4th Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Luke 4:31-44
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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.”
The people at Capernaum in Galilee didn’t want Jesus to leave. Here they had found a miracle worker to take care of all their problems. He showed His power over both spiritual and physical ailments. He cast out demons and healed fever. 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.
Here we see the mercy of our God. God is not some mysterious force in the sky who made things, set them on their way, and sits back and watches from a distance. Here is a picture of God that is completely foreign to how most people today view God – as some thundering sovereign being. Here is God, mercifully and tenderly coming to His people as a person, laying His hands one-by-one on broken, hurting people, restoring His creation to perfection. If you had been there, think about what diseases and illnesses that would be healed for you or your family: heart conditions, diabetes, cancer, pneumonia. Here is God who steps in to make things right. God came down from heaven in the man Jesus Christ to work His merciful forgiveness for our salvation. His miraculous healings both show His power over sin, death, and the devil; and His love for His creation.
Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells about the good news – that is, the Gospel – by both His words and by His actions. Jesus, by His teaching and healing on the Sabbath, puts the Gospel into action. The Sabbath day was to be a day of rest. Jesus speaks and does miracles on the Sabbath so that those oppressed by spiritual or physical troubles may enjoy complete perfection on the Sabbath rest. How appropriate that on the Sabbath, Jesus gives the rest that only He can give.
St. Luke twice records that Jesus’ word possessed authority. They were astonished that His word of teaching possessed authority. They asked “What is this word?” in response to Jesus’ healing. Christ is the Word of God made flesh, so His teaching and healing are the very authority of God Himself.
A seminary professor once shouted at the top of his lungs at his students: “There is no God!” His bellowing voice echoed down the hallways, causing a fellow professor to stop in the class and see just what kind of teaching was going on. His point, of course, was that there is no God outside of Jesus Christ. It’s not like all religions worship God, and then we Christians also have Jesus. No, the person who does not know Jesus does not know God at all. For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 1:9).
Jesus continues His work of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gave the gifts of Apostles and pastors to continue the work of His office, to be present with His people gathered in other times and in other towns across the world – from Capernaum to Shorewood, from 30 to 2007. He has come to His creation, in the flesh, in His body and blood, to heal your fallen nature and to make you complete in Him.
Just as Jesus laid His hands upon the people for healing in today’s Gospel, so Jesus continues this “hands on” healing in the Sacrament of Holy Absolution. In the liturgy of private confession, the pastor places his hands on the head of the penitent and says: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (LSB 293). We receive that forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. By it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven, giving us the greatest healing, returning to us the perfect Sabbath rest.
But what about my back problems, my asthma, my cancer, my stress, my arthritis, my heart condition, my addiction, my aging parents, my sick children, my mentally-handicapped relative, my other problems of mind and body today? When is Jesus going to come and take care of these things?
On the one hand, Jesus did not come just to do nice things on earth and make people’s earthly lives better. In the end, all of the earthly lives of those who Jesus helped were ended by one physical ailment or another. Jesus’ miracles served the purpose of proclaiming the good news of salvation, of proclaiming liberty to those captive to sin, and recovering sight to those who are blind in the eyes of faith.
But on the other hand, Jesus does not say: “Tough luck for you. See you in heaven.” Jesus has instituted various vocations of care and service through doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, to diagnose and treat every imaginable medical problem. He provides care through those who care for us at the end of this earthly life. He provides scientists to make medical advancements in treatment, medical machinery, and medications. And He provides support through the prayer of the church, so that we may have open access to voice our concerns to Him, to receive the prayers and intercession of fellow saints on earth and the saints in heaven (Ap XXI), and to know that Jesus Himself is constantly interceding for us in heaven (Heb 7:25). Jesus promises: In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). On the cross, Jesus bore not only our sin, but also sin’s curse. He took every illness, disease, and physical problem we experience upon Himself and it was nailed to the cross. His blood poured out on the cross – poured out in the chalice today – is healing medicine for all our sin and the evils it brings to our lives. The perfect healing awaiting us in heaven is far superior to healing on this earth. And our healing through the forgiveness of sins has already given us a guaranteed place in the perfection of heaven.
Jesus has come and brings healing – healing of body and soul. God does not work from a distance. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each day as you remember your baptism, where He first brought you into His family and continually forgives your sins. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each week as you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. He works “hands on” as He speaks His word of forgiveness over you, proclaiming you to be innocent. Through Jesus Christ, God works for the forgiveness of His people, to give them comfort in this life and also to bring us to our greatest deliverance – the Sabbath rest of eternal life in heaven. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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.”
