Scripture Daily

Context No. 2233 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 4:35-44: in context

35Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36Amazement came on all and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region. 38He rose up from the synagogue and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him to help her. 39He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them. 40When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41Demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. 42When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them. 43But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.” 44He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

After a day of teaching, casting out demons, and healing all who were brought to him, Jesus withdraws at daybreak to a solitary place. The crowds seek him out and try to keep him, urging him not to leave them. But Jesus does not stay, even for so eager and needy a crowd. I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, he says; for this reason I was sent. He knew what he had been sent for, and would not let even the good demands of the crowd divert him from his mission.

What stands out here is Jesus' clarity about his purpose. The crowds wanted him to stay; there were more sick to heal, more people who wanted him, and their claim on him was genuine and their need real. It would have been easy to stay, to be diverted by the pressing demands and the eager expectations of the crowd. But Jesus knew his mission, that he was sent to preach the good news of the kingdom to many cities, and he would not let even the good and needy demands of one crowd divert him from the larger purpose for which he was sent. He kept to his mission, clear about what God had sent him to do. This holds a lesson about clarity of purpose amid the many demands upon us. We are pulled by countless claims, many of them good and genuine: needs to be met, expectations to be fulfilled, people wanting our time and attention. And these can divert us from the particular purpose God has given us, so that we are pulled in every direction by the demands of others and lose sight of what we are actually sent for. Jesus, amid the very real demands of the crowd, kept clear about his mission and would not be diverted from it. My food, he says elsewhere, is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Clarity about our God-given purpose keeps us from being pulled off it by every claim. This does not mean ignoring the needs of others; Jesus healed and served the crowds. But it means knowing what God has sent us for, and not letting even good demands divert us from the central purpose he has given. Paul's aim was to finish the course and the ministry he received from the Lord; and to finish it, he had to keep clear about it amid many demands. This searches whether we know and keep to our God-given purpose. Are we clear about what God has sent us for, or are we pulled in every direction by the demands and expectations of others, diverted from our central mission by every claim on us? Jesus knew he was sent to preach the kingdom to many cities, and would not let the crowd's demands keep him from it. And we too are called to clarity about the purpose God has given us, and to keep to it amid the many demands upon us, serving the needs around us without letting even good claims divert us from the central mission for which God has sent us.

Am I clear about the purpose God has given me, or am I pulled in every direction by the demands and expectations of others, diverted from my central mission by every claim on my time and attention, and can Jesus, who amid the crowd's eager demands kept to his purpose, saying, I must preach the kingdom to the other cities also, for this I was sent, move me to know and keep to my God-given purpose, serving the needs around me without letting even good claims divert me from what God has sent me to do?

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