By And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who 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, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:31-44 ESVST)
Three things stand out to me from this account. The first is that Jesus preached with power and authority. This is clear by the responses of his hearers. He was commanding and rebuking, bold and authoritative, and the folks around him were astonished. This leads me to think that our preaching should mimic Jesus’ style on some level.
Second, the knowledge that demons have of Jesus Christ. In some ways, they seemed to possess more truthful knowledge of Jesus than the Jews listening.
And thirdly, the compassion of Jesus. He most certainly would have been wore out (humanly speaking) by all that he did and said. Yet he was relentless to meet the needs of those around him. Oh, can I learn from this. There are so many times when my tank is just plain empty and I don’t seem to have any compassion left. I guess it is at just this moment that I need to draw close to the One who holds the source of all compassion.
Leading Family Devotions 