We all have someone who cares about us, but no one cares about us more than Jesus cares about us. Think about it. If you are fortunate you work for a company where the boss cares about you. Such a boss might demonstrate their care for you by providing you with a generous compensation package, flexible hours, and ample vacation days. But ultimately what your boss cares about is your ability to produce a profit - which is completely understandable. Your ability to produce a profit is what attracted them to you in the first place. Further, if you have chosen wisely, you have doctors that care about you. Such a doctor might demonstrate their care for you by taking the time to listen to you, carefully prescribing medications and performing procedures that will benefit you, or simply following up with you to see how you are doing. But ultimately what your doctor cares about is your medical condition – which again is completely understandable. After all that’s what you pay them to be concerned about. Finally, if you are a member of Messiah, I can assure you that your pastor cares about you. I try to demonstrate my care for you by being the guy you can confide in and receive counsel from, by laughing with you in the good times and crying with you in the bad, by praying for you and your family. But ultimately what I care about is your spiritual condition – which is what God has called me to do.
We all have people that care about us, but ultimately the vast majority of people that care about us are focused on one or two aspects of our lives. Today as we take a closer look at Luke 4:38-44 we are going to see that Jesus cares about us: physically, spiritually, and eternally.
In verse 38 we find Jesus in the home of Simon Peter. Jesus has gone there for a little R&R after spending a rather intense day at the synagogue where He was confronted by a man possessed by a demon. Jesus of course easily cast the demon out of the man, but still, humanly speaking, that had to be an intense moment. If that happened to me, I would be taking saint Paul’s advice and be looking for a little wine to settle my nerves. However, when Jesus arrived at the home of Simon Peter, He didn’t have time for a glass of wine. Luke tells us, “Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.” This doesn’t appear to be a mild fever. Luke, a doctor by trade, describes her as being controlled by the fever. The poor woman was debilitated by her fever and her family and friends were very concerned about her condition, so concerned that they ask Jesus to help her.
As I read about this poor woman, I could not help but think of little Arthur, Joe and Karen’s three-year-old grandson, who is lying in a hospital bed with a football sized cancerous mass in his abdomen. The poor little guy is fighting for his life, and I can only imagine how hard it is for his mom and dad, grandpa and grandma, uncles and aunts to watch Arthur struggle. I know they have asked Jesus to help Arthur and I know they would appreciate your prayers as well.
Although you may not have experienced the exact same thing Arthur’s family is facing, it is easy for us to empathize with the family. Most, if not all, of us have faced similar situations. We have stood by the bed of a loved one filled with concern for their condition, or we have been in the bed ourselves and have filled others with concern for our condition. In moments such as these we often hear the whisper of a question coming from the dark recesses of our minds, “why would Jesus allow my loved one; why would Jesus allow me to suffer? Doesn’t He care?”
When someone we love or when we are suffering physically it is easy to wonder if Jesus cares. That is why I am so very grateful the Holy Spirit has preserved Jesus’ encounter with Simon Peter’s mother-n-law. In verse 39 Luke tells us Jesus “bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.” Matthew tells us Jesus held her hand. Mark tells us He helped her up. Jesus comes close to her, He holds her hand, He supports her. These are the gestures of someone who cares.
Jesus cared about the physical condition of Simon Peter’s mother-n-law and He cares about Arthur’s physical condition. The Holy Spirit tells us He is the one who coded Arthur’s DNA, painted the pigment of his skin, and has counted the hairs on his head. These are the gestures of someone who cares. I don’t know if Jesus will rebuke Arthur’s cancer so that he can get back to doing what a three-year-old does, but I do know that Jesus cares about Arthur.
In the same way Jesus cares about you and your loved ones. You are not the only one who stands by the bed of a loved one, and when it is you who are lying in that bed, you are not alone. Jesus is there. Through His Word He comes close to you, He comforts you, and He supports you. So, whether or not Jesus chooses to rebuke the physical ailments that distress our loved ones or disturb us, we can be sure that Jesus cares about our physical condition.
Jesus cares about your physical condition, but He also cares about your spiritual condition. Word about what Jesus had done for Simon Peter’s mother-n-law must have quickly spread because people started bringing people who had “various kinds of sickness” to be healed by Jesus. Moreover, in verse 41 Luke tells us, “demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.” Here we see that people were being controlled by something far more dangerous than a fever. As a doctor, Luke makes a careful distinction between a physical and spiritual affliction. Luke identifies the source of the spiritual affliction as “demons” or “evil spirits”. These are the fallen angels who followed the Devil into rebellion against God and were cast into the outer darkness we call hell. Demons are like ferocious dogs that have been chained up in the back yard. If you stay out of the yard you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, every now and then witchcraft, fortune telling, and superstition entice someone into the yard, and they end up getting bit by the dogs.
