The Gospel of Jesus

When I was thinking about switching gears for Easter and doing a short sermon series, I immediately had an idea to do a Birth Story, a story that highlighted Jesus’ life, and then obviously the resurrection story.

But I didn’t know which stories I wanted to cover.

Like if you were asked which story characterizes Jesus’ ministry and life which one would you choose.

Healing a blind man? Raising Lazarus from the dead?

Walking on water? Feeding of the 5,000 (only story in all 4 gospels)?

So I was stuck.

I asked a friend and he didn’t really have any suggestions.

Then the story we are going to look at this morning kept showing up.

It started at a Saturday Morning Bible Study I go to.

I asked Corrie what she thought and this is what came to mind for her.

Then it was on an Episode of The Chosen I watched.

So I through prayer and reflection, I thought this would be a good place to highlight Jesus’ live and ministry.

Just to set the stage for you.

In Luke’s Gospel up to this point, Jesus has been baptized by John and tempted in the wilderness by the devil.

But he has made it through the temptation and his heading back to his home region.

I want to make a couple of notes about the Biblical authors for just a moment, specifically the authors of the Gospels.

I’ve talked about it before, but it does bare repeating.

The biblical authors all had their own reasons for writing the Gospel accounts.

Not only that, but biographical accounts in Ancient History were different than the way we do them today.

Yes they wanted to tell the stories about Jesus’ life and ministry, but at the same time chronological timelines were super important to the biblical authors.

They were more concerned with building a theological framework around Jesus’ life and teachings.

What do I mean?

The event we are going to look at this morning takes place much later in Matthew and Mark’s Gospel.

But Luke uses this event in Jesus’ hometown to set the stage for the mission of Jesus and the framework for his gospel account.

Luke’s gospel is for the outcasts and the Gentiles, those non-Jewish believers.

For the outliers of society. For the poor, broken, needy, and oppressed.

That is the audience that Luke is writing too.

So Luke does rearrange the events in Jesus’ life and ministry to help communicate the purpose of his account.

Luke front loads this story to teach and prepare his readers on how to view and interpret the rest of his gospel account.

The events are true accounts, they are simply rearranged to tell the story the way Luke needs to tell it.

To highlight the theological truths about Jesus that he wants to communicate.

Now before we read the scripture let’s pray and ask for the Lord’s Guidance.

Luke 4:14–15 CSB

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.

Jesus Praised

Jesus leaves the wilderness after being tempted by the devil and goes back to Galilee.

And at this time word is spreading about Jesus’ ministry.

Now in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ ministry hasn’t really started yet.

But As I said before, Luke has rearranged the sequence of the story to fit his theological framework.

So we can look back on Matthew and Mark’s Gospels and see that Jesus has made quite a splash through his healing and teaching.

Right at this point Jesus is becoming famous.

And notice this, we will talk about it a little bit more later, but Jesus was working in the power of the Spirit.

He was doing the work he was set out to do through the power of God himself.

People were praising Jesus b/c of his teaching.

There was excitement.

There was recognition of Jesus’ good teaching.

They really liked what he had to say.

The name of Jesus was making a positive impact.

But that wouldn’t always be the case.

This was something that they missed.

Luke wants us to see Jesus as a teacher, but he also wants us to see him as much more.

Jesus was a good teacher, but he wasn’t simply a teacher.

He was king of the universe.

God Almighty who had come for the salvation of those who will believe.

Luke 4:16–17 CSB

16 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. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

Jesus in the Synagogue

Jesus arrives in the town where he grew up

Nazareth was a small town and poor town of around 400 people.

Nazareth was nothing special when it came to influence and power in the Middle East.

The ancient Jewish people would expect the Messiah’s Ministry to start somewhere of greater influence, authority, and power, but it started in a little town of Nazareth where Jesus was raised.

Even some of Jesus’ followers were confused.

Jn 1:46 “46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

What does Jesus do when he is in Nazareth he went to the Synagogue.

Let’s not move past this.

The Messiah, the Savior of the World, went to worship Every Sabbath.

This was the routine of Jesus.

And if J.C. went to Synagogue every Sabbath, shouldn’t the believer in Jesus mirror his devotion to worship.

Shouldn’t we make every effort and attempt to be at Church to Worship Together Every Sunday.

“How are we going to be like Jesus if we’re customarily avoiding the things the Jesus customarily attended?”

Worshiping with other believers isn’t optional for the follower of Jesus.

It should be our desire to gather together and praise the one who saved us.

There are very few, I can think of about 3, good reasons that church could be missed.

Worshiping with other believers is essential to our growth as Followers of Jesus.

We should mirror the Importance that Jesus placed on worshiping God.

Now this is something not everyone gets to do, but Jesus gets to teach in the synagogue.

Have you ever wondered what a service looked like in the Synagogue during Jesus’ life?

We have a pretty good Idea.

There was an attendant or ruler, but there wasn’t, especially in such a small town, a priest to oversee and preach each Sabbath.

They would invite and allow traveling rabbi’s to come in and teach at the gathering, that’s how Jesus was allowed to teach on this day.

During the service they would recite the Shema from Deut 6. They would do a reading out of the Torah and the Prophets.

Then there would be an explanation of the reading and the teacher would tie the readings together in their explanation.

To wrap up there would be a blessing given by the ruler of the synagogue.

So in this instance b/c of Jesus’ fame in and around the region, he was invited to teach.

He was invited to share and explain the scriptures.

To be a fly on the wall and listen to Jesus teach the scriptures would be an amazing thing.

In fact, Jesus’ teaching of the Scriptures is important to Luke’s Gospel.

His ministry starts with teaching and it ends with teaching after the resurrection.

And we will look at that next week, but I want to give you a glimpse.

Luke 24:27 “27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.”

Jesus’ ministry was to reveal and explain to people the person and work of God.

The history of redemption.

And he did this primarily by teaching.

Jesus’ life was Expositional.

Meaning that he revealed the true nature of God and the teachings found in the scriptures that He provided us with.

This is what is missing in many of our churches today.

Not all, but many.

There aren’t people teaching about the word of God as God presents it.

Rather they are appealing to the itching ears of the congregation.

They are bending to the will of culture.

Rather than standing on the truth of the word of God.

Regardless of what it will cost.

As pastors we aren’t supposed to do anything but stand up, read the scriptures, explain the scriptures, and point to Jesus.

B/c the reality is the Scriptures are all about Jesus.

However, we like to think that the Scriptures are about us. And we want preachers that tell us that they are about how following this set of rules or praying this specific prayer will get me something from God.

The harsh reality is the Bible isn’t about you. It isn’t about me. It is about Jesus.

And God in his grace and compassion has chosen to reveal himself to us through the pages of Scripture.

So the bible isn’t about you, but it is for you.

For you to see and grasp the reality of redemption.

See and understand the depth of God’s Love and the reality of his wrath.

So if we want to be a church following in the footsteps of Jesus we need to teach and instruct the way that he does.

Pointing past ourselves to his beauty and glory.

Proclaiming God’s Word.

Not a word we want to hear from God, but the words