Luke 4:38-44 | Acts 4:32-35
This is a “Which Jesus?” entry.1
Jesus is loving. He is holy. He is kind.
But he can be harsh. In the right scenario, with appropriate context, Jesus is harsh. In but a few verses today, Luke tells us of two settings in which Jesus spoke harshly. Note what kind of situation calls for Jesus to go beyond niceties.
First, he reserves no patience for the situation in which someone is sick and without healing. A high fever is personified and Jesus lets the fever know what’s up. We aren’t told what words he used, but he apparently leaves no confusion for what needs to happen. Perhaps it was, “Get out of here!” or “Leave her alone!” Regardless, Jesus’ intent is clear: do not make this woman suffer, do not leave her to suffer.
As he continues on to heal the relatives and acquaintances of people in the area, he encounters resistance, personified by demons “coming out” of many (but not all) people, screaming at him. (If picturing demons is hard enough for our modern, educated minds, the notion that the content of their screams was a reminder to Jesus of who he was is…odd. Come on…that’s funny. That’s all they could think of to say? “Hey you! You’re the son of God!”).
Jesus will have none of it and it doesn’t appear that “Please” & “Thank you” were in the lexicon of words he chose for that moment.
Harshly.
There’s a sense here of a warning, a chiding. Sometimes it’s rendered, rebuke. When it comes to people who are suffering, Jesus’ action and words are to move surely and intently. Don’t do this! Scram!
There’s a related confidence among the early Christians the book of Acts tells us about. We’ve already read Luke’s characterization of them in Acts 2:42-47 - togetherness, commonness, selflessness, gathering daily with one another. Yet Luke feels a need here to remind us even again but two chapters later.2
The people of Christ are characterized by an intentionality toward one another and the group as a whole. Tomorrow we’ll read a tragic story of severe consequences for someone who feigns such dedication. It’s pretty harsh, actually.
But for now, read and live into the notion that Christ and his people aren’t simply nice. But they put their life and possessions where their mouths are. They make it happen.
People of action: Jesus who speaks and acts harshly toward oppression. His people who even let go of their own stuff to benefit everyone else.
Luke 4:38-44
After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went home with Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and the family asked Jesus to help her. He bent over her and spoke harshly to the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and served them.
When the sun was setting, everyone brought to Jesus relatives and acquaintances with all kinds of diseases. Placing his hands on each of them, he healed them. Demons also came out of many people. They screamed, “You are God’s Son.” But he spoke harshly to them and wouldn’t allow them to speak because they recognized that he was the Christ. When daybreak arrived, Jesus went to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s kingdom in other cities too, for this is why I was sent.” So he continued preaching in the Judean synagogues.
Acts 4:32-35
The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all. There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need.
Prayer
God,
Sometimes, the world tries to operate on a heap of niceties. Actually, I do believe that Please and Thank You are indeed helpful and strategically efficacious. I mean, they do often work toward their intended goal.
But sometimes they don’t.
So I guess my prayer today, God, is for you to help me be a person of situational discernment. Make me kind. Make me sweet. Make me a person that people want to be around. Make me loving and compassionate.
But let that love and compassion come forth in a particular power and persuasion when the situation calls for it. Keep me from unabashed anger. But let passion kindle within me for those who are sick, oppressed, and held down or back in such a way that I can be a person of action toward their relief and liberation.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
To as “Which Jesus?” is to acknowledge that the story and tradition of the actual person of Jesus is wide and varied. Jesus is so important to many people and since the vast majority of our understanding of Jesus comes from the Bible, with dozens and dozens of stories and chapters and chapters of teachings, we tend to narrow Jesus down to an individual that suits our needs and likings. On the one hand, this is perfectly fine. God has revealed God's self to humanity for the needs both of the whole and the individual. But on the other hand, this leads to a truncated understanding of who Jesus is for all people. So to ask, “Which Jesus?” is to challenge our narrowed understandings of who Jesus is.
Yes, yes…Luke didn’t write the chapter and verse numbers, but you get the point.