Advance and Withdrawal
Luke 4:31-44
In the previous passage (Luke 4:16-30), we heard Jesus identifying himself as the anointed servant in whom God was visiting his people. In today’s passage, we see that anointing and visitation in action as Jesus teaches, exorcises, and heals. Regarding his teaching, it is amazing due to his authority. Regarding exorcism, he shows easy power over an evil spirit. As for healing, Jesus rebukes a high fever and makes a woman (Simon’s mother-in-law) whole. In all of this, we see Jesus proclaiming freedom for prisoners and setting the oppressed free. Of course, spirit possession and sickness are not the only forms of oppression, but they are forms that Jesus will address regularly throughout his ministry. Unsurprisingly, by the end of the passage, people are actively bringing the afflicted to Jesus because they recognize his power and good will.
Looking more closely at Jesus’ encounter with the demon possessed man in the synagogue, it is interesting to observe the demon’s reaction to Jesus, whom it knows to be “the Holy One of God.” Note that the impure spirit is not aggressive, as if it thinks it can conquer the Christ. Instead, it calls for Jesus to go away and assumes that he has come to destroy it and its kind. A major theme of the New Testament is God’s defeat through Christ of the rebellious and evil powers at work in the world. That assault begins here on a micro-level as Jesus frees individuals who suffer spiritual oppression. It will happen at the macro-level in the cross and resurrection and be made wholly complete at the second coming. The same devil whom Jesus overcame in the temptation is now being attacked in his own territory (the world). Ultimately, he must lose and Christ be revealed as lord of all. Along the same lines, sickness must ultimately be banished in God’s new world. Not unlike what happened in the exorcism, Jesus gives a foretaste of perfect healing in his interaction with Peter’s mother-in-law.
The following morning, Jesus is confronted with a choice. The people of Capernaum, as we might imagine after the remarkable events of the previous day, have come to find him and invite him to stay a while. This is in stark contrast to Jesus’ time in Nazareth, which ended with his attempted murder. Jesus does not stay to bask in Capernaum’s acceptance, though. Instead, he opts to preach in surrounding towns. Importantly, staying in Capernaum and traveling to surrounding towns represented two good opportunities (there was nothing inherently wrong with staying in Capernaum). How, then, did Jesus know which course to take? Lest we assume that he simply knew things in a way the rest of us can’t, let’s remember the setting. When the people find him and invite him to stay, Jesus has been in a “solitary place” since daybreak. Though Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus was doing, it seems appropriate to assume that he prayed - Luke will tell us later on that withdrawing to lonely places to pray was a regular practice in Jesus’ life. I suspect that it was in this time of solitary withdrawal that Jesus was affirmed in the particularities of his calling. Rather than fretting over missed opportunities, he pushes ahead in the direction he knows to be best.
In this passage, we have seen Jesus’ strength, both in word and deed. We have also seen him prioritize solitary prayer. Ultimately, his people, the church, will be called to live under his lordship and further his liberating ministry. Perhaps we should also consider his personal practice of devotion and discernment. In Jesus’ earthly life, he engaged in meaningful ministry and then retreated for rest and prayer. In a culture that values movement and doesn’t really know how to rest, we can learn from Jesus’ own interplay between advance and withdrawal.
Thank you for the reminder of the goodness of silence and solitude. I need to be reminded often that it is okay to withdraw to be with Jesus and be restored, and it is not my work, but His.