Rev Gav
Authority
Luke 4:31-37
31 Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. 32 There, too, the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority.
33 Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon—an evil spirit—cried out, shouting, 34 “Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further.
36 Amazed, the people exclaimed, “What authority and power this man’s words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!” 37 The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.
Reflect
Each Sabbath (the 7th day of rest that was kept holy), Jesus continued to teach in the synagogue in a place called Capernaum, and on one occasion he was confronted by a man possessed by a demon. I do not want to get sidetracked into an argument about the existence of demons, however it is worth bearing in mind that the Jewish people believed that when the Messiah turned up, evil spiritual powers would be defeated, and this is what Jesus was doing. Jesus commanded the demon to come out of the man, and even though the demon tried to harm the man by throwing him to the ground, he was kept safe by Jesus.
The crowds were amazed that Jesus healed people of all sorts of things, but what really blew them away was how Jesus healed. You see, unlike other healers, Jesus did not summon spirits, recite spells or incantations, use potions, or apply medicines. It was simply that he spoke commands and used words with authority. Jesus spoke and creation responded.
Likewise, when we ask for God to come and be present in a situation, we do not need to do it in a special way. For example, we do not need to be perfect, use the right words, or be in a special environment. We do not have to do anything. We can simply ask, “Come, Lord Jesus,” and trust that God has heard us. The power is not in the words or the method used, it is in God.
We might not come across demons, but we do come across things in our life or circumstances that we want rid of; stuff that torments us; stuff that hurts us, and when we do, we need to trust, and simply ask, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Do
Today, hold up something before God that you’d like dealt with, something or someone that needs a touch of the love and compassion of God.
Pray
Holy God
I bring before you the things that torment me,
the things I want dealt with and rid of.
I hold them up before you
and ask that you would hear me.
Come Lord Jesus.
This day and for ever.
Amen.
Think
What does it say about who Jesus is, that he spoke with authority?
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This begs the question of why did Jesus on a few occasions do something different than just speak. For example, using mud to heal the blind man. Was there something particular about that situation that he chose to use a potion like healing?
But yes, nothing like speaking to the weather and it listening to you! Wish I could have done that and redirected some of this snow to LA!
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C.S.I. wrote:
That's a really good question. I've often wondered about that - yes, mud on eyes, or telling someone to present themselves to the priest, and so on. I will look up the mud on eyes thing and report back!
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Come, Lord Jesus. Amen 🙏🏾