The Demons Knew
Homily on Luke 4: 31-41
Colleen Hartung
The demons “… knew that he was the Messiah.”
All four gospels, including the Gospel of Luke are constructed around the question of Jesus as the awaited Messiah descended from David. All four claim that Jesus is the Messiah but each goes on to qualify that claim with varying definitions of what that means.
The author of Luke is talking to a community of gentiles who are followers of Jesus and as such this author, and his audience, are also preoccupied with another question; can one be a follower of Jesus – a Christian – and a good Roman citizen? Luke’s audience considers themselves Christians but they also identify as Roman citizens. And they are aware that both Jesus and Paul were convicted and executed for seditious behavior against the Roman government. So they are concerned. For Luke, the answer to their question is “yes.” And that answer is grounded in his particular understanding of Jesus as the Messiah.
Luke’s gospel suggests that those who are anxiously anticipating or warily keeping an eye out for a great political leader who would overthrow Jewish oppressors are mistaken. For Luke, Romans defending themselves against conspiracy theories and Jews signing up with revolutionary movements based on messianic beliefs equally misunderstand; they misunderstand what the prophets and scriptures have to say about the coming of the Messiah because of their misguided hope for or their fear about the arrival of someone who would unite the tribes of Israel in a way that brings about a political manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth.
For the writer of Luke, Jesus is the Messiah descended from David but not in this political sense. Rather, the Messiah has come to fulfill prophesy and scriptures by restoring or healing the relationship between God and humans that has been fractured by human willfulness. In the words Luke puts on the lips of Mary in the Magnificat at the beginning of this gospel, the Messiah comes to bring down the powerful, to lift up the lowly and to fill the hungry with good things. In today’s gospel, Luke tells us a little bit about what that kind of messiahship looks like.
In the fourth chapter of Luke, on an ordinary Sabbath day, Jesus teaches like a rabbi reading and interpreting scriptures for those who gather round him. In the synagogue, he frees a man possessed by demons. Later, gathering for refreshment with some followers, he cures Simon’s mother-in-law from a high fever. And before the sun sets on that day, he cures many more who are sick and possessed by demons by laying his hands on them. This man, who Luke proclaims as the Messiah, brings good news to the poor, the down trodden, the sick and the possessed. He speaks to them and he touches them and they are healed. In Arabic, the word Messiah can be translated as the “one who cures by caressing.” This definition used by Arabic Christians emphasizes the relational, intimate nature of this healing that is driven by or communicates something like love.
In today’s reading from 1 Corinthians which is all about love, Paul talks about the emptiness of prophets and prophesies, power and knowledge that are without love. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is not a political revolutionary claiming fantastical prophetic powers and absolute knowledge. Rather he is a healer teaching the good news of how the seekers who are following him are brought back into relationship with and loved by God. In today’s first reading, God appoints Jeremiah a prophet “over nations and over realms.” In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is not just the Messiah sent to redeem the Israelites. The good news of Jesus, is for all nations and for all people, the people who are like us and those who are not; Gentiles and Jews alike.
We could leave it at this – the Messiah in Luke brings good news to people of all nations; the poor, the outcaste, the neglected, the oppressed, the possessed and the sick. He caresses them, heals them and loves them, thereby bringing them back into right relationship with God; the relationship humans were created for in paradise. For Luke, this is not a worldly mission that would seek political and civic liberation. It may be prophetically critical of earthly institutions but ultimately it does not threaten the foundations of the civic order. So “yes”, for Luke you can be a Christian, a follower of the Messiah and a good citizen. However, the question remains, does this definition let Luke’s original audience and by association, us, off the hook? What challenge does Luke’s view of Jesus as the Messiah bring to our everyday lives. How might Luke’s teaching about the Messiah, read with today’s other readings, transform us. For that, I’ll share a quick story.
When I opened my assigned readings a couple of weeks ago, I stared at the screen and cried. This past fall, I had the privilege of preaching at my son’s wedding on today’s text from 1 Corinthians. Reading these words again, it all came back. Tears of relief that it was over and that we all survived the Covid outbreak that followed. Tears of sadness that this amazing event that had involved months of preparation was over in the blink of an eye. Tears of joy in remembrance of this fairytale moment where your child finds and marries the love of his life. But also, and most especially, tears of gratitude. Enormous gratitude for the many people in Michael’s life who taught him about things like an open table and the possibility of love for all people regardless of race, religion, political affiliation, economic status and sexual orientation and identity. Gratitude for the people who touched and caressed Michael in his sadness when he felt ashamed or unsure and, in his joy, when he felt confident and proud. So much gratitude for the people who loved him and were the good news in his life that made him the man he is today. And because of that love, he and Jason, in their turn, on their wedding day, stood before those who were gathered, to proclaim their love for each other and their love for those who were present and those who were not. In their proclamation, in the loving embrace they shared with each other, and the multiple ways they touched each of us there, they became the good news.
What I learned that day and learned again when I opened up the readings for today’s liturgy is that people become bearers of the good news because they are touched by the Messiah; and in that touch – by being caressed and loved in the way of Luke’s Messiah and in the way of Paul’s exhortation on love, they become messiahs in their own right sharing this love that is for all people.
The demons in today’s story know Jesus is the Messiah because the love he is and the love he shares overcomes their demonic powers. This is a love according to Paul that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It is a love that never ends. Luke’s Messiah teaches and heals by the power of that love, in the name of that love, in the name of God. And his followers, because they are loved –become bearers and sharers of this good news; like Simon who was loved when his mother-in-law was healed and who goes on, in the next chapter of Luke’s gospel, to accept the call of the Messiah to share that love beyond the confines of his narrow community. So “no”, Luke’s Messiah does not let us off the hook. Not if we attend to the transformative character of the love Luke’s Messiah is and shares and we allow ourselves to be touched and transformed by that love. Instead, we find ourselves called to bear that love, like Simon, for our friends, our neighbors and our families for sure but also and perhaps most especially for the stranger beyond these narrow circles of comfort, safety and kinship.