Homecoming

Homecoming

Series: “The Gospel Truth”

Text: Luke 4:14-37

Introduction: (What?)

Jesus began His preaching and healing ministry in Galilee, but not in His hometown (where He was grew up from about age 4 to age 30). When He did return home, word about His preaching and miracles had preceded Him there. He went to His home church and was invited to read scripture and preach. What happened next is somewhat mind-blowing.

Examination: (Why?)

1. Winging it

Lk 4:16-19 “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In the previous two verses Jesus had created quite a stir in the nearby town of Capernaum with His preaching, healing and deliverance ministry. Then he goes home, the place where he had lived from about age 4 until age 30. As was his normal practice (as usual) while growing up, when the Sabbath came, he went to church. This should be a message to those who say, “I don’t need the church. I can be a Christian (little Christ) without associating with a church.” If Jesus felt that church affiliation was important, and if the Bible refers to the church as “The Bride of Christ” shouldn’t anyone claiming to be a follower of Jesus consider it important as well?

Surely the news of Jesus’s ministry in other parts of Galilee had made its way to Nazareth. He was invited to read an excerpt from the Torah and make comments on what he read. Either they were currently reading from the Isaiah scroll, or Jesus had requested that scroll. For whatever reason, that is the scroll he was handed. He unrolled it until he got almost to the very end, and then read from Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,”

Notice that what Isaiah wrote and what (according to Luke) Jesus read were just a bit different. Jesus left out the part about “healing the brokenhearted” and “the day of our God’s vengeance”. Most of the time we don’t even notice these slight changes, but you can be sure that the leaders of the synagogue did. Jesus stopped in the middle of verse 2. (John McArthur believes that Jesus stopped here because the rest of the verse prophesied the final judgment) This would not have resonated with those in attendance that day, because a great part of their theology included God taking vengeance on the enemies of Israel. They longed for a “near fulfillment” rather than an “end of the age” fulfillment

Also Jesus included the phrase “recovery of sight to the blind”. Where did this come from ? It could have been from Isa 35:5 “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” which is a reference to the Millennial Kingdom when Christ reigns from Jerusalem for 1000 years. Jesus, knowing that he would one day return to earth and reign in Jerusalem, could have lifted the verse from Isa 35 and dropped it into his reading of Isa 61. Perhaps a look at the Amplified Bible rendering of our text will shed some light on this.

Isa 61:1-2 THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, [Rom 10:15.] 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, (When the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus with a question from John, here was Jesus’s reply;...

[Matt 11:2-6 “Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”” Luke 4:18,19; 7:22.] AMP

So, it seems that Jesus “winged it” a bit to set up his comments on the passage.

2. Bringing it

Lk 4:20-30 “He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Then he said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. What we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also.’ ” He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had leprosy, and yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.

Once he had read the scripture, he sat down to teach and then Jesus zinged them with the message that he was the promised Messiah. Not only that, but he told them that the gospel was not only for the Jew, but also for the hated Gentiles. The simmering doubt that had been raised by Jesus’s unusual reading of the Isaiah text now erupted.

When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged! They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff. But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.”

For those of you who are fans of “The Chosen” episode 3 of season 3 deals with this passage. In it, as Jesus was brought to the edge of the cliff, he turns and begins to walk back through crowd while saying, “Not today!”

Before we get too tough on the people of Nazareth, lets take into consideration the fact that many of us do some editorializing of scriptures that we don’t like. We say things like, “What Jesus really meant was...” as if he needs us to interpret what he said. Thomas Jefferson, whom many consider to be a devout Christian, was actually a theist which means that he believed in God. I read this in preparation for this message;

“He was baptized and raised Anglican (and married and buried by Anglican ministers), but he rejected many of the tenets of that church. He regularly attended church of various denominations, but he declared that “I am of a sect by myself.” In simple terms, Jefferson was a theist (he believed in God).” As a matter of fact, he created his own New Testament by cutting out scriptures that he didn’t believe in (all the miracles of Jesus) and made his own “bible”. One historian noted about this “bible” that “The blind do not see; the lame do not walk; the multitudes will remain hungry if loaves and fishes must be multiplied to feed them.”

Many of us today are actually what I call “practical atheists” in that there are certain of the teachings of Jesus that we just don’t buy. Things such as John 14:12-14 ““Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

When Jesus spoke then (and speaks now through the scriptures and the Holy Spirit), He really “brought it”. The meaning of “bringing it” is To give one's all in a particular effort; to perform admirably or forcefully. What he says is not open to debate, only to obedience.

3. Moving on

Lk 4:31-37 “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. They were astonished at his teaching because his message had authority. In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be silent and come out of him!” And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all. Amazement came over them all, and they were saying to one another, “What is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” And news about him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.”

If you go to Capernaum today, you must enter a gate where there is a sign proclaiming “Capernaum the town of Jesus”. Evidently, after his experience in what had been his hometown, Jesus relocated the center of his ministry to Capernaum. His “home” while there was the house of Peter which is only about 75 paces from the synagogue that had been built or at least funded by the centurion whose slave Jesus healed.

While teaching in that synagogue, Jesus is interrupted by a demon-possessed man. (Wonder if there are any demon-possessed people in church today?) I find it interesting that the demons never doubted who Jesus was or is while many so-called intelligent people do have doubts. James, the half brother of Jesus, said in James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.”

Application: (How should I respond to this message?)

Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied by 350+OT scriptures?

Have you surrendered you life to Him?

Are you living by faith according to the teachings of Jesus?