³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. ⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴¹ 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 he was the Messiah. ⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

–Luke 4.28.44 (NIV)

Today I pick up on the question Bishop Tom Wright has raised. What would it look like if we saw God coming back to put the world aright? Luke gives us two important pieces of information in today’s passage. As we have seen before, Jesus was not the Messiah his people expected. God did not become human and return as a conquering hero or an all powerful being who would wave his hand and suddenly rid the world of all evil. Instead, he returned as a suffering Messiah, one who would confront the evil and brokenness of the world through humble service and love, offering the healing power of God to people who desperately needed it.

We can naturally relate to this story. Luke describes the eagerness of folks to see Jesus and to be healed by him. They naturally wanted to keep Jesus for themselves! But our Lord would have none of it. He tells them that he needed to go about proclaiming the kingdom of God. He did this, of course, through preaching, teaching, telling parables, and through acts of power like Luke describes in today’s lesson. In doing so, we get an insight into God’s plan to restore his creation. As a man, Jesus did this by healing the sick, raising the dead, and offering mercy to those who didn’t deserve it, thus bringing further healing when his mercy was accepted. Yes, there will be a day when Jesus returns in great power and glory to deal with the problem of evil and of his good but fallen creation. That is one of the messages we must take from Jesus’ resurrection. We see in him a glimpse of God’s New Creation.

In the interim, however, we see God dealing with the problem of evil by ministering to his sick and broken people in Jesus. The great thing about that is that we too can follow Jesus in this work. We too can allow the Spirit to transform us into Jesus’ salt and light for his broken and hurting world. In other words, we can be agents of God’s New Creation right here and now, working like Jesus did to put things right where they had gone wrong. We may not be given the gift of miraculous healing or the ability to drive out demons (then again, some of us might), but all of us are capable of bringing God’s tender love and mercy to his broken and hurting creation and creatures.

And how best to do this? Jesus models that for us as well in today’s lesson. Note carefully that before he starts his work, he retires to pray, to get refreshed in God’s presence and to listen for his marching orders. Likewise with his followers. If you want to be a Kingdom worker, you need to get your marching orders and you do that, in part, through prayer. No one can be a legitimate Kingdom worker without it. God, of course, can use anybody to help him accomplish his good will and purposes. That is not what I am talking about. Rather, what I am talking about here is intentionality.

Jesus calls each one of us to follow him and to imitate him, and he tells us how to do that. We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross each day, and follow him. We cannot follow him if we do not listen for where he wants us to go and what he wants us to do. This requires spiritual discipline on our part so that we can learn to listen for and hear the Master’s voice.

Are you ready to embark on the adventure of your lifetime? If you are, follow Jesus and let him transform you into his salt and light.