The people at Capernaum in Galilee didn’t want Jesus to leave. Here they had found a miracle worker to take care of all their problems. He showed His power over both spiritual and physical ailments. He cast out demons and healed fever. 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.
Here we see the mercy of our God. God is not some mysterious force in the sky who made things, set them on their way, and sits back and watches from a distance. Here is a picture of God that is completely foreign to how most people today view God – as some thundering sovereign being. Here is God, mercifully and tenderly coming to His people as a person, laying His hands one-by-one on broken, hurting people, restoring His creation to perfection. If you had been there, think about what diseases and illnesses that would be healed for you or your family: heart conditions, diabetes, cancer, pneumonia. Here is God who steps in to make things right. God came down from heaven in the man Jesus Christ to work His merciful forgiveness for our salvation. His miraculous healings both show His power over sin, death, and the devil; and His love for His creation.
Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells about the good news – that is, the Gospel – by both His words and by His actions. Jesus, by His teaching and healing on the Sabbath, puts the Gospel into action. The Sabbath day was to be a day of rest. Jesus speaks and does miracles on the Sabbath so that those oppressed by spiritual or physical troubles may enjoy complete perfection on the Sabbath rest. How appropriate that on the Sabbath, Jesus gives the rest that only He can give.
St. Luke twice records that Jesus’ word possessed authority. They were astonished that His word of teaching possessed authority. They asked “What is this word?” in response to Jesus’ healing. Christ is the Word of God made flesh, so His teaching and healing are the very authority of God Himself.
A seminary professor once shouted at the top of his lungs at his students: “There is no God!” His bellowing voice echoed down the hallways, causing a fellow professor to stop in the class and see just what kind of teaching was going on. His point, of course, was that there is no God outside of Jesus Christ. It’s not like all religions worship God, and then we Christians also have Jesus. No, the person who does not know Jesus does not know God at all. For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 1:9).
Jesus continues His work of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gave the gifts of Apostles and pastors to continue the work of His office, to be present with His people gathered in other times and in other towns across the world – from Capernaum to Shorewood, from 30 to 2007. He has come to His creation, in the flesh, in His body and blood, to heal your fallen nature and to make you complete in Him.
Just as Jesus laid His hands upon the people for healing in today’s Gospel, so Jesus continues this “hands on” healing in the Sacrament of Holy Absolution. In the liturgy of private confession, the pastor places his hands on the head of the penitent and says: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (LSB 293). We receive that forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. By it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven, giving us the greatest healing, returning to us the perfect Sabbath rest.
But what about my back problems, my asthma, my cancer, my stress, my arthritis, my heart condition, my addiction, my aging parents, my sick children, my mentally-handicapped relative, my other problems of mind and body today? When is Jesus going to come and take care of these things?
On the one hand, Jesus did not come just to do nice things on earth and make people’s earthly lives better. In the end, all of the earthly lives of those who Jesus helped were ended by one physical ailment or another. Jesus’ miracles served the purpose of proclaiming the good news of salvation, of proclaiming liberty to those captive to sin, and recovering sight to those who are blind in the eyes of faith.
But on the other hand, Jesus does not say: “Tough luck for you. See you in heaven.” Jesus has instituted various vocations of care and service through doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, to diagnose and treat every imaginable medical problem. He provides care through those who care for us at the end of this earthly life. He provides scientists to make medical advancements in treatment, medical machinery, and medications. And He provides support through the prayer of the church, so that we may have open access to voice our concerns to Him, to receive the prayers and intercession of fellow saints on earth and the saints in heaven (Ap XXI), and to know that Jesus Himself is constantly interceding for us in heaven (Heb 7:25). Jesus promises: In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). On the cross, Jesus bore not only our sin, but also sin’s curse. He took every illness, disease, and physical problem we experience upon Himself and it was nailed to the cross. His blood poured out on the cross – poured out in the chalice today – is healing medicine for all our sin and the evils it brings to our lives. The perfect healing awaiting us in heaven is far superior to healing on this earth. And our healing through the forgiveness of sins has already given us a guaranteed place in the perfection of heaven.
Jesus has come and brings healing – healing of body and soul. God does not work from a distance. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each day as you remember your baptism, where He first brought you into His family and continually forgives your sins. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each week as you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. He works “hands on” as He speaks His word of forgiveness over you, proclaiming you to be innocent. Through Jesus Christ, God works for the forgiveness of His people, to give them comfort in this life and also to bring us to our greatest deliverance – the Sabbath rest of eternal life in heaven. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
1/31/2007
