[Luke 4:16-44] 2026.10.25 Doctor Jesus, heal yourself
[Luke 4:16-44] 2026.10.25 Doctor Jesus, heal yourself
Big Idea: God sent Jesus to tell the gospel, and he would not waver before contempt or confusion. Now that you have heard it, respond with consecrated service.
1. Jesus would not waver before contempt, from people or demons (vv.16–35)
2. Jesus would not linger with those confused about him, even though they needed his healing (vv.36–44)
3. Having heard the gospel, respond with consecrated service (vv.38–39)
In Australia, there’s a phenomenon known as the Tall Poppy Syndrome.
It describes a situation where a person may have achieved success in an area but instead of being celebrated, they are resented, criticised and even excluded by others.
In today’s Bible passage, Jesus came back to his home town of Nazareth, full of the Holy Spirit, but instead of celebrating Jesus, his friends and neighbours had a bad bout of Tall Poppy Syndrome.
They were so upset with Jesus that they were about to throw Jesus over the cliff.
Was it something Jesus said?
It was, and since that day, what Jesus said would continue to upset many people.
Would you or I be one of them?
Let’s find out.
Please open your Bible with me to Luke chapter 4, beginning with verse 16.
We’ll see three things
1. Jesus would not waver before contempt, from people or demons (vv.16–35)
2. Jesus would not linger with those confused about him, even though they needed his healing (vv.36–44)
3. Having heard the gospel, respond with consecrated service (vv.38–39)
Before we look into it, let’s pray,
“Father, we thank you for your word. Please soften our stubborn hearts and still our minds so that we may live lives of consecrated service for your glory. For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
1. Jesus would not waver before contempt, from people or demons (vv.16–35)
Look with me at Luke chapter 4, beginning from verse 16, “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written”.
One of the things that I really enjoy seeing at Church is when different members of the family publicly read God’s word at the front.
It might be an older Mandarin speaking grandfather and a younger English speaking grandson.
That would’ve been similar to Jesus’ synagogue as he would’ve been going to that synagogue for probably twenty years, serving with Jews of both older and younger generations.
Here’s what Jesus read.
It’s actually a quote from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
It was a beautiful description of what God has promised to his people.
After Jesus finished, he rolled the scroll again and sat down.
The preacher in synagogues didn’t stand to preach; they sat to preach.
Everyone was anticipating what Jesus was going to say.
He began by saying this, “Today, as you listen, this Scripture is fulfilled.”
Wow.
What a way to begin his explanation!
Jesus was saying that God has anointed Him, that is Jesus, with His Spirit.
And that now, Jesus would preach the good news to the poor, proclaim release for the captives, give sight to the blind and free the oppressed.
Jesus said that this prophecy is now fulfilled, because he was here.
The people were amazed at his words, as you would expect them to be.
However, they had an interesting question, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (v.22).
They knew Jesus, they watched Jesus grow up.
They probably ate with Jesus and even got Jesus to fix things for them, just as his father Joseph did as a carpenter for many years.
They would’ve looked at each other and asked, “He is Jesus, right? He is Joseph’s son, right? What is he thinking? Who does he think he is?”
Jesus knew what was in their hearts and so he said, in verse 23, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. What we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also.’”
The people in Nazareth thought that they knew Jesus, whom they had known for over twenty years.
However, when Jesus said that he was anointed by God to preach the good news to the poor, that he was the one sent by God to set captives free, they grew hostile to him.
How dare Jesus think that he was better than the rest of us?
I mean, look at him.
He needs to get himself sorted out first, he needs to heal himself first, before healing anyone else.
These people, the very same people that Jesus grew up with, had shown Jesus contempt.
How would you feel if that were you?
How would you feel if the people who knew you the longest, your best friends, your family, turn out to be the ones who knew you the least?
You would feel bad, wouldn’t you?
But not Jesus.
Jesus didn’t feel sorry for himself.
Instead, his response turned the whole situation upside down.
The heart of the problem is not that they had shown Jesus contempt and rejected Jesus, as bad as that was.
The heart of the problem was that God had rejected them and that this good news, this year of God’s favour does not apply to them!
Look with me at verses 24–26, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.”
Jesus referred to a time of great famine in the whole land.
The widows, whose husbands had died, and who couldn’t make money on their own, would have a very hard time surviving in Israel during the famine.
They were in desperate need of God’s favour.
But instead of helping the widows in Israel, God sent one of his most powerful prophets to an unnamed widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
She wasn’t even an Israelite!
God would save this unnamed, non-Israelite widow, rather than one of the many widows among his own people.
