38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. 40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. 42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. ~ Luke 4:38-44
Our text gives a summary of the evidences that Jesus is Messiah who came demonstrating His authority and power over three realms. These three realms are the natural realm, the supernatural realm, and the eternal realm.
All of us are constantly subject to the devastating effects of the Fall physically. Our birth is the first step in our death. As soon as we are born the clock starts ticking toward death. In v.38-40, the Lord Jesus demonstrates His power over the natural realm, that He can, in fact, break the debilitating, decaying, diseasing, and deadly impact of sin on our human bodies.
In the first half of v.38, we read, "Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon." The Sabbath Meeting at the Synagogue generally ended around noon. Afterwards, they had their major meal of the day. The family would sit together and they would enjoy their time around the provision of food. In this case, the Lord Jesus and His disciples went to Simon Peter's house.
The rest of v.38 reads, "Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her." Peter is not yet been called as a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He becomes a disciple in Luke 5. At this time Peter is just a man in the synagogue named Simon. "Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her." The word was getting around that the Lord Jesus could heal disease and sickness.
Now, Peter's mother-in-law had some kind of an infection which gave her a fever. According to v.39, "So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them." This term "rebuked" is reserved almost exclusively for people, but here in today's text, it is identified with a disease, or a fever. The intent of the statement is to show that the Lord Jesus has power over what debilitates the human body. He can speak to a fever and it disappears. After being delivered of the sickness, there is no lingering weakness in the body of Peter's Mother-in-Law. Usually when someone has had a high fever, fighting some serious infection, there is going to be a lingering weakness. There is no trace of lingering weakness. Peter's mom-in-law immediately rose up and waited on them.
In v.40, we read, "At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them." In the case of Peter's mother-in-law the Lord Jesus healed with a word. Here we find He laid His hands on them.
Luke 4:40 begins with, "At sunset," which means the Sabbath was over. As the sun goes down on a Sabbath, the people now could do what they couldn't do during the Sabbath. They couldn't travel and they couldn't carry anything. So, now that the sun is setting, they can travel to where the Lord Jesus was and they can carry their sick to Him.
Mark says the whole town showed up, the whole town. And, the Lord Jesus receives them all. There are no conditions of faith. He just puts His hands on everybody and everybody is healed. And that, folks, is the healing power of Jesus over the human body.
These people wanted healing in their bodies, but they didn't want salvation in their spirits and their souls. In the three-year ministry of the Lord Jesus there are nearly ninety New Testament texts in the four gospels about His healings. He did this everywhere through His ministry. The first healing recorded in the Bible was during the time of Abraham. There are no healings recorded in the first 1,600 years of biblical history up to the Flood, no healings recorded. And there were billions of people alive when the Flood hit. The first healing is recorded in the time of Abraham, that's about 2200 B.C.
From Abraham to Isaiah would be from 2200 B.C. to 750 B.C., a 1,500 year period, there are recorded twenty healings, 1,500 years twenty healings, five of them from Job, five in Moses' day, two in Samuel's day, eight from David to Isaiah for a total of twenty. Twenty healings in 1,500 years.
From Isaiah, 750 B.C., to Christ, there were 750 years. There are zero healings recorded. There was sickness, disease, and death, but there were no healings. That is why when the Lord Jesus began to heal in Matthew 9:33, the people said, "Nothing like this was ever done in Israel." They knew there had never been anything like this. They had no experience of this. They had never seen anything like it.
The healing explosion had a purpose and John 20:31 tells us: "These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing you might have life in His name."
In addition, the Lord Jesus also demonstrated He has the ability to stop the destructive nature of sin in the supernatural realm. In v.41, we read, "Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah."
As the Lord Jesus went about preaching, He literally shattered the demonic world. His preaching traumatized the demons. And, these demons were living inside people. When the Lord Jesus showed up this particular day, they were screaming. Luke uses the word, kraugazō, which means involuntary shrieks of terror. The ministry of the Lord Jesus unmasked these fallen angels of the darkness.
But notice the next line in v.42, "But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah." He would not allow them to speak. He has power not only over the natural, but over the supernatural. He had the power to shut that demon up, to silence that demon so that that demon can no longer speak. And, the Lord Jesus wanted them silenced because didn't want their publicity. He wants everyone to discover Him for themselves.
Finally, the Lord Jesus has power over the eternal realm. In v.43, we read, "But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
The Lord Jesus said, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God." Notice the theme "the kingdom of God." This is the first time that phrase is used in connection with Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke, but it will occur again and again in Luke 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23. Over and over, the Lord Jesus will preach and teach about the good news of the kingdom of God.
We get mesmerized by physical healings and demonic exorcisms, but the real deal is the kingdom of God’s reign through God’s people over God’s place. God reigns through His people. This was His design from the beginning. Adam and Eve were commissioned as representatives of the King. Instead, they chose to seek their own path to power and glory, apart from God. Their rebellion fractured humanity’s relationship with God and shattered the goodness of His creation. Ever since sin entered the world, God’s message has been, at its heart, a rescue mission for rebellious sinners, drawing us into His loving rule.
