ASSASSIN
07-04-2008, 07:39 AM
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON FOR JULY 6, 2008
MASTER TEACHER -
Luke 4:31-17; 20:1-8
BACKGROUND:
Jesus was never one whom people ignored. He always got a reaction – whether negative or positive. People were not “lukewarm” about Him; they usually had strong feelings one way or the other...
Today, we look at some examples of how people – and the devil – reacted to Jesus. He was, in fact, a Master Teacher, for He taught both by word and example. This is illustrated in this lesson as we examine two scenes from two different time periods of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The first scene comes from Jesus’ early Galilean ministry, while the second is drawn from His late Judean ministry. And just as it is today, the scenes may be different, but there is usually a similarity in the reactions...
JESUS’ ACTION, PEOPOLE’S REACTION (Luke 4:31-37)
It is interesting how the same message can be received so differently in different places. Here, Jesus basically repeats a message He gave to the people in His hometown of Nazareth . There ( Nazareth ), there was an attempt on his life (cf. Luke 4:29). This may have been partly because the people “knew” Jesus too well; that is, they had witnessed Him grow up in their midst, and saw Him as “Joseph’s boy” (cf. Luke 4:24). Do we accept our local leaders today, or do we place confidence in someone from far away that we really don’t know?
But here, some 20 miles away in Capernaum , the reaction was completely different. Here, the people were “astonished at his doctrine…”. They apparently accepted His teachings on a weekly basis in their synagogues. Can you imagine, Jesus Himself teaching every Sabbath? But be sure, wherever Jesus is, Satan will come along before long. Here we observe a man “which had a spirit of an unclean devil…” in the midst of the congregation. Why was he there? Did someone purposely bring him? And for what purpose? We may never know for sure, but Jesus dealt with the situation not the underlying motive...
The exchange between Jesus and the “unclean devil” is interesting. Notice that this spirit referred to itself in the plural (“Let US alone…”). This leaves us to understand that this must have been some of Satan’s demons that dwelt in this man’s mind. Notice also that they knew exactly who Jesus was. Finally, they revealed that they were aware of, and accepted their ultimate end. Notice the question: “Art thou come to destroy us?” Be assured – the devil is well aware of his ultimate defeat (even though he doesn’t know when); he just wants to take as many of us down with him as he possibly can...
Jesus quickly issues two directives: keep quiet about His identity, and come out of the man. There is no discussion; the spirits came out. Why? Because that was the best “deal” they could hope for from One who could have destroyed them on the spot...
The people were amazed at two things: first, that the devil obeyed Jesus, and that Jesus used no “formula of speech” in His exorcism. Prophets and healers of that day often used magic incantations in their attempts to remove demons; Jesus simply told them to leave...
LEADERS’ CHALLENGE, JESUS’ RESPONSE (Luke 20:1-8)
Both time and place are now changed. It is some two years later, and Jesus is in Jerusalem preparing to die on the cross. By now, church leaders were angered and were aggressively seeking ways to kill Him. And because He had cleansed the temple (Matthew 21:12, 13), He had now angered the Sadducees, and they had teamed up with the Pharisees in their efforts to silence Him...
So now comes the “trick” question. It was a question designed to entrap. They had nothing “on” Jesus, so they were attempting to manufacture something (that happens today). Think about it: here was a man who had walked the dusty streets of Jerusalem for upwards of three years, and no one could accuse Him of anything wrong. That had to be disturbing...
Here was the question: By what authority do you do these things (miracles)? It was a question that should not have been asked. They completely overlooked the miracles, and centered on how Jesus accomplished them. In truth, they were concerned again about healing “formulas”. For example look at what Peter and John said when healing the lame man at the gate of the temple: “…in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6b). But Jesus, in His healing, assigned the power to no one, for He WAS the Power. So Jesus didn’t need OUTSIDE authority, He was himself the authority. But Jesus was not ready at that time to explain this to his detractors, so He raised a question to them about John the Baptist. Notice how they evaded the question – not because they didn’t know the answer, but because they wanted to “save face”. An answer to that question would have shown THEM to have acted unwisely, and since they were trying to do exactly that to Jesus, they chose to keep silent....
