It must have been brutal to have been one of those people who showed up to be healed by Jesus only to find out that he had just left the area.  In Luke 4, after Jesus had healed Peter’s mother in law and many others he left and went off to be alone.  The crowds, anxious to have him continue the amazing works he had been doing, pursued him and tried to convince him to stay.  How many people hoped that this might be the answer to their prayers for healing only to be disappointed?  How many people travelled some distance to get there and see him only to find out he was gone.  When asked to stay, Jesus denied their request.  He had come to teach, he said, and must go to others.  How do we reckon with the painful reality that Jesus would not stay and heal the broken. How do we deal with fact that Jesus does not answer many of our prayers for healing and other good things? Didn’t he care? ...

A few weeks ago I wrote about the amazing fact that the demons recognized and professed publicly the true identity of Jesus.  I made the point then, that we must have much more than the faith of demons if we are to have saving faith.  Well, one more word about the demon’s sermon in Luke 4.  As shocking as it must have been to have a demon publicly announce the identity of Christ, perhaps even more shocking is the fact that Jesus commanded the spirits to be quiet and “would not allow them to speak because they knew that He was the Christ.”  This is striking given...

In what must have been a shocking moment in Luke 4:34, as the people were gathered for worship in the synagogue listening to Jesus’ teaching, when suddenly a demon burst forth in speech from the mouth of a possessed man.  Contrary to the cursing one might have expected, Its’ words were perhaps the truest thing ever spoken in that synagogue.  In some ways this demon preached the best sermon ever heard there.  He yelled, “Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  Jesus’ true identity was being declared by this demon.  In verse 41 we are told that...