very different from my kid’s growing up, too. Someday our kids will be talking about these days as the good old days, and their grandchildren will marvel at how different things used to be.

We’re in Luke chapter four today. Following Jesus’ baptism where He was officially anointed as the Christ, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. One of the temptations was when the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would bow down and worship him. Obviously, Jesus didn’t worship the devil. He walked out of the wilderness and started doing what He came to do as the Messiah—preaching the arrival of the kingdom of God. 

Last time, we followed Jesus back to His hometown where He preached in the synagogue, told them He was the One they had been waiting for—but since He wouldn’t do any miracles to prove it, they tried to kill Him and ran Him out of town. 

Today we’re going to follow Jesus around on a typical day in the life of the Messiah. 

Chapter four, verse 31:

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. Luke 4:31

This is what Jesus did throughout His entire ministry—He went from town to town, preaching and teaching in the synagogues. He’d show up somewhere meet people, do miracles like heal people and cast out demons. Then the locals would invite Him to their big Friday night Sabbath meal. Sometimes it was people He had helped and sometimes it was people who were critical of Him and wanted to trap Him. This little section is an overview of what’s going to happen in the rest of the book. Verse 32:

They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. Luke 4:32

Most of the time when we talk about Jesus teaching with authority, we’re comparing Him to the Pharisees and the Scribes and the local rabbis who didn’t teach with authority. They would read a passage of Scripture and talk about all the different ways to understand it, interpret it. Jesus didn’t do that. He would read a passage and explain it as if He was the author Himself. Which of course, He was. That’s what the word “authority” means at its core—when someone speaks as if they actually know what they’re talking about, as if they are the author. 

Jesus definitely did this, but that’s not really what Luke is saying here. He’s saying Jesus’ actual words had authority. His words—just by speaking—made things happen. Verse 33:

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Luke 4:33-34

The demon knows who Jesus is. It’s funny because the demon tries to cast Jesus out—”Go away!” The man named Jesus, from the little town of Nazareth is standing there in front of him, but the demon knows a lot more about Him than the people in the synagogue do. This is the Holy One of God. The Messiah. The Christ. The demons always recognize the divinity of the Son of God. The One who’s going to take back the kingdoms of the world from their master the devil. The demon knows, that’s why he says, “You are here to destroy us!” verse 35:

“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. Luke 4:35

See what I mean? Luke immediately gives us an example of how Jesus’ words had authority. All Jesus had to do was say “come out of him,” and it was done. Luke, the physician, even points out that it happened without hurting the guy. 

A couple things: first, there are a lot of demons being cast out in the Gospels—happens everywhere Jesus goes. Most of us modern, educated, people of the world aren’t very comfortable with the idea of demons and unclean spirits. Most of us can live our lives blissfully skeptical that anything like this actually exists. We think people who talk about these things sound crazy. Even people who really like Jesus tend to think the ancients who wrote the Bible were probably uninformed and superstitious. I mean, come on, all those so-called “demon-possessed” people were probably just what we would call bipolar or suffering from some other psychological disorder—right?

Not really. 

If the people in Jesus’ day were just a bunch of rubes, He would have set them straight. He had no problem setting them straight on a whole bunch of other things. “You have heard it said, but I say unto you.” But he spoke and acted like a person who actually believed in the supernatural.

Some people argue that Jesus was just a product of His time, that He went around casting out demons because He wasn’t sophisticated enough in His understanding of science to know any better. I like to file this one under the category of Modern Arrogance. As if because we know how to make a cellphone, and fly in airplanes, we can look down our nose at all those poor ignorant people in the Bible days. Okay, hotshot—go get your tools and build a functional cell phone. Truth is, if any of us were magically teleported back to 30 AD, most of us would probably be dead within a week. We don’t know the things we’d need to know to stay alive. 

Jesus had a better grasp of reality than we do. There are spiritual realities all around us that most of us comprehend about as much as cows at the airplanes flying over their heads.

Maybe you’re thinking, if those kinds of things are real, why haven’t I seen them.

About a year ago, I was called to cast a demon out of a three-year-old boy who threw his foster dad through the wall of his bedroom—you have a scientific explanation for that? He’d thrash around on the floor, growl like a monster, and then suddenly stop and roll his eyes back until they were just white and lock his gaze on you. I saw it. I was there. It was creepy as hell.

I was also there when it stopped. I rebuked the demon, baptized the three-year-old, and watched him go limp, completely calm, and go to sleep. It was just after Easter last year. He’s been a normal little boy since then. There’s about 30 eyewitnesses. Two of them are here today, my brother and his son. Ask them about it.

Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. The devil offered him the easy way—worship me and all the kingdoms can be yours. Jesus rebuked the devil that day, and then He went out of the wilderness rebuking demons and taking the kingdom one person at a time. Then He gave His followers the authority to do the same thing. That’s what we’re still doing. Talking the kingdom of God away from the devil one person at a time. Verse 38:

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. Luke 4:38

Simon is the disciple we all know as Peter—same guy. This passage is how we know he was married—that’s the only way to get a mother-in-law. 

