Luke 4:38-44 - Jesus Was Sent to Preach

Today we will finish our study in Luke 4 where Luke shared several things about the early ministry of Jesus. First Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and successfully overcame him and his temptations by the Word of God (vv. 1-13). Then Jesus begins His teaching, preaching and healing ministry in the dark region of Galilee (vv. 14-15). After becoming well known, Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth where He was rejected after His first message because He clearly proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah (vv. 16-30).   At this point, Jesus goes down to the city of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee which becomes His headquarters for ministry for the next three and a half years. At the synagogue there, as He was teaching, He was confronted by a demon possessed man. Jesus cast the demon out and we discussed how Jesus has authority over demons (vv. 31-37). Immediately afterwards Jesus went to Simon Peter’s house where He heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and before the evening is over more people came to be healed, and He cast out more demons (vv. 38-41), and we discussed Jesus’s authority over disease.   It is interesting to note in both cases in this chapter where Jesus confronted the demons He “rebuked them, and did not allow them to speak” and proclaim “that He was the Christ, the Son of God” (vv. 35, 41). Why? Because Jesus didn’t need the demons to tell the world that He was the Son of God, but knew that was the reason He came to preach (v. 43). And that is my lesson today, Jesus came to preach. Later Jesus sent His disciples to preach and has also commission us even today to proclaim and preach Jesus to the world. To share the Gospel, the Good News of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His power to forgive us our sins and to live a transformed life.   In verse 42 we read, “Now when it was day”. It appears that Jesus spent the evening and most of night healing the people that were coming and early the next morning He went to a place to pray before He continued His preaching ministry. Jesus knew the necessity of restoring His spiritual energy, of restoring His spiritual strength in prayer, in spending time in communion with His Father. In this time of prayer Jesus is also getting direction of where He should go and what He should do. Jesus knew the importance of the leading and guiding ministry of the Holy Spirit in ministry.   My friend, we should never enter our daily ministry with others until we have spent time with God in His Word and in prayer. Not only Luke, but Mark points out how Jesus went to a quiet place, a solitary place, away from the crowds and the demands and distractions of the world and He prayed (Mark 1:35). Jesus later taught His disciples and us, that when we pray we should “go into the closet and shut the door” (Matthew 6:6). This does not mean that we go into a literal closet or room, which we might need to do, but that we shut the door to the things in our mind and around us that would distract us from concentrating on our communion with our heavenly Father.   It might mean that we turn off the cell phone, the computer, the tv, or any other thing that might keep trying to get our attention.  We make sure that we spend quality time with Jesus, with our heavenly Father, with the Holy Spirit, getting strength and direction for the day. Now notice in verse 42, even after Jesus went to a deserted place to pray, “the crowd sought Him and came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.” And Jesus informed them that, “I must preach the kingdom of God… for this purpose I have been sent”. Jesus made it clear He didn’t just come to heal people or do miracles, but primarily He came to preach the Gospel!   Today, like Jesus we can minister to the hungry and to the sick people around us, but we must never forget our main purpose is to share the message of God’s Good News of Jesus with those who are lost and dying!   God bless!