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. 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.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Devotion based on Luke 4:42-44

One of the quickest ways to become popular is to make life better for people, and Jesus had been doing just that. He had performed one miraculous healing after another. People suffering from all kinds of sicknesses flocked to him, and he cured them one by one.

It’s not surprising, then, that people went looking for him after he slipped out for some alone time. It’s even less surprising that they tried to prevent him from leaving. What is surprising, though, is that Jesus wanted to leave. Why would he go away from a place where he was so popular?

Isn’t that the point? Conventional wisdom states that popularity means success and if you’re popular, it will make your life better.

But while it’s natural for us to think that being popular is a worthy goal, Jesus demonstrated that popularity is not proof of success. Remember what he told the people: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (v. 43).

It’s true that Jesus had the power to make life better for people and the potential to be extremely popular, but that was not the reason he was there. He was sent not to make life better, but to give us a different life entirely.

Jesus knew that our problems are bigger than the sicknesses that kill us. For Jesus, success meant proclaiming the good news of his imminent victory over sin, death, and the devil. That victory does more than make life better; it gives eternal life to all who believe in Jesus.

That’s why believers in Jesus keep preaching that same good news—to take as many people as possible safely into the kingdom of God.

Prayer:

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.