Daily Devotional

The Sabbath ends at sundown, and the moment it does, the town comes. Carrying the sick would have counted as work on the Sabbath, so they waited. Now Mark tells us “the whole city was gathered together at the door” (Mark 1:33). Imagine finally sitting down after the longest day of your life and looking out the window to find the entire town in your front yard. It is the nine o’clock Sunday night knock on the door, multiplied by a thousand. Jesus does not blow out the lamps and pretend no one is home. He does not send Peter out to announce that office hours are over.

Matthew gives two small details that carry a great deal of weight. First, “with a word.” The Jewish historian Josephus describes an exorcist named Eleazar who, before the Roman general Vespasian, used a ring containing a special root, long incantations, and a bowl of water that the departing demon was ordered to overturn as proof (Antiquities 8.46-49). Craig Keener and others cite this account to show how elaborate and uncertain exorcism was in that world. Jesus needs no props and no performance. He speaks, and it is done. The centurion had it exactly right that same afternoon: “only say the word” (Matthew 8:8).

Second, “all.” He healed all who were sick. No one was turned away because it was late. No one was told the quota had been met. Every person carried to that door went home well. The authority of Jesus is not diminished by the size of the need or the hour of the day. Whatever you are bringing to him this week, you are not too many, too late, or too much.