Breaking the Word

Jesus then went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, "Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are– the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region. (Lk 4:31-37)

 

 

One of the main reasons of the Evangelists for writing the gospels was to reveal to the readers who Jesus was. And this was done so to increase the faith of the readers on Jesus (Jn 20, 31). Jesus was revealed through his teaching, preaching and his healing activities. Many of his followers were those who listened to him or those who were healed. Even when Jesus asked them not to reveal his identity they went about telling everyone about Jesus.

 

Here in this miracle story the author makes use of the demon to reveal who Jesus was. The demon shouted out: "Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are– the Holy One of God!". The demon was aware of the identity of Jesus and also the activity of Jesus.

 

Jesus was the holy one of God. The demon reveals that Jesus is from God. He has come to fulfill the activity of God. Work of Jesus was to destroy the evil. The fight between good and evil is from the beginning of creation. Evil is in the world and it is a mystery. Every individual realizes this conflict between good and evil (Rom 7, 13-25). Evil is in the society. It is the work of God and godly persons to destroy the evil and thus reveal the presence of God    

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place…

When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. (Lk 4:16-30)

 

 

Jesus lives like the people of the place. He falls into the custom of the people and his own custom. He was like anyone of his place. Only difference is that he said that what he read was fulfilled in him. People also expected that it should be fulfilled. But the people were not able to see that it was fulfilled in Jesus, a man from Nazareth. People accepted the word of God and they wanted it to be fulfilled. They also accepted Jesus as a man from Nazareth. But they could not accept that the word of God was fulfilled in Jesus.

 

Jesus gives an explanation for this attitude of the people. He said that no prophet was accepted in his own native place. He pulls out examples from the Bible in the persons of Prophets: Elijah and Elisha. These two were not accepted by the people of their time. They were able to do their ministry for the foreigners only. By giving these examples Jesus telling them indirectly that the scriptures are fulfilled in him (he is like the prophets).

 

His ministry is for the poor, the suffering, the neglected, and the marginalized (the foreigners in their own land). So through his ministry Jesus fulfils the ministry of the prophets. The scriptures are fulfilled in him. People expect his miracles and they want him to do the same for them but they refuse to accept that the scriptures are fulfilled.