Demon possession does not appear to be as prevalent today as it once was. But that does not mean the Devil and his demons are not hard at work among us. Instead of a full-frontal assault of bodily possession, these days the Devil and the demons seem to prefer working behind the scenes. They have learned that the best way to harvest the souls of men is not to scare them with threats but to entice them with temptations. They start with “little temptations” at first: a little gossip, a little deception, a little jealousy. But as soon as you become comfortable with the “little temptations” it doesn’t take long for the Devil and the demons to present you with bigger, grosser, and more destructive temptations. The Devil and the demons are so good at tempting us that we often fail to recognize they are doing it. And If the temptations of the Devil and demons are left unchecked, before we know it, we may not be possessed by them, but we will be controlled by them none the less.
Jesus demonstrated that He cared about the spiritual condition of the demon possessed people who were brought to Him by driving the demons out of them. Jesus continues to demonstrate that He cares about your spiritual condition by equipping you to resist the temptations that the Devil and demons put before you. The first thing Jesus does is assemble the angels who have remained loyal to Him. Jesus commands His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. The second thing Jesus does is call men into the public ministry who have been properly trained, spiritually equipped, and instructed to warn the sheep when the wolves start sniffing around. The third thing Jesus does is empower you with the ability to rebuke the Devil and the demons. Jesus empowers you with the words of Holy Scripture, which are the very words of God. Jesus gives you the same words that freed people from demon possession so that you can use them to resist demon temptation. Jesus surrounds you with His angels, He sends you His pastors, and he gives you His word because Jesus cares about your spiritual condition.
Jesus cares about your physical condition and He cares about your spiritual condition, but He also cares about your eternal condition. After a day and a night of healing the sick and driving out demons Jesus wanted a few moments to Himself. We often find Jesus taking some private time to be in prayer. There is an entire sermon series that could be preached about Jesus’ prayer life, but today it is what Jesus says in verse 43 to which I draw your attention. There Jesus says, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” If you are blessed, you have people who care about you physically and spiritually. In our second lesson for today we were reminded that young Timothy, who had “known the Holy Scriptures from infancy”, had people like that in his life. Both his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice cared both about Timothy’s physical and spiritual condition. If you have someone that cares for you like that in your life, then you are blessed. But even if those people care for you all the days of your life, they still can’t care about you the way Jesus cares about you.
Jesus brings us good news of the kingdom of God. In the beginning, God’s kingdom was. Long before you or I came to be, indeed before the first man or woman stepped foot upon the earth, God’s kingdom was. To call God’s kingdom an ancient kingdom is an understatement, but it is the best I can do at the moment. I am trying to stress the ancient nature of God’s kingdom because I want to take you back in time; thousands of years back in time, back even before there was time when the good news of the kingdom of God was first proclaimed. That is “when” Jesus chose you to be holy and blameless in His sight; when He predestined you to be saved, when He adopted you to be His own.[1] The good news Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God is ancient news.
As any student of history knows, kingdoms come, and kingdoms go. The kingdoms of men rise and fall, but the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of men. The ancient kingdom of God has endured throughout the ages and “when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”[2] Jesus stepped down from His thrown in God’s kingdom, entered into the timeline of mankind, subjected Himself to those temptations I was talking about earlier, offered God the perfect obedience to the law that we had failed to offer, and then sacrificed Himself as payment for our sins and redemption of our souls. The good news Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God was fulfilled in time.
Then, having made satisfaction for sinners, Jesus ascended into heaven. Once again, He took His seat on the throne in God’s kingdom and for over 2000 years Jesus has ruled over both heaven and earth from that throne, and from there He will continue to rule for all eternity, without end. But Jesus does not rule over an empty kingdom. He fills His kingdom with the souls of those who have been washed clean in the waters of baptism, who have been forgiven through the sacrament of the supper, and have been purified through the preaching of the Word. Jesus fills His kingdom with people like you. A seat at His table has been reserved for you and a room in His mansion has been prepared for you. The good news Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God is that a place in the eternal kingdom of God has been saved for you.
From the ancient days of God’s kingdom Jesus claimed you to be His own, when the time had fully come Jesus stepped down from His throne in God’s kingdom in order to save you from your sin, and Jesus is right now making plans to welcome you into God’s eternal kingdom because Jesus cares about your eternal condition.
In our Gospel lesson from Luke 4:38-44 we have been reminded that Jesus cares about us physically, spiritually, and eternally. That’s why I said, you may have someone who cares about you, but no one cares about you more than Jesus cares about you. Amen.
[1] Ephesians 1
[2] Galatians 4:4-5