Luke 4:41 (ESV)
And demons also came out of many,
crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them
to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
If the demons knew that Jesus was
the Christ, the Messiah, and they were saying, “You are the Son of God!” why
would he not allow them to speak? The Bible Knowledge Commentary says that the
reason is that he did not come to earth to be acknowledged as Messiah by demons
but by people. That may be, but it doesn’t say that he rebuked them because they
acknowledged him but because they knew he was the Christ.
In the very next paragraph Jesus says
that he must move on because he needed to preach the good news of the kingdom
of God to other towns as well. His message was the same as John the Baptist’s, “Repent,
for the kingdom is at hand.” His goal was to call people to repentance, not to
call people to arms. If the Christ, the Messiah, was there then in the minds of
the people it was time to take up arms against the Roman oppressors. It was
time to gain freedom and take back their land. Jesus had something far more
significant in mind. The kingdom was not entered by power, but by repentance.
It makes me wonder about our own
approach. In the name of Jesus the Crusades of the Middle Ages attempted to
take back the Holy Land by power. In the 1980s in the United States the Moral
Majority attempted to take back our country by empowering the silent majority
to vote. The current administration of the United States talks about taking
back our country by power. But that’s not how the kingdom works. It is not by
might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God Zechariah 4:6 reminds us. The
power of the Spirit begins with repentance. The kingdom is ushered in through
repentance. It seems that we are always drawn to power. Yes, there is power in the
name of Jesus, but maybe we should be less concerned about power and more
concerned about repentance.
Comments
Post a Comment