demons

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When the Bible speaks of the world, it often uses the metaphor of a surging sea. The world is like a sea of rough, choppy water. Trying to sail in the world can be a very scary thing. For example, the world order that we have enjoyed since the fall of communism may be falling apart with the rise of an aggressive Russia and China. Things may become very difficult and challenging for our nation. How are we to deal with it?

The problems of the world are so big and so out of our control that it is easy to let anxiety control us or just to bury our head in the sand like the ostrich does and not want to deal with it. How do we maintain our sanity in the midst of it and still move forward in service? The passage that we are looking at provides an answer. It is faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Triune God, as Lord over all things.

We will see this as we look at the two stories. The first is of the storm. The second is of the demon army.

The Storm
Much of Jesus’ ministry takes place around the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a beautiful lake in the northern part of Israel. It is a source of life and blessing to the surrounding region. Several of Jesus’ disciples had made their livelihood from this sea in the form of fishing. They had access to boats and knew how to navigate the lake.

As they were on the sea, there was a great storm. These storms are common there. The Sea of Galilee is like the bottom of a bowl, and the storms sweep down from the surrounding hills. Our text tells us, “A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger” (Luke 8:23). These experienced fishermen were afraid.

We need to remember that Jesus is great, and He also took upon Himself the weaknesses of humanity. In this story, He went to sleep in the boat as they went across. As a side note, this is the only time the Gospels ever mention that Jesus slept! The disciples were in a panic as the storm came on, and they saw that Jesus was still sleeping. “Master, Master, we are going to drown!” (Luke 8:24). They said.

At this point, Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm” (Luke 8:24). Then, He rebuked them. “Where is your faith?” He asked them.

Now, this is an interesting question. We might wonder why Jesus would bring up faith here. After all, were they promised deliverance from the storm? How did they know that they would survive it? Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 6: The Lord of the Storm (Luke 8:22–39)”

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What is the message of Christianity all about? How would you summarize it in a few words? It’s a good thing to think about.

Here’s what Jesus says, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” Jesus’ summary? The good news of the kingdom of God.

I don’t think that’s generally the first thing that comes to the mind of evangelical Christians when they think of Christianity. So, why doesn’t it come to our mind when it came so readily to Jesus’ lips? What does it mean? Why would Jesus summarize His message as the good news of the kingdom of God?

That’s what our passages teaches us. We will see this in three points. The teaching of the kingdom of God. The demonstration of the kingdom of God. The extension of the kingdom of God.

The Teaching of the Kingdom of God
Jesus said that He had a message to proclaim. It was good news. It was good news about the kingdom of God. While this message might not be clear to us, it was understandable to Jesus’ hearers. They weren’t necessarily looking for someone to die on a cross and rise again, and that was part of their problem. However, they were looking for a king who would bring in a new kingdom.

They understood that things were not as they should be. Instead of enjoying prosperity in their own kingdom, they were under the dominion and often oppression of the Roman government. In addition, many of the people had compromised the ancient faith with the newcomers. Many would have agreed that a call to repentance was needed. They wanted a leader who would come and liberate them and lead them back to God and His ways. So, when Jesus talked about a kingdom, this would have made sense. They would not be surprised that the Messiah would come talking about the coming of the kingdom. They would have understood the idea that people should repent because the kingdom of God was at hand. They needed to get ready. They were looking with expectation, as Luke notes in Luke 3.

And so, Jesus’ message was an answer to their expectation. The kingdom is here.

Jesus spent much of His time teaching about this kingdom and correcting their misconceptions about it. You can see in our passage how much time Jesus spent teaching and proclaiming. First, Jesus taught in the synagogues. Now, people often avoid church because it has hurt them. Jesus had just been rejected in His hometown and nearly killed. And what does He do? “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people” (Luke 4:31). Jesus went into the synagogues, the places where people gathered for worship. He went where the people were, even though He had faced rejection. Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 3: The King Builds His Kingdom (Luke 4:31-5:11)”