They were probably going to Peter’s house for the big Friday night Sabbath meal. Luke points out that she was suffering from a “great fever.” Roman medicine categorized fevers as great fevers and lesser fevers. She apparently had it pretty bad. 

Again, notice how Jesus heals her. His words have authority. He rebuked the fever, just like He rebuked the demons, just like He’s going to rebuke the storm—His word makes it happen. He rebukes the fever and she gets up and is like, “who wants sandwiches?”

And the word got out. Verse 40:

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Luke 4:40

People were lined up around the block at Peter’s house. Every sick person is healed. They go and tell everyone they know—the line gets longer. It’s going to be a long night. Verse 41:

Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. Luke 4:41

Jesus “rebuked” the demon. Rebuke means to correct, admonish, reprove. Jesus didn’t want this to be another riot mob like what happened in His hometown. It wasn’t time for Him to die. Not yet. And He didn’t want demons to be the ones announcing that He was the Christ—He wanted His people to be led to that understanding by the Holy Spirit. 

Sometimes when I talk about experiences like the three-year-old boy who was demon-possessed, people ask why we don’t see more of that kind of thing. Like, wouldn’t it make it a lot easier to tell people about Jesus if more people saw something like that? Makes it a lot easier to believe when you see those things for yourself.

But that’s not how God wants faith to work. That’s why Jesus silenced the demons. He didn’t want the devil to do the work of proclaiming the kingdom of God. It’s not his story to tell. It’s ours. The ones who have been set free. The citizens of the kingdom. Verse 42:

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Luke 4:42-44

He probably didn’t get much sleep—if He slept at all. He healed people until the sun came up. Then He went to get alone so He could pray and get ready for another day. This is a picture of a day in the life of Jesus the Messiah.

The people found Him, though. They wanted Him to stay right where He was. This seemed like a pretty great health plan. They didn’t want Jesus to go anywhere. 

People always do this. We always want Jesus to stay put. Stay where we can be comfortable. We want to just keep Him for ourselves.

But He had places to go. People to see. The kingdom of God wasn’t going to proclaim itself, so off to the next town.

At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, after the cross and the resurrection, He gathered His followers around Him—just before He went back to heaven to rule and reign at the right hand of God the Father. He had come to proclaim the kingdom of God. He had announced the kingdom one person at a time. One exorcism at a time. One healing at a time. He retook the earth one step at a time. He started a very slow process.

Then He gathered His followers around Him and commissioned them to keep it going. 

Matthew 28:18 lays it out,

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Luke says it like this in 24:46,

“He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Luke also wrote the Book of Acts, and this is from chapter one,

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Today we looked at a day in the life of Jesus in His earthly ministry. The Holy Spirit came down at Jesus’ baptism and was on Him, giving Him power and authority. He spoke with authority and power. His words accomplished what He said.

Matthew says Jesus gave His authority away—to His followers. He gave His authority to us—His followers, He promises to be with us to the very end of the age. Until He comes back and wraps everything up.

Until then, we have to keep doing what He was doing—the work of announcing the kingdom. One person at the time. One sermon at a time. One conversation with a friend at a time.

You have the same power and authority Jesus had. Luke said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you!” That happened in your baptism. It continues to happen every day.

You have the power of the Holy Spirit. To do what? Why did God give you the power and authority of Jesus? To make you comfortable? No.

To be His witnesses. With His power. With His authority. 

You can speak His words, and when you do, He will continue to do the things He came to do through you.

It’s your job and my job to keep the work of the kingdom of God going in our generation. How did Luke put it? “To proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” 

If you ever hear me preach a sermon that doesn’t proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins, you need to call me out on it. I haven’t done my job otherwise.

This isn’t just a Bible study. This is a reality changing assault on the powers of hell. This is an act of military precision. This is taking back the kingdoms of this world for the kingdom of God by force. Here’s how it works:

We hear the Word of the Lord. It is alive and powerful. It does what God sends it forth to do.

It challenges us to be more faithful. It convicts us of all the ways that we have not been faithful. That’s the repentance part—but we can’t stop there. We have to have something to believe in. Something to cling to. We have to have hope. We need the part that God does for us through Jesus that we can’t do for ourselves.

And that sounds like this. Here it is, you ready?

Jesus gave me the authority to say this to you. I rebuke your sin. I rebuke your sickness. I rebuke your doubt and your apathy. I rebuke the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil that continues to try and get ahold of you. In the name of Jesus, you are forgiven. You are restored and renewed. Your sins are gone. You are free. You have the promise of the Word of God Himself that you can walk through this life with complete confident hope of the life to come.

We do a version of this every week. And then it’s your turn. As you go from this place, do the same thing for other people. You have the same power and authority. Speak the words of Jesus and change the world. One person at a time. One day in your life at a time. Live in this grace every day and when you think back at where you’ve come from, marvel at how different things used to be. Thanks be to God.