Luke 4:14-30
Countless churches have
participated in this scenario. A young
person who has grown up in the church senses a call to the ministry and goes away
to college and seminary. One day this
young person, whom we’ll call Michael, returns home; he’s invited to preach in
his hometown church. Sunday school
teachers and former classmates who knew him as Mikey come to hear him. Of course, Michael wants to do well so he
digs out the sermon he received his highest grade on and tweaks it to better
fit the people he grew up among. Not
wanting to appear too serious, he adds slightly humorous story; not wanting to
appear frivolous, he adds only one.
After the pastor introduces him,
mentioning the “prodigal” returning, Michael presents his sermon. His mother and father beam as he reads the
text and launches into the sermon.
Before long it is finished. The
pastor invites him to stand by the door to greet the congregation. Everyone has words of praise. More than one says, “Great job.” The less-impressed who couldn’t bring
themselves to say that were courteous enough to say, “May God bless you.” His mother hugs him and his father gives him
a hearty handshake, all the while thinking, “I hope I’m the only one who caught
that reference to Jonah and the ark.”
Absolutely no one—not even the girl he broke-up with as he headed off to
college because she wasn’t “spiritually minded”—wants to kill him.
Did you notice the movement in the
story Luke tells? The hometown crowd
that heard Jesus goes from admiration to anger.
The crowd goes from saying, “He’s one of ours,” to “Let’s kill him!”
How did he inspire the
admiration? How did he inspire the
anger?
Let’s give the story some
background. Returning from the
wilderness where he had faced terrible temptation, Jesus began his public
ministry. That ministry included
teaching and performing miracles. Some of that ministry took place at
Capernaum, the prominent town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. All the while his reputation was
growing. As Robertson suggests, “He was
the wonder teacher of the time.” This
kept him busy; in fact, it may have been as long as a year before Jesus
returned to his hometown of Nazareth.
When he did, the hometown crowd was eager to hear him.
Jesus returned to the synagogue
where he had probably heard the scripture read and discussed as a boy. The gospels present Jesus as faithful to
synagogue worship; he may have even read the scriptures before but didn’t offer
any comment on them.
The order of service included two
scripture readings. One was from the
Pentateuch, the five books of Moses.
This passage would have been part of a Rota, designed so the entire Pentateuch
would be read over three years. The
second passage always came from one of the prophets. It was chosen by the
synagogue leader or by the reader. After
the passage was read, the reader would either return to h is seat or offer a
few remarks on the passage. Luke tells
us that Jesus read a passage from Isaiah while standing as was the custom and
then sat down in the teacher’s seat to offer his sermon. In the first century, rabbis sat while
teaching.
Good News for Some
Jesus chose a passage from the
great prophet Isaiah. Doubtless it was
familiar to the congregation. They would
have associated it with the ministry of the long-promised Messiah.
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 release to the captives
and the regaining of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and the regaining of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
19 to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Most Jews were excited when they heard about the ministry of the
Messiah. They knew he would be doing
God’s work. To a degree the character of
the Messiah’s work could be summed up in those words, “to proclaim good
news.” We know how the term “good news”
is used in the New Testament. It is the
literal translation of euangelion, the
word for gospel. J. Knox Chamblin
explains the meaning of the term used by Isaiah. It is good news that is meant
to be “proclaimed widely, spread rapidly and declared and received with
joy.” The Hebrew word, as it was used in
the Old Testament, almost always refers to some great victory accomplished by
the power of the sovereign God.
As the words of the prophet were read, the crowd reflected on the depth
and breadth of the good news. It touched
people where they lived, it promised a better life, it promised freedom, it
promised a time when God’s grace would be especially evident. It was a promise that excited the Jewish
people; at least it excited those who held on to the hope of the Messiah.
Jesus finished reading and sat down.
Then he began to open up the passage.
We don’t have a record of all he said but Luke leaves us the “big idea”
of his message. It could be summarized
in a few words: “What you have just
heard me read has come true today.”
