February 16, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ‘Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’” (Luke 4.33-34)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Let me start with a possible answer Jesus could have offered in that synagogue moment in Capernaum. In the synagogue was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” He was a man found worthy by the standards of the community to be in synagogue. He was a practicing Jew. He tithed. He gave offerings. He read the Torah. He gave no sense of wrongdoing. He was a good man. There is no sense that he was a “one and done” as has been made popularly known in today’s world. By that I mean, he was not a stranger or a visitor to the community. He may have even been a representative of the Elders or Pharisees in Jerusalem who was sent, as many were, to visit the synagogues for support and accountability. We do not know his business there. We do know that in the presence of Jesus, he was exposed. It was Jesus’ authority that was being called into accountability. Remember when Jesus was twelve? Mary and Joseph found Jesus sitting on the Temple steps conversing with the Elders and Teachers of the Law. By all appearances, Jesus was teaching them. I am sure that some of those men, and onlookers who gleaned from their teaching truths for their own lives, were truly astonished and noted mentally, “This boy will make a good rabbi or elder from His community.” There were others who would have been thinking, “Take note as we do not know where He has come from. He may be a threat to our own community. He teaches like one of us but we do not know Him.” Both would have been surprised when Mary and Joseph arrived on the scene. They would not have been recognized by them either and looked upon with skepticism. Someone may have asked “Who are you?” When they heard, “We are from Nazareth. This is my husband, Joseph, who is a carpenter there. I am Mary, his wife and the mother of Yeshua. Now come along, Yessie, it is time for us to go home.” It was then that eyes would have really been raised when Jesus responded, “Why were you looking for Me as if I was lost? Didn’t you know you would find Me in My Father’s House?” Who knows what was thought or said by anyone there in the moments that followed. What we do hear is a similar voice now being used to draw Jesus out in Capernaum. Jesus had been “drawn out” in Nazareth as well. The voice said, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?“

In the Gospel according to the beloved disciple John, the brother of James, we find Jesus again teaching on the steps of the Temple. This time He is not a twelve year old boy. He is at least thirty years of age, the age of a Rabbi. He had been asked many questions by the Pharisees, the Elders and the Teachers of the Law. He had taught them many things. He had also done many great works. In one such opportunity Jesus spoke of the qualities and character of “a good shepherd.” Following the example of David, “good” leaders in Israel fashioned themselves to be shepherds of the people of God. Notice they did not accept the need to be shepherds of “God’s people.” (The address of this failure Jesus revealed in The Parable of the Good Samaritan.} On this occasion, however, Jesus called the Pharisees, Elders and Teachers of the Law into accountability. He said to them, “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in all its fullness. I AM (is) the good shepherd.” (John 10 9-11a) Hear the echo of this response in the question of the “man” in Capernaum on a particular Friday evening Sabbath service. “Have you come to steal, kill and destroy us? I know who you are ‘Holy One of God’?” The recognition of the “man” of Jesus from Nazareth was both an affirmation and a challenge. Jesus was being called out. Instead, Jesus called “him” out. He exerted His true authority to give life and to give it in abundance. He silenced the man and the demon inside. He recognized the test which had come before Him as easily as He recognized the Devil in the wilderness. You have to love that Jesus “kept it simple.” Jesus said, “Peace, be still. Come out of the man.” It was with similar words and intonation that Jesus silenced the tempest on the Sea of Galilee when the disciples cried out, “What do you have to do with us? Do you prefer sleeping and leaving us to die?” In that teaching on “a good shepherd,” Jesus acknowledge that the sheep have no fear. They know the voice of the shepherd and trust in him exclusively. The stranger, the thief, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, they do not know. They become restless and fear-filled. They begin to cry in distress. They push against each other and possibly trample others, especially the lambs, under foot without thought. Jesus answered simply by asserting, “I have come to give life and give it abundantly.” It is obvious to everyone that Jesus is not asking for anything but following Him in living in right relationship with God. Jesus’ sense of service is a “ground up” event. It is not earned but given. It is lived out in gratitude and not in “paying dues.” Those who trust in the good shepherd find the door to provision in the world. They also find acceptance in the Kingdom. There is no “middle person” like the High Priest who stands as a barrier or curtain to keep the world out. There is a lentil, doorway, on which the “blood of the lamb” is spread to protect those within from evil and harm. Jesus response to the demon-possessed man is indicative of the nature and character of Jesus’ ministry. He is here to deliver us into the Kingdom of God and to show Himself as “pro-life.”

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.