August 22 Be Furious

Luke 4:28-32 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. 31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
 
DO you see him? Lurking in the shadows is Jesus’ enemy. The devil is prowling “around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) How do we know? He’s not named here.
    Remember, now, in our look at Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Luke records that the devil “left him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13) Some say that the next opportune time was in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed to be delivered from the cross. But we can be assured the Tempter takes no such 3-year break from his destructive desires against our Lord. Here is such an “opportune time” in Nazareth and its synagogue.
    What else but evil could cause the Jews to be “furious” when they heard Jesus judging their disobedient hearts? To be furious is to be all-out, energetic and passionate against something. Furious can even be out of control. Yes, the Jews were amazed (see how often Luke uses that word) at Jesus’ teaching until he spoke the truth of their unbelieving hearts. All-out, the people of Jesus’ hometown moved to throw him over a cliff to his death.
    The killer Satan would have rejoiced if that had happened. There would have been no sacrificial altar for the Christ. He would die at the hands of a mob, not in the way the Father had planned. The prowling devil, indeed, was moving against the Holy God through his own people, just as he did in Eden and he has throughout world history.
    But as in the desert, Jesus prevailed. Certainly he walked through that crowd in the Spirit’s power. That day was not the day for Jesus to die. He had preaching to do that he might demonstrate the Father’ love for the world. The Father had planned the time and method for Jesus to live and to die, to rise and to ascend. God’s will is done here. The Spirit empowers, and the Son moves on.
    Always remember that evil is furious against God. In response we be furious to serve the Lord with all of our heart, mind and soul against sin. Passionately, we must call on God to lead us through dark valleys of opposition and into the Father’s will. That’s what Jesus did. Deliberately, furiously for the Father, our Lord kept his eyes toward the cross. He moved past the furious crowd to passionately preach all-out for the gospel in Capernaum.  
   
Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me to be furious against sin and to live all out for you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.