Reading Luke Together #18 – A Day in the Life

After the upheaval of Jesus’ lifelong neighbors in the little town of Nazareth nearly throwing him off the cliff, Jesus waves goodbye. I think of Mary. It had to be hard to let him go. Or did she breathe a sigh of relief that he made it out safely? Did she worry then how he’d be treated by total strangers?

Luke 4:31 tells us that Jesus “went down” to Capernaum. Indeed: a drop from Nazareth, 1200 feet above sea level, to 700 feet below sea level! He “went down” geographically – and we understand that Jesus’ whole mission was that he “went down,” from heaven to earth, to the poorest, to the lowest strata of society, kneeling to wash his disciples’ feet, showing us God’s heart by his downward mobility.

Were I walking from Nazareth in the west toward Capernaum, I’d certainly linger atop the Arbel, with its magnificent view of the Sea of Galilee, its coastline dotted by the little villages that are the locations of Jesus’ ministry, Magdala, Bethsaida, the hometowns of the characters that will traipse around with Jesus. Did he look over the region, plan some strategy, pray for the fulfillment of God’s plan? Was he tempted just to return home?

What we read in Luke 4:31-44 is what Bishop Robert Barron calls “a day in the life of Jesus.” And what a (typical?) day! He taught, healed, and tried to get away for some private time. He taught – and we can picture just a few standing nearby, then others finding their way within earshot, perhaps one or two hustling away to bring family and friends back. They were “astonished” by his teaching. Was it his rhetorical style? The content?

Then there appeared in the synagogue a man “with an unclean demon.” Ancient people knew next to nothing about mental health maladies – and so they attributed terrible behaviors to evil forces. We can be sure that the suffering was made so much worse because family and friends misunderstood and sized you up as having gone over to the hosts of darkness. I spoke with a friend the other day whose wife is battling awful dementia. She rages at him, and flails bodily. She is not herself. He told me he has a deep understanding now of what people witnessed in Bible times.

Jesus cannot bear this, or the suffering – and so he heals the man by telling him (or what has taken up residence in him) to “Hush!” “Be silent.” Jesus will tell a storm at sea to be still. He will calm the disciples’ fears. He will himself be silent before his executioners.

What Luke hopes we will see is that it’s not a matter of Jesus simply helping one guy he feels sorry for. A cosmic battle of good vs. evil is unfolding. And what’s at stake with these healings? Yes, Jesus is obsessed with bodily health – but there’s more. Jürgen Moltmann is spot on: “These ‘miracles’ aren’t miracles at all. They are merely the fore-tokens of the all-comprehensive salvation… There is a difference between salvation and healing: Healing vanquishes illness and creates health. Yet it does not vanquish the power of death. But Salvation is the annihilation of the power of death and the raising of men and women to eternal life. In this wider sense of Salvation, people are healed not through Jesus’ miracles, but through Jesus’ wounds.”

Verse 38 reports that Jesus left the synagogue and went to Peter’s house, where he was staying. I have pilgrims who travel with me walk this route – and it’s maybe 40 feet to the house archaeologists found back in the 60’s! He heals Peter’s mother-in-law – and I love the notice that “immediately she rose and served them.” Yes, a woman right back at doing what women were expected to do in those days (and ours?) – but Luke is hinting that all of us, whatever our gender identity, reflexively go out and serve once we’ve experienced the goodness of God.

And then Jesus – is he tired? or just needing some time to himself? – slips away to a “lonely place.” Of course, it’s not lonely for him! He is alone with God his Father – what we call “solitude.” But the crowd wouldn’t give him space! In Nazareth, they wanted to get rid of Jesus; in Capernaum, they wanted to keep him for themselves. But he’s not theirs for the keeping. God has called him to visit other villages, other people – in fact, all villages and all people in all times.