Initially the crowd was pretty impressed.
Jesus probably spoke well. He
probably demonstrated a deep knowledge of the Scripture. He doubtless spoke in plain language all
could understand. Luke says he spoke
“gracious words.” The idea is that his
words were winsome and appealing. He was
a joy to hear.
But then some began to say to themselves, “Wait a minute, did he say what
I think he said? Isn’t this the
carpenter’s son?” They caught on that
Jesus wasn’t talking in general terms about the age of the Messiah
dawning. He was not saying, “God is at
work right now,” a notion they could cling to; he was saying, “God is at work
right now to bring this prophecy to fulfillment—at work in me.” That they couldn’t accept. After all, he had grown up in their
streets. He had repaired their doors and
tables when they needed a carpenter’s skill.
They began to think, “If he expects us to believe that, he’d better be
ready to prove it.”
Jesus, of course, knew their initial admiration was shallow. Indeed, once they remembered he was just the
carpenter’s son, their attitude did change.
Before they could even begin to demand miracles, he challenged them.
He told them they were really no better than the apostate people during
the days of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. They wouldn’t hear and consequently did not
enjoy God’s blessing. Jesus point s
specifically to a widow who lived in Zarephath in Sidon, home of Elijah’s sworn
enemy Jezebel. As the famine raged in
Israel, this foreign widow ate food provided by God. Out of the many lepers in the land during
the time of Elisha, only one leper experienced healing. That was Naaman a military commander from
Syria. It each instance, the non-Jew’s
faith was blessed while the unbelieving Jews did not enjoy God’s blessing.
Suddenly, the people caught on to what Jesus was saying.
Preachers know they preach at least two sermons on any given Sunday
morning. At a minimum, there is the
sermon the preacher preaches and the sermon the people hear. It’s possible, I suppose, the preacher
sometimes preaches a sermon that is not the sermon he thinks he’s
preaching. But let’s not get into that.
This seems to have happened when Jesus visited Nazareth.
Jesus preached, There’s good news:
At long last, God’s great favor will be shown to the whole world.
The crowd heard, There’s good news:
At long last, God’s great favor will be shown to us Jews.
When they realized what Jesus was actually preaching, they were
enraged. If they had come expecting him
to say, “All I am I owe to the good people of Nazareth,” it didn’t happen. Far from flattering them, he said they were
spiritually obtuse.
In particular, they failed to see that God wanted to bless a world wider
than the Jewish world. Nazareth,
according to ancient Jewish historians, was a city with a population that was
100% Jewish. Doubtless, they were pretty
happy with that situation. Now, this
carpenter’s son who had had the benefit of growing up in this pure community
was suggesting the unacceptable. You
see, I think the crowd must have caught the drift of what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying, “God has always been a
missionary-minded God and I am a missionary minded Messiah.”
Although the crowd was impressed with Jesus’ preaching, they wouldn’t
accept the implications of what he said.
Miracles were okay as long as it was Jewish bodies being healed, Jewish
eyes being opened. Sermons on grace were
okay, as long as it was Jews receiving the grace. But Jesus had gone too far. Ray Summer wrote, “They could not accept the
idea of God’s favor and mercy for any except for the Jews.”
We can only imagine their thoughts as they reflected on what Jesus had in
mind. A farmer may have thought of the
foul-mouthed Roman soldier who forced him to leave his plow and ox in the field
so he could carry the soldier’s pack for the obligatory mile—straight through
the center of the village. Perhaps the
rabbi recalled hearing a scholarly Greek traveler express strange, blasphemous
ideas about God. A woman may have remembered
visiting Gentile city of Sepphoris, near Nazareth, and hearing the lewd comments of workmen as
she made her way through the streets.
How could God love such people?
With a single mind, the crowd determined to be rid of Jesus.
Good News for All
Let’s go back and review just what so angered that crowd in Jesus’
hometown. Let’s look at that “good news”
in more detail.
