Leaning Into Luke

 

³¹ He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. ³² They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Let us alone! 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.” ³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. ³⁶ They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” ³⁷ And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.  Luke 4:31-37

As we lean in and listen to this part of Luke, we know Jesus was on a preaching and teaching tour.  His words were awakening the Spirit, stirring the soul, causing the congregation to shout, “Amen” and thunderous applause.  And we have only the manuscript of the sermon in his hometown.  Otherwise, we really don’t know the content of what Jesus is saying.  Eventually, we will hear the sermon on the plain.  So maybe he was testing and trying out early versions of that sermon? 

I wish we knew.  But, then again, perhaps the point isn’t what he said, but how he said it and how he made people feel alive and awake to God with them and for them and for others. 

In this part of Luke we get Jesus’ first healing.

Notice that the unclean demon is the first one to witness to Jesus as the “Holy One of God.”  Lean into that tension – that even though people think Jesus is a swell guy who really seems to be able to string a series of words together; it is a demon who is the first to testify to the truth that Jesus has a sacred relationship with God.

The religious folk seem to miss the moment, the movement, and mystery of what is happening.

I wonder sometimes if that is not only true then and there, but here and now.  Am I missing what God is up to?  Am I busy saying, “Amen,” but not letting God fully have control of my heart and whole life?  Am I caught up in the Spirit only to the point that I don’t have to change and can still cling to my plotting and planning? 

Pause with me, lean into Luke, let this story interrupt you and interpret your story.  What response, reaction, reasoning, and rational do you hear in your heart about this story?  What sermon stirs in you as you hold the tension that a demon is the one to witness to Jesus while the religious folk are not being transformed in the same way? 

While such questions are uncomfortable, they help me pause in a way that doesn’t keep me complacent where I am.  They challenge how I can use religion to baptize my own beliefs, rather than let Jesus’ presence change my whole life. 

To be silent.  To let that Spirit interrupt and intercede and inhabit this space with me.  That is the power of the pause that can change everything.

Prayer: God, calm and quiet the part of myself that think I have this all figured out with a healing presence that can continue to change my heart/life.  Amen.