Luke 4:16-30

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

Jesus begins His public ministry and preaching, and the first place He goes is to His hometown of Nazareth. There are three significant events that occur in this text:

  1. In the synagogue, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2 and makes a significant point that He is the fulfillment of this Old Testament Scripture (Luke 4:21). He has come to (A) proclaim good news and liberty to the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed, and to (B) proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (mercy) which refers to the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25:10. 
  2. He recounts the stories of Elijah and Elisha to point to the fact that the prophets before Him preached good news to Israel, and it ultimately landed on hard hearts and deaf ears. So God took the word to the Gentiles (Zaraphath and Naaman). And ironically, those very statements stirred up the very same response from the Jews. The mob literally chased Him to the cliff to kill him. 
  3. His time to die had not yet come, but He was foreshadowing the cross and the offense of the gospel and the cross. 

What are the things in your life that make you feel dignified? Honored? Approved? Valued? Is it how people perceive your talents? Your giftings? Maybe your career advancements? Maybe your big brain and intellect? Maybe your kids? Maybe you need people to give you attention and recognize you for all that you are and all that you do. None of those things are inherently evil, but our sin and our fallen nature so discretely and so quietly twist those things to be deeply self-serving. I do believe I serve for the glory and enjoyment of God. There is a sweetness from the Holy Spirit in that. But there is always a temptation to serve others for my own glory and ultimately to serve myself. Boy am I tempted to puff out my chest when I get a compliment, and wear it like an Olympic medal! Boy do those criticisms hurt the flesh!

One measurement and litmus test of our contentment in Christ, our freedom in Christ, our exploding joy in knowing God, is how we respond when we don't get the things that we expect. When we go above and beyond and don't get recognition. When we serve others and then start getting treated like servants. When we are hospitable and no one says "thank you". When we accomplish and succeed and no one seems to recognize those things. When we think we're really gifted at something (athletic, musical, motherly, pastoring, etc.) and instead we get criticism.

God says He is our Portion. Our fill. Our fullness. When we are full, there is a sweet Spirit-filled freedom-in-Christ generosity. You don't do it for others, you do it for God! When you are rich (in Christ), giving out $100 bills is no challenge at all. 

Do we do the things we do for an earthly reward? To serve ourselves? That was the deep depravity of the Pharisees and the Jewish teachers. All these wonderful things like teaching God's Word, prayer, giving alms, was all to serve the flesh. So when Jesus called them out, it further hardened their hearts and deafened their ears, and their egos were pricked to the point of killing the Son of God.

Posted by Robert Han on 10/18/2016

Comments

It's interesting that in verse 22, it says that "All spoke well of him and marveled (NIV says "were amazed") at the gracious words that came from his lips." Then, the story turns towards verse 28 that Jesus was driven out of town. When Jesus read the scrolls, He was revered and awed at. Once He started preaching truth, He was almost immediately rejected. Nobody likes being called out and rebuked. I think maybe the audience that day, which I'm assuming included many leaders, had become so accustomed and content to the ways things were, nobody considered evaluating their way of life with the Word of God. In the movie "Lincoln," it was said that President Abraham Lincoln read the U.S. Constitution with the Bible and compared the writings of both texts to compare and determine the intent of the Law of the People with the Word of God. Sometimes, we forget that the beginning and end of our being is God. He created us, and we will return to Him at the time of our earthly death. And in between is when we will get to taste and enjoy God's presence in our lives. Whom do we serve? Ourselves or God? Although we may be content and accustomed to living for ourselves because it's so much easier, we might be missing out in serving God in all things. Sometimes the easier route in life or the quickest perspective is not always the best.

Diana Lim on 10/19/2016 at 7:58 AM

God, forgive me for being rich in You but not being able to share my food with others!

Chris Moon on 11/1/2016 at 11:23 PM