The gospel would be good news for
the poor. It’s tempting to jump
immediately to a spiritual meaning for these words. But, since we’re trying to better understand
Luke, we need to remember he presents Jesus as having special compassion for
the economically poor.
The gospel of a gracious God, who invited anyone to come to him, would
have truly been good news for the poor of Jesus’ day. While the Old Testament has many warnings
against oppressing the poor, negative attitudes toward the poor still
arose. The poor were considered to be
the special objects of God’s displeasure.
They were poor because of their spiritual condition.
Jesus modeled a new attitude toward the poor. Jesus would point to the poor as possessing
the attitude of complete dependence upon God that all must have.
He passed that attitude to his followers.
As a consequence, the poor often responded to the Christian message most
whole-heartedly. The “nothings” became
children of God through the gospel. In
some instances, it would be the poor who first introduce the gospel to a new
community. James would insist that “How
a community treats its poor is, for the Bible, the acid test of its life (Jas.
2:1–7).”[1]
The Christian church at its best has long cared for the poor. Christian leaders would attempt to define the
social dynamics that create poverty and attempt to change them. That’s a surprise to some because we are so
accustomed to living in the wake of what David Moberg calls “the great
reversal.” Formerly, evangelical
Christians were active in the struggle against poverty and injustice. Somehow, towards the beginning of the
twentieth century, the situation changed.
It may have been a response to a version of the social gospel that
ignored the need for conversion.
In any case, the poor were viewed with indifference. Compassion changed to condemnation. The poor were blamed for their
condition. They were lazy.
Then, in the late 1940s, leaders like Carl Henry began to call for a renewal
of the evangelical social conscience. It
was understood that laziness was not the major factor in creating poverty. The difficult truth was, many energetic
people simply could not escape the cycle of poverty into which they were
born. Without ignoring either spiritual
needs or immediate physical needs, churches began to work toward empowering
people to escape the bonds of their poverty.
The gospel would be good news for
the bound. The prophet envisioned the Messiah saying, “He
has sent me to proclaim release to the captives.” The word there is used only once in the New
Testament. It does not refer to those
imprisoned as criminals. This was the
word for prisoners of war; literally it means “those taken at spear point.”
The image suggests those who were taken captive by forces that
overwhelmed them. The idea may be that
they were taken captive by guilt, shame, fear, sin; and, perhaps, even
Satan. To these Jesus would come as the
great liberator. Paul would later
picture Christ’s work in dramatic terms when the reminded the Colossians how
God “…rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom
of his beloved Son.”[2]
It reminds us of how salvation, throughout the Bible, is seen as breaking
out of that which keeps us confined.
Warren Wiersbe expresses the meaning of the freedom provided through the
gospel. He says, “Freedom means I have
been set free to become all that God wants me to be, to achieve all that God
wants me to achieve, to enjoy all that God wants me to enjoy.” That very notion seems strange to those today
who see Christianity as oppressive and opposed to freedom. I can understand why some may see us
Christians as anything but free.
It’s always been a struggle to live out the freedom Christ wants us to
have. Less than two decades after the
birth of the church, Paul had to remind the Galatians that”Christ has set us
free! This means we are really free.” He
wrote this as he warned them of false teachers who would enslave them. Evangelist D. L. Moody once said, “The Spirit
of God…gives liberty, and that is about the last thing we have in many of our
churches.” Maybe we need to discover the
gospel before we try to proclaim it.
It we listen, we can hear the clinking of chains in our homes, the office,
the schools, the streets. We need to
make sure the gospel means freedom when we proclaim it.
The gospel would be good news for
the blind. For a variety of reasons,
blindness was a great problem in the ancient middle-east. It still is today in poorer countries. Jesus would heal some who were physically
blind. This seems to be a token of his
concern for those who are spiritually blind.