It would be a little like my family celebrating the birthday of one of my children, but instead of buying the cake for the birthday child, I took the birthday cake to a homeless person I just met at the train station.
Why would I do that?
The birthday cake belongs to the family, not some random person, especially on their birthday.
But that was what Jesus was saying.
Instead of bringing his blessings, God’s blessings, on the people who grew up with him, Jesus said it was God’s plan to give it to someone who wasn’t from Jesus’ hometown.
That is, Jesus has come to bring the good news, but the good news wasn’t for the Nazarenes.
It happened again with Naaman the Syrian, the general of the enemy army.
There were many lepers in Israel, and yet God sent Elisha to heal him.
Jesus’ point for his fellow Nazarenes was this: God had favoured strangers and foreigners over you, even though you grew up with me.
As John the Baptist said earlier in Luke 3:8, “And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.”
God’s favour rests on those who acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, and not merely the son of Joseph.
And the same is true today.
Often, it’s our closest friends and families who don’t recognise the good news we bring them, and who show us contempt for our message.
Here at Church, we want our Church members to bring their families to Church so that they can worship God together.
We want to bring our friends, our best friends, to come so that we can share the gospel of Jesus with them.
I thank God for my parents, who shared the gospel of Jesus with me.
But far too often, our friends and families are some of the hardest people we share the gospel with.
We have fathers and mothers, even sons and daughter, who think that they know better than us, and so they refuse to accept Jesus.
Like Jesus’ friends and families, they might say something along the lines of ‘Doctor, heal yourself’.
They might say, “Teacher, teach yourself. You think you know more about life than me, you don’t! Teach yourself first.”
That’s what they did to Jesus.
The Nazarenes dismissed Jesus of Nazareth, seeing him merely as the son of Joseph instead of the Son of God.
When they sneer at you for following Jesus, they show themselves to be out of favour with God.
For it’s not the poor, the blind, the captives or the oppressed who sneer, but it’s those who thought of themselves to be rich, all-seeing and free who sneer.
And their contempt for the gospel doesn’t diminish the value of your gospel work.
Their contempt for your gospel work is a sign that they’re not favoured by God, that they are blindly heading towards the path of destruction and that their need for the gospel is far more urgent than they realise.
When the people of Nazareth heard Jesus’ response, they were infuriated and threatened to kill Jesus, but Jesus passed right through them, because it wasn’t time for him to die yet.
Often when we think about sharing the gospel, we rightly think about sharing the gospel with our families and friends.
We should keep inviting our friends and families to Church.
However, we mustn’t only invite our families and friends to Church.
Invite people whom you don’t know.
Invite the stranger and the foreigner.
From my own experience and the experience of many Christian brothers and sisters, often, it’s the stranger who’s more likely to engage in a good, gospel conversation with you than your friend.
It might seem scary at first but often it’s scarier to share with our friends and families than with a stranger or foreigner.
Why?
Because God, in his providential grace, has prepared that stranger to be open to the gospel.
I had a look over the people who got baptised over the past year, and the majority were people who weren’t friends or families of our Church, but strangers with whom we’ve shared the gospel.
And so, don’t be afraid to share the gospel with someone you’ve only just met.
Don’t be afraid to share the gospel with a foreigner.
In God’s providence he placed you there so that you can share the gospel with them.
If our neighbours within our ten-minute radius do roll their eyes at church, or family members treat our faith with contempt, don’t be discouraged, don’t retaliate and don’t retreat.
Invite them to the Welcome Home course and the Welcome to Life - Discover Course.
Be faithful in proclaiming God’s word to the world.
As well as the contempt from his fellow Nazarenes, Jesus faced opposition from the demons in the spiritual realm.
As Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, a man with an unclean demonic spirit cried out to Jesus saying, “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Unlike the Nazarenes, the demons knew that Jesus was the Holy One and that he was powerful enough to destroy them.
Jesus rebuked the demon and ordered him to be silent.
Jesus would not let demons be the heralds of his true identity.
At his word, the demon fled and left the man without hurting him.
Jesus, who proclaimed the words of the gospel with authority also rebuked demons with authority.
Jesus proclaims the gospel with unmatched authority.
When we hear the words of Jesus, whether here at Church, or at home, do we recognise his authority?
Or do we sneer at it?
Friends, don’t show contempt for Jesus and his words, and don’t show contempt for those who do his work.
One of the saddest things we see at Church is when God’s people look down on the gospel work others have put in, as if it was nothing.
If you’re on the receiving end, if your friends or families have shown you contempt for sharing the word of Jesus, don’t give up.