A
MASTER TEACHER -
Luke 4:31-17; 20:1-8
BACKGROUND:
Jesus was never one whom people ignored. He always got a reaction – whether negative or positive. People were not “lukewarm” about Him; they usually had strong feelings one way or the other...
Today, we look at some examples of how people – and the devil – reacted to Jesus. He was, in fact, a Master Teacher, for He taught both by word and example. This is illustrated in this lesson as we examine two scenes from two different time periods of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The first scene comes from Jesus’ early Galilean ministry, while the second is drawn from His late Judean ministry. And just as it is today, the scenes may be different, but there is usually a similarity in the reactions...
JESUS’ ACTION, PEOPOLE’S REACTION (Luke 4:31-37)
It is interesting how the same message can be received so differently in different places. Here, Jesus basically repeats a message He gave to the people in His hometown of Nazareth . There ( Nazareth ), there was an attempt on his life (cf. Luke 4:29). This may have been partly because the people “knew” Jesus too well; that is, they had witnessed Him grow up in their midst, and saw Him as “Joseph’s boy” (cf. Luke 4:24). Do we accept our local leaders today, or do we place confidence in someone from far away that we really don’t know?
But here, some 20 miles away in Capernaum , the reaction was completely different. Here, the people were “astonished at his doctrine…”. They apparently accepted His teachings on a weekly basis in their synagogues. Can you imagine, Jesus Himself teaching every Sabbath? But be sure, wherever Jesus is, Satan will come along before long. Here we observe a man “which had a spirit of an unclean devil…” in the midst of the congregation. Why was he there? Did someone purposely bring him? And for what purpose? We may never know for sure, but Jesus dealt with the situation not the underlying motive...
The exchange between Jesus and the “unclean devil” is interesting. Notice that this spirit referred to itself in the plural (“Let US alone…”). This leaves us to understand that this must have been some of Satan’s demons that dwelt in this man’s mind. Notice also that they knew exactly who Jesus was. Finally, they revealed that they were aware of, and accepted their ultimate end. Notice the question: “Art thou come to destroy us?” Be assured – the devil is well aware of his ultimate defeat (even though he doesn’t know when); he just wants to take as many of us down with him as he possibly can...
Jesus quickly issues two directives: keep quiet about His identity, and come out of the man. There is no discussion; the spirits came out. Why? Because that was the best “deal” they could hope for from One who could have destroyed them on the spot...
The people were amazed at two things: first, that the devil obeyed Jesus, and that Jesus used no “formula of speech” in His exorcism. Prophets and healers of that day often used magic incantations in their attempts to remove demons; Jesus simply told them to leave...
LEADERS’ CHALLENGE, JESUS’ RESPONSE (Luke 20:1-8)
Both time and place are now changed. It is some two years later, and Jesus is in Jerusalem preparing to die on the cross. By now, church leaders were angered and were aggressively seeking ways to kill Him. And because He had cleansed the temple (Matthew 21:12, 13), He had now angered the Sadducees, and they had teamed up with the Pharisees in their efforts to silence Him...
So now comes the “trick” question. It was a question designed to entrap. They had nothing “on” Jesus, so they were attempting to manufacture something (that happens today). Think about it: here was a man who had walked the dusty streets of Jerusalem for upwards of three years, and no one could accuse Him of anything wrong. That had to be disturbing...
Here was the question: By what authority do you do these things (miracles)? It was a question that should not have been asked. They completely overlooked the miracles, and centered on how Jesus accomplished them. In truth, they were concerned again about healing “formulas”. For example look at what Peter and John said when healing the lame man at the gate of the temple: “…in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6b). But Jesus, in His healing, assigned the power to no one, for He WAS the Power. So Jesus didn’t need OUTSIDE authority, He was himself the authority. But Jesus was not ready at that time to explain this to his detractors, so He raised a question to them about John the Baptist. Notice how they evaded the question – not because they didn’t know the answer, but because they wanted to “save face”. An answer to that question would have shown THEM to have acted unwisely, and since they were trying to do exactly that to Jesus, they chose to keep silent....
A