Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Easter 2

18 April 2023

Text: Luke 4:31-44

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! 

Our Lord has just announced that He is the Messiah in His hometown of Nazareth, and the crowd wanted to kill Him.  “And He went down to Capernaum…. Teaching them on the Sabbath.”  He is preaching in the synagogue, but not like any other rabbi that the people have ever heard before, or since.  They were “astonished at His teaching, for His word possessed authority.”

The source of this authority is not what He knows, His academic credentials, or even His skill in rhetoric.  He speaks with authority because He is God.  Luke uses a specific Greek word here for Word that carries a lot of freight: Logos.  There is something of transcendence being conveyed here – especially considering that Jews in this region mainly spoke Greek instead of Hebrew or Aramaic.  The term “Logos” is much more than a reference to His cleverness with language and logic.

For as the Holy Spirit will reveal through John, Jesus is “the Word,” (John 1:1) that is, the Logos.  This is why St. John’s Gospel – and our Nicene Creed – confess that “by [Him] all things were made.”  This is because Jesus, the Word, the Logos – was both with God “in the beginning” and indeed “was God.” 

And not only does Jesus preach with the authority of the same Word that created the universe, His authority is over all creation – even the demons that vex the people of this fallen world.  The evil spirits are helpless to resist the will of Jesus, the Word Made Flesh (John 1:14).  One demon says: “Have You come to destroy us?  I know who You are – the Holy One of God.”  Most of the people do not yet possess this knowledge, but the demons, that possess and infect the world that Jesus created, certainly do.  And Jesus casts them out – also by means of His Word, His command. 

And what’s more, the Word of Jesus has dominion over even diseases.  The disciples see this as Jesus cures the mother-in-law of Peter of her fever.  And of course, word about the Word gets out, and even after sunset, multitudes of sick and diseased people were brought to Jesus.  He “healed them” by the power of His Word – but His Word was attached to a physical element: that is, His flesh.  For Jesus is the Word, but He is also the Word Made Flesh.  And He cures us of our sinful, sick, and dying flesh – our flesh that is under the assault of the demons. 

Jesus departs from the region, emphasizing His own incarnate Ministry of the Word: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”  And He was indeed sent to us, dear friends – and He is here with us in His Word, and in His Word attached to physical elements – driving out our demons, curing our infirmities, and raising us from death itself!

Thanks be to God for His purpose of preaching – manifesting the “good news of the kingdom of God” in the form of casting out demons and healing the sick.  For He is the eternal Word, the Word Made Flesh, the Word that is still preaching and healing – the Word who endures forever (1 Pet 1:25).  And so shall we.  For…

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.