Jesus did not waver before it, not at the cliff in Nazareth and not at the cross.
Follow in his footsteps and don’t waver as you do.
That was the first point.
The next two points will be shorter.
2. Jesus would not linger with those confused about him (vv.36–44)
The people at Nazareth rejected Jesus but those in other towns could not get enough of Jesus.
After the people saw that even demons obeyed Jesus, news about him spread in the whole area.
People at Capernaum were amazed at his teaching.
Here’s the picture of what was possibly the place where Simon Peter’s house was situated.
That’s the house that was referred to here in Luke 4:38, “After he left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her.”
Why was her fever such a big deal?
While we don’t know the exact cause of the fever, it’s possible that what she had was Malaria, a disease borne by mosquitoes.
Being over 200 metres below sea level, Galilee was a mosquito breeding ground for many centuries.
One of the most obvious symptoms of malaria is a high fever.
And who had a high fever?
Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.
If not treated, this can lead to a lot of complications.
Even with today’s medical advances, there have been 610,000 deaths worldwide in 2024 due to malaria.
If that’s what Simon Peter’s mother-in-law had, then her prognosis was very dim indeed.
There were people who cared enough about Simon Peter’s mother-in-law who told Jesus about her.
Jesus stood over her, rebuked the fever, and the fever left.
Not only did Jesus have authority over demons, he also had power over sickness.
And so, at sunset, everyone who had someone sick brought the sick to Jesus.
Jesus laid his hand on each of them and the sickness was gone.
Jesus rebuked all those who had a demon in them and the demon was gone.
They were amazed at what Jesus could do.
However, amazement is not understanding.
When it was day, Jesus went to a deserted place, away from the people.
However, the people came searching for Jesus, and they tried to keep Jesus from leaving (v.42).
Even though Jesus healed many at Capernaum and he could heal many more, he would not let them keep him at Capernaum.
Look with me at verse 43, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.”
Capernaum wanted to keep Jesus all to themselves.
In Jesus they have a free medical service provider, who has a 100% success rate.
Imagine having a Doctor who can heal every disease, who can cast out every demon.
Why would you let this Doctor go?
However, Jesus the Doctor would not make his residence here in Capernaum.
As noble and as wonderful as it is for Jesus to heal diseases, that’s not his mission.
Jesus’ mission is to do what God’s sent him to do.
Satan tried to redefine his mission, Nazareth to end it, Capernaum to contain Jesus.
Instead of Nazareth’s ‘Doctor, heal yourself’, Capernaum might say, ‘Doctor, heal us, forever!’
Capernaum was right about Jesus being the healer but they were confused about what he had come to do.
Jesus had not come to be the Doctor, but to be the Saviour.
Jesus himself said that it is necessary for him to proclaim the good news in other towns.
He must do what God’s sent him to do, he can do no other.
Jesus loves his people, but his allegiance must be first to God, even if it’s not what the people wanted.
A lot of times, people comment on how good a church is by saying how well they’re fed, whether at morning tea or from the sermons and Bible studies.
However, if we only come to church to be fed, whether physically or spiritually, are we that much different than those in Capernaum?
They wanted Jesus for the benefits he could give them.
A church whose primary concern is only about feeding itself has mistaken Jesus primarily as their Doctor.
And so, friends, do not reduce Jesus to a supplier of your needs.
He is firstly your Lord.
Ask him who he is concerned for and who he wants you to go to, and follow him as he goes to others who aren’t in his kingdom yet.
A lot of times, when we think about St Paul’s Kogarah, we think about the people physically here in this church.
We think only about the people we see in our congregation.
But in the Anglican Church, we are formally divided according to our parish.
It is an area, not just a building.
That is, according to the Anglican diocese, this area of Kogarah is our responsibility.
Other Churches will have other parishes, other suburbs, to look after, but we are responsible for proclaiming the good news of Jesus to every soul in our neighbourhood.
Friends, let’s be wise and not be a church that’s confused about Jesus, wanting him to serve “our” group, “our” language or “our” programme.
As our English and Mandarin congregations unite, we must remember that the one Lord sends all of us to the 500 households around us.
3. Having heard the gospel, respond with consecrated service (vv.38–39)
Between the contempt of Nazareth and the confusion of Capernaum stands one right response.
Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, who was healed by Jesus, responds with consecrated service.
Look with me at verse 39, with special focus on the second part, “So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them.”
Simon Peter’s mother-in-law wasted no time in expressing her thanks to Jesus in works of service.
Lately, Jenny and I have been watching the 1984 Hong Kong martial arts series 楚留香之蝙蝠傳奇, The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung.
