Sermon Tone Analysis

If you’re like me, and I pray you’re not, you thought that ‘First do no harm’ was part of the hippocratic oath that all doctors were supposed to swear.

It’s not.

When I pulled up the Hippocratic oath I was astonished at what all was in there.

First did you know that it starts like this:

I SWEAR by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath

Second, did you know that the aforementioned phrase ‘first do no harm’ actually comes from another of his works: “the Epidemics” and its not even that clear in that text.

I thought about these things as I reflected on today’s gospel reading where in three different settings Jesus rebukes.

First He rebukes an unclean demon in the synagogue, then he rebukes a fever, and finally, he rebukes the demons who declare Jesus to be the Son of God.

A few notes on this passage- Jesus has moved on from Nazareth and has 3 vignettes across what appears to be about 24 hours:

In the first vignette there are three things of note:

Jesus is in a Synagogue again.

He wasn’t scared off by the threat of being thrown off a cliff

The man is plagued by an unclean demon.

There is a distinction as we have mentioned earlier.

In this hellenistic world, they believed in a plurality of spirits and demigods.

This particular demon renders the man unclean.

Finally, Jesus is about to do a work on the sabbath, the day of rest when no work is to be done.

Luke 4:31-37, is about Jesus exercising his authority over all things.

He rebukes threats, demons, and rituals in order to liberate those who are oppressed by crowds, demons and rituals.

In the second vignette (38-41) Jesus moves on from the synagogue and heals Simon Peter’s Mother in Law.

This is interesting because Simon has not been called as a disciple yet and Luke, the trained doctor, uses a medical term to tell us what is happening.

She has a fever- a high one.

What does Jesus do in front of the smaller crowd?

Rebuke.

He again, is in charge, what He has to say governs things as material as biology and epidemiology.

It seems word gets out because then the word of life is called into action to heal the sick and cast out demons en masse.

This brings us to our first point.

For Christians - Rest is found in doing the will of God.

Jesus heals two people on the sabbath.

He is not afraid of a little dirty work on the day of rest.

The crowds are- they come AFTER THE SUNSET.

The crowds have let something as little as ritual steal rest from them.

The creation of rest has been hijacked from us.

There’s been a coup on the estate of rest, screens have invaded our kitchen tables, our bedrooms, even the bathroom where we go to relieve ourselves has been a place where we are inflicted with constant alerts and feeds.

Christians know that rest is more than Netflix and Newspapers.

As Jesus demonstrates, sabbath is surprisingly active.

The rest that the Lord gives to the Land of Israel after they have driven out all the other nations does not mean that it was unproductive.

Did the land quite growing crops and housing people?

NO.

The rest of God is still productive - it is the Lord’s work.

He manifests salvation and life even when we are in opposition to it He will accomplish his task.

This leads us to the next point.

There is often a schism between what we want and what God wants for us.

In Jeremiah 1, the prophet hears a call from God and Jeremiah seems hesitant.

When you consider that Assyria, Babylon and Egypt are all looming - and you are... and I quote “appointed prophet to the nations”

Jeremiah wants to hold back.

I get it.

It’s our natural inclination to do things that make us feel good, and comfortable.

Look at what happened to Jesus in Luke 4.

The people of Capernaum want to hold Jesus back.

Why wouldn’t they?

He’s just cured them all and brought great prosperity.

This, ultimately, is the cause of all schism and breaking in the church and our lives.

It is our supreme desire for comfort, to drive out discomfort.

St. Paul reminds us:

He is writing this to an incredibly fractured church.

This could easily be us and it could easily be because of our covid policies or our political posture.

In either case it will be because we aren’t getting our way.

How many of us have lost friends in this last season because of a closely held view?

It is into this sad division that Jesus arrives and proclaims:

For too long we have assumed that we are the true believers on ANY TOPIC, the only ones left standing.

What pride.

We cannot for a moment think this.

Jesus went on preaching outside of Capernaum.

He moved on.

The will of God always includes another person.

Even as Jesus is on the cross alone- what does He do - invite someone into the Kingdom.

You know I like to think that the demons had a council meeting after this encounter with the living God and they each sat down and after they had gaveled into session and recieved the previous meetings minutes and heard reports and looked at the financial statements it was time for new business.

Each demon would be sitting there at an 8 foot table purchased from ikea and it would start out by saying “I think, or I want.”

Then they would squabble for eternity, each chiseling out a portion of the agenda for their own affairs.

To know that Jesus is the Christ is to know that what we want really is of no significance.

It is all about what He wants.

Verse two of our Psalm requires incredible humility:

Luther rightly points out:

Luther’s Works, Volume 10 (Psalm Seventy-One)

no one can say “and save me” except one who understands and acknowledges himself to be weak and sick and condemned.

Therefore those who consider themselves saved and who are pleased with their own health in the flesh, in the world, and in riches do not pray, even if they have uttered these words.

Friends, God has come to save the world.

The question is- do we want what He wants?

In his confessions, St. Augustine tells the story of how he stole pears from a pear tree even though he had better pears at home and didn’t even need them.

He says he did it simply for the act of theft- knowing what theft is like and even reveling in it.

Then he confronts the roots of his sin and how to avert it,

He has this beautiful line:

Covetousness would possess many things; and Thou possessest all things

Life in the kingdom of God is to be assumed into His existence.

Life in the kingdom is to Live as one possessed by Christ.

Jesus has come to give us more than just good advice.

He has come as God to bring about a new existence, a new world.

You and I are welcome in it because He has bought it for you and all people.

In the Kingdom of God, we can do no Harm because it is God’s Kingdom, not ours.

As He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, He has made you new, holy and beloved.

Amen.