The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
February 3, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our
text today is the Gospel lesson especially these words from Jesus, “for I was
sent for this purpose.” Thus far our
text.
Dear friends. Epiphany continues, and Jesus continues to
reveal who He is. We remember last week
in his home town, Jesus was rejected by those who knew him best. “Aren’t you Joseph and Mary’s child?” And having ignored Jesus’ word about who he
was – the fulfillment of the Old Testament – they threaten to throw him off a
cliff. So Jesus travels down the road to
the next town, Capernaum. And there, in
our lesson today, Jesus comes face to face with a demon possessed man.
This man reacts
entirely different to Jesus than those of his home town. His comments start the same way as those
Nazarene’s – “I know who you are Jesus of Nazareth.” But there the similarities change, “I know who
you are, you are the Holy One of God!
Have you come to destroy us?”
That demon understands what all the people in last week’s text did not –
who Jesus was. As St. James writes,
“Even the demons believe there is a God, and they tremble with fear.” And for the demon possessing this man, it is
terrifying to see God face to face.
You see, the
demons that so often frighten us in this world do not frighten Jesus. The demons that posses and sicken and attack
us in our everyday lives are no problem for Jesus. For there is no evil that Jesus cannot deal
with, there is no sickness Jesus will not take away.
We’ve seen their
effect upon us haven’t we? Yes, demon’s
exist. And they try to ruin any and
every part of our life in a terrible attempt to destroy our faith in
Christ. They try to invade our
relationships with our family, telling us that the other person was wrong, that
what I want is more important that
our relationships, that our desires are more significant than any other
things. We’ve seen them place sicknesses
and injuries in our families. We hear
words like Cancer, and “months left to live.”
We struggle with Alzheiemers and parkinsons, diabetes and more. We struggle through the pains of this world,
and through all the work of Satan and his minions as they work to make us doubt
Jesus.
It’s the same
thing in our text today. Peter’s mother
was sick. The man was possessed by a
demon. And as the sun was setting, all
those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him,
and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
These people were
dealing with the same things we face in this world. These people loved those who suffered. They cared about those who struggled. And Jesus comes today, and with his Holy
word, and with his touch, and takes care of the evils of this world. And he does the same for us, not as personal
favors, not because we earn it, not even because we want, but because he loves
us.
He heals us today,
not in the same way he healed so long ago, he heals today by a more permanent
way. He destroys Satan in a more
substantial way, to finally destroy all sin forever. He does it through his cross. He does it through his own suffering. Through his own taking on of sin on the
cross, he heals all our wants of body and soul, destroying the power of Satan
forever.
You see, as Jesus
hung on the cross, he took upon himself all our sin, all our shame, all our
weakness and sickness. He took all that
and destroyed it by his own death. He
took your sickness away, and made you well.
And he destroyed the power of demons over your life. You are no longer under their control, but
under the control of Christ.
You see, as our
text says, he has authority. He speaks
as one with authority. An authority
earned on the cross, and authority that belongs only to God. And with that authority he speaks – You are
forgiven. Your sin is gone. My death on the cross counts for you. My blood is shed for yours. And now, and forevermore you will be
forgiven. Amen.
