Luke 4:14-30
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region.
15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
20 And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him.
21 Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 And all the people were speaking well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from His lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown as well.’ ”
24 But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a severe famine came over all the land;
26 and yet 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 with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;
29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff.
30 But He passed through their midst and went on His way.
A Prophet Not Welcomed in His Hometown
Prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled
Luke places “the sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth” at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and there is a reason for that. On the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61:1-2: “He has anointed Me to bring the good news to the poor. He has sent Me… to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Then He sat down and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” To summarize up to this point: (1) The prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah as a deliverer. (2) Jesus appeared before the people of Israel as the fulfillment of that prophecy. (3) For the residents of Nazareth, the “favorable year” had now arrived. If they had received Jesus as the Messiah at that moment, they would have experienced great blessing. But they could not accept the truth that “today it has been fulfilled.” How about you? Are there areas in your life where God’s promises have already been fulfilled, yet you are suffering because you do not believe them? “Behold, now is ‘a favorable time,’ behold, now is ‘a day of salvation’” (2 Cor. 6:1).
Tragedy of being too close to Jesus
The tragedy of the people of Nazareth was that they were too close to Jesus. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” In response, Jesus said, “No prophet is welcome in his hometown,” and He cited examples from the Old Testament in which Gentiles, not Israelites, were the ones who received blessing: the widow of Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian. The people of Nazareth became furious and tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. This entire sequence of events can be summed up by the words in John 1:11-12: “He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Unbelief brings tragedy. However, anyone can be accepted by God through faith – no matter who they are. One of the major themes of the Gospel of Luke is that, as a result of Israel’s unbelief, the gospel is proclaimed to the Gentiles. Let us remember again today that without faith, it is impossible to please God.
Today's prayer
Father God of Jesus Christ, the same Jesus who stood in the synagogue of Nazareth now stands before me. What a great grace I have received from You. Surely, now is the favorable time. Now is the day of salvation. Please fill me with joy and peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.