We are aware of this kind of blindness all around us. People are blind about themselves:
—they are blind to their identity as bearing the image of God, but see
themselves as only so much skin and bones, the product of chance.
--they are blind to their sin, failing to see that they are in rebellion
against the rightful Ruler of the Universe.
--they are blind to their inability to win God’s favor on their own.
They are also blind about God:
--they are blind to his character as one who is not remote but desires to
be close to them.
--they are blind to his offer of grace that transcends their weakness.
The gospel brings light to the blind.
It allows them to see.
The gospel would be good news for
the broken. Jesus said he had come “to
set free those who are oppressed.” The
word there is a powerful one. It
suggests broken or crushed. It speaks to
those who feel battered and shattered by the experiences of life.
Many around us feel broken by the experiences of life. Though the experience transcends generations,
today’s young people are often the most aware of it. They desperately look for someone to care, to
love, some sense of permanence and security.
They have tried one proffered solution after another only to find them
false promises. This leads to real despair.
Listen to Adele’s Someone Like You
to hear the cry of the broken-hearted and the underlying fear they might never
find someone who will love them.
The great Greek scholar A. T. Robertson comments on this aspect of Jesus’
ministry. He says, “One loves to think
that Jesus felt it to be his mission to mend broken hearts like pieces of
broken earthenware, real rescue-mission work. Jesus mends them and sets them
free from their limitations.”
The gospel would be good news for
all of us. The Jews listening to
Jesus would have known “the year of the Lord’s favor” was a reference to the
Year of Jubilees. This was the occasion
that took place every fifty years in Israel.
It was an amazing time. Debts
were forgiven. Slaves were set free. Land confiscated for debt was returned to its
original owners. One writer explains,
The Jubilee Year had a leveling effect
on Israel’s culture; it gave everyone a chance to start over, economically and
socially. The Jubilee Year reminds one of God’s interest in liberty; God wants
people to be free (Luke 4:18-19).[3]
We all need God’s grace and favor.
Jesus was saying that the gospel is the offer of that grace and
favor. The word “year” is not meant to
imply that the offer was to be limited.
It meant a new age had come.
The Year of Jubilees was a time of jubilation, joyous celebration of
God’s gracious character. The gospel
ought to lead us to jubilate.
Responses
Well, the folks in Jesus’ hometown just couldn’t handle what he was
saying. It was okay for them to
experience all these blessings but there had to be limits. Talking about “good news” for the Gentiles
was going too far.
Besides, Jesus seemed to be saying that they would have to come to God
like ordinary sinners if they wanted salvation.
Enough was enough. In their rage
the intended to push Jesus off a cliff.
One writer suggests they may have imagined they could deny responsibility
for his death. You know, “We didn’t kill
him, it was the fall.” In any case, it
didn’t happen. Jesus walked away
unharmed. Luke doesn’t tell us how.
I wonder. How do we respond when
Jesus says something we don’t like. Do
we pray for a new attitude or do we choose to ignore it or explain it
away?
How do we respond when the Bible reminds us that God loves everyone,
especially when we feel that’s just a little too broad-minded of God?
Is there anyone you’d like the gospel to exclude? Do you want it to be good news for you but
maybe not that angry atheist at the school board meeting, that gay couple down
the street, that Muslim co-worker, that boorish neighbor who complains that you
let your grass get too long, or maybe someone you just don’t want to put up
with in heaven?
The “good” people of Nazareth missed the chance to get behind the
hometown Boy and be in the vanguard of a world-changing movement. Jesus had trampled on their prejudices and
they couldn’t put up with that. Jesus
never returned to his hometown.
When Jesus tramples on our prejudices, how do we respond?
[1] Ferguson,
S. B., & Packer, J. (2000). New dictionary of theology (electronic ed.)
(523). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version.
1989 (Col 1:13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[3] Hayford, J. W., & Thomas Nelson
Publishers. (1995). Hayford’s Bible handbook. Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA;
London; Vancouver: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