In it, a woman is saved by a martial arts expert, 中原一點紅 (A Red Dot in the Central Plains).
Even though Red Dot was on a dangerous mission, she followed him immediately, willing to risk her life to help him accomplish it.
That’s what Simon Peter’s mother-in-law did.
As she rose from the bed, she began serving Jesus and those who were with him.
The Bible commentator James Edwards calls this a saving-serving relationship.
Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is saved, she then starts serving.
How was Simon Peter’s mother-in-law saved?
She was saved when Jesus ‘served’ her by healing her.
Her service arose from understanding that Jesus was the One who served her first.
That’s what true knowledge of Jesus looks like.
It’s an acknowledgement of Jesus that is accompanied by service.
The demons knew exactly who Jesus was but they refused to serve him.
They know him, but theirs is not a saving knowledge.
In contrast, Simon Peter’s mother-in-law knew Jesus as well, but unlike the demons, she served Jesus with that knowledge.
What kind of knowledge do you have of Jesus?
Do you have a saving knowledge of Jesus, or a demon’s knowledge of Jesus?
A saving knowledge of Jesus is one who is convicted in both heart and mind that Jesus is the Son of God and it seeks to serve him straight away, without hesitation, without holding back.
A demon’s knowledge of Jesus is one that knows the truth about Jesus but refuses to serve Jesus.
As James says in James 2:19–20, “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder. Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?”
Faith without works, that is works of service to God, is useless, demonic, dead.
Faith that is genuine receives God’s gospel with gratitude and responds with consecrated service.
The word ‘consecrate’ means to make holy.
The person who has genuine faith doesn’t serve with ulterior motives, doesn’t serve begrudgingly, but they see their service to God as something holy, something precious, because the Holy One of God has come to serve them.
What does consecrated service look like?
Consecrated service looks like this.
Last week, we had a Giftedness meeting and as part of the preparation, we looked at how many man-hours it takes to run the church every month.
It’s about 410 hours each month.
Each month, together, we give 410 hours to make Church happen.
I thank God for all those who are actively consecrating 10 hours, 20 hours to make Church happen.
However, to make Church continue to function healthily, we need more people who will under God, consecrate their hours to serve God and his people.
Over the next few weeks, as the Giftedness team prays and taps some of us on the shoulder, would you pray too, asking God to make us a church that consecrates hours of our weeks to serve him, because he first served us?
It may be services that include Hall set-up and pack-down team, Safe Ministry helpers, musicians, and Welcome Home hosts.
It may be inviting a neighbour to the Christmas concert on 13 December.
By faith, my prayer is that God will move us so that we have men and women, boys and girls who will so consecrate themselves that we will reach our milestones we’ve set before God.
Grace comes first and service follows.
We do not serve to be healed; we serve because we have been healed.
Consecrate yourselves to serve God because God has sent His Holy One to serve you.
We have seen three things.
First, Jesus would not waver before contempt, from people or demons.
Second, Jesus would not linger with those confused about him.
Third, having heard the gospel, respond with consecrated service.
So the question this morning is not what Nazareth or Capernaum did with Jesus, but what you will do now that you have heard.
Not contempt, not confusion, but consecration.
Jesus did not waver when Nazareth tried to throw him off a cliff, nor when Capernaum tried to keep him, and he did not waver when he set his face towards Jerusalem and bore our contempt on the cross.
He served us first.
As Jesus said in verse 21, “Today, as you listen, this Scripture is fulfilled.”
Today, you have heard the gospel, so rise and serve him.
You may have been a Christian a long time, but you choose not to serve.
You’re just participating at a distance.
My friends, don’t have the faith that a demon would be happy with.
Have an active serving faith that Jesus expects from those who have genuine faith.
Stop admiring Jesus from a familiar distance, stop at being amazed by Jesus and offer yourself for one area of service this week.
We need more people who will consecrate themselves to serve us in many areas of ministries.
You will find some of these in a link that the Giftedness Team will send to you this afternoon.
God sent Jesus to tell you the gospel, and he did not waver, even on the cross; now that you have heard it, rise and give him your life in consecrated service.
Let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for sending Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. Please forgive us when we have treated Jesus and his word with contempt. Please forgive us when we stubbornly remain in our confusion about Jesus, only wanting the gifts and not the Giver. Father, please consecrate our lives with acts done in faith, so that we can continue Jesus’ mission of bringing his good news to the poor, the captives, the oppressed and the blind in this world. Father, make us servants of Jesus, the Holy One, who has always loved you and now also loves us. It’s in his name that we pray, amen.”