Day 257 – Jesus’ Ministry at Capernaum

• The bulk of today’s focus is on the final of our three passages, in Luke, but we start in Matthew 4, where we read that John the Baptist has been arrested. We’ll read more about how he got on later in our studies.
• The rest of the passage in Matthew talks about Jesus in the northern part of Israel. Do you remember about the sorry situation in Israel during our time reading Kings and Chronicles? 800 or so years earlier, Israel had experienced God’s judgement on them as they were attacked by the Assyrians, but now Jesus is starting His redemptive ministry in the same place. As Matthew points out, doing so also fulfilled one of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus.
• We’ve dipped into the words of Isaiah lots over the last two weeks, because of those amazing words of prophecy about Jesus. What does Matthew say about Isaiah 9:1-2 and how does it connect to Jesus?
• Sometimes when someone comes to faith in Christ, they may say that they have “seen the light”. This may be, in part, a reference to Isaiah, as well as Jesus who called himself the “light of the world”. For someone who has been living in the “shadow (or darkness) of death”, how might you think it would feel to suddenly be brought “into the light”?
• Luke’s careful account of Jesus’ contains reference to many healings. These are the first of 21 miracles recorded by the doctor. What comes out of the people as Jesus heals them?
• What do the demons know about Jesus that perhaps the people around hadn’t yet fully understood?
• Why do you think Jesus rebuked (meaning silenced) the demons? Did they obey? Do you think the demons could have refused?
• What was special about Jesus’ teachings, according to Luke 4:32?
• Luke records the crowds as “being amazed”, which is hardly surprising! Imagine the scenes of the day. Think about what it would have been like to walk with Jesus that day. What sort of questions might you have been wondering during the day, and how might some of them have been answered as you watched Jesus speak and act?

When people think of Jesus, they may have lots of different images of who that Jesus may be. One of those is of the “Jesus who heals”, whom we see today (and have already seen over the last week too, of course). Jesus is indeed a healer!

Jesus also shows another side to Himself today, however, and that’s the side of Jesus which commands actions and demands a response. The demon in the passage recorded by Luke today knew who Jesus was and challenged Him, but was was ultimately powerless in the face of the power and authority of Jesus’ word.

People like to think of the healer Jesus, but perhaps less so of the stern authoritarian Jesus! It’s understandable why. The Jesus that heals is giving. The Jesus that commands respect is demanding us to put Him first. That’s harder, because to follow that call requires change away from our sinful behaviour, or our selfish attitudes.

Jesus is the best gift we could ever want, because He offers life eternal, but in response He demands our hearts. That should challenge you. How confidently do you think you could affirm that sentence? It’s certainly something to think about!