31And he went
down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
32and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
33And in the
synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried
out with a loud voice,
34“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.”
35But 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.
36And 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!”
37And reports
about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
LUKE
4:31-37
COMMENTARY
After the incident
in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:16), Jesus went to the Northwest shore of Galilee
Lake, to the town called Capharnaum, to continue with his ministry.
As He was
accustomed, He preached specially on the Shabbat, when people were inclined to
listen about spiritual things more than other days of the week.
The crowd in the
synagogue, more open, as they were more exposed to foreign ideas due to the
Roman and Greek influence around them, were receiving with admiration the message
of Jesus, noticing as the evangelist quotes, that Jesus ‘spoke with authority’,
meaning that He did not base his teaching on the Midrash or Talmud, or on the traditions
or interpretations of the Elders, but that He exposed his teaching directly,
based on the Torah and own wisdom.
This came as a
shock as well as a reason for wonder, because a Rabbi never preached his own ideas
as coming only from himself, but quoted vastly from other Jewish teachers,
reason that gave the Talmud its authority in Judaism. Very much like any
Pastor, Religious leader or Theologian does these days. BUT the soundness of
his reasoning behind his preaching, caused the admiration of his listeners,
since they could not find a fault in his doctrine.
Suddenly, a
demoniac spoke and said:
“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.”
The demon openly
recognized in Jesus’ preaching, that He was the announced Messiah. No like some
that think that they knew that Jesus was divine, since this was hidden from
Satan, otherwise, Satan would not have killed Jesus on the Cross.
Demonic powers
were ignorant of the divinity as well as the mechanics of the atonement. But they
knew about the Messiah and his righteous teachings and its mission to bring the
Kingdom of God to Earth. This is the reason why the demons came yelling in
terror towards our Lord every time they saw Him, and reason why this demon
confronted Lord Jesus, by arguing that it was not the time of judgement yet (What
have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?).
As he revealed
that Jesus was the appointed Messiah, Jesus commanded him to keep silent and
leave the possessed person alone.
JESUS commanded
the demon on his own authority. He did not pray to the Father for permission,
or commended the possessed person to God prior to expel the demon, but did it immediately
and on his own fill and power.
The demon
immediately left the sick man, leaving him alone and returned to the abyss; but
this portent was a confirmation to the good will of the people that were there
present and listened to Jesus.
When they said,
“For with
authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
They received
the testimony of God, that Him who was before them, was not a common Rabbi, but
the Son of Lord God YHWH.
Omar Flores.
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