If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God
and that He is the Christ,
then why are we not obeying Jesus’ rebuking?
“At sunset the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them. Moreover, 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 that He was the Christ” (Luke 4:40–41). While meditating on this passage, I desire to receive the instruction given:
(1) Luke 4:38–39 says that Jesus stood near Simon (Peter)’s mother-in-law, who was lying down sick with a high fever, and rebuked the fever. Matthew 8:15 says that Jesus touched her hand, and Mark 1:31 says that Jesus went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. But in today’s main text, Luke 4:40–41, we see both cases recorded: that Jesus laid His hands on each of the sick people and healed them (v.40), and that He rebuked the demons, and the demons came out of many people (v.41).
(a) What is somewhat interesting here is that Jesus “laid His hands” on each of the various sick people and healed them (v.40). The reason this is somewhat interesting is that Jesus did not merely “touch” each sick person one by one (cf. Mt 8:15, where Jesus touched Peter’s mother-in-law’s hand), but rather He laid His hands on them, that is, He “laid hands” on each one to heal them.
(i) The term “laying on of hands” originally was used for: (1) When the one offering a sacrifice laid his hand on the animal to be sacrificed to transfer his sin (Exod. 20:15, 19); (2) When witnesses who heard blasphemy laid their hands on the blasphemer before he was stoned, to transfer to him the defilement or sin that had come upon them (Lev. 24:14); (3) When Jesus or the apostles, in performing works of healing, transferred God’s power to the sick (Mk. 6:5; Acts 28:8); (4) When apostles, by apostolic authority, laid hands on Christians in regions where the Holy Spirit had not yet come, to outwardly show that they too had become one body in the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18–19). Thus, the common meaning of laying on of hands is to transfer something (Hochma).
· In today’s passage, Luke 4:40 uses it in the third meaning, and similar examples appear not only with Jesus but also with many apostles. Therefore, Jesus’ act of healing through laying on of hands in this passage is not some magical technique, but simply an outward expression to show that His power was being transferred to the sick person. In short, Jesus laying His hands on the sick in this verse shows both that Jesus is the source of healing power and that He had tender concern for each individual sick person (Hochma).
(ii) When I meditate on this “laying on of hands,” I am reminded of when I received ordination as a pastor from the presbytery. At that time, the presbytery met at Sierra Vista United Presbyterian Church, which my father-in-law (an elder) and mother-in-law served (I understand that the meeting was held there intentionally because they knew that their eldest son-in-law—me—was to be ordained as a pastor). I, who was to receive ordination, was kneeling on a cushion on the pulpit platform in the church sanctuary, and several pastors gathered in a circle around me and another candidate for ordination, placing their hands on our heads or shoulders—indeed, in my case, one pastor even grasped my neck with his hand—and prayed the ordination prayer. I vaguely remember this.
· And as I think about it, when I received pastoral ordination, if the power of God had been transferred to me—specifically the three powers I preached about at the 2025 New Year’s service from Acts 1:8: “the power of the Word,” “the power of prayer,” and “the power of love”—how wonderful that would be. Of course, here “the power of the Word” and “the power of love” refer to the power of God’s Word and the power of God’s love, and “the power of prayer” refers both to the prayer-power of God the Son, Jesus, and the prayer-power of God the Holy Spirit.
- The fact that “the power of prayer” is the prayer-power of God the Son is shown in Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.”
- And the prayer-power of God the Holy Spirit is shown in Romans 8:26–27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
n So, these days, when I pray alone, desiring the prayer-power of God, I pray to God like this: “In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps James (my name) in his weakness. James does not know what he ought to pray for, but the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for James with groans that words cannot express. And God the Father who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for James according to God’s will. The one who died and was raised again is Christ Jesus, who is at the right hand of God and intercedes for James.” I pray that the prayer-power of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will be transferred to me.
(b) One more interesting point here is that Jesus laid His hands on each of the sick and healed them (Lk 4:40), while “rebuking” the demon-possessed and not allowing the demons to speak (v.41).
(i) The Greek word for “rebuking” here is ἐπιτιμῶν. Besides today’s passage in Luke 4:41, it already appeared in v.39, where Jesus healed Simon (Peter)’s mother-in-law who was suffering from a high fever—“He rebuked the fever, and it left her.” The reason Jesus did so may be because Luke understood the cause of the fever as the activity of Satan [cf. Lk 13:16: “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be released from what bound her, even on the Sabbath?”] (Hochma).
· This rebuking of Jesus also appears not only in Luke 4:39 and 41 but also in Luke 8:24 and 9:42: “The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’ He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm” (8:24). “Even as the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father” (9:42).
- What these passages teach us is that because Jesus is “the Christ” and “the Son of God” (4:41), even demons, the wind, and the waves (the raging storm) obeyed Jesus’ rebuke.
n What is interesting here is that even the demons knew that Jesus was the “Son of God” and “the Christ”: “And the demons came out of many people, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But because they knew He was the Christ, Jesus rebuked them and would not allow them to speak” (v.41).
(ii) Even though the demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ, and obeyed Jesus’ rebuke, do we who believe in Jesus truly and fully believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ? And if we do believe, why are we not obeying Jesus’ rebuke?
· James 2:19–20, 26: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? … As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
- 1 John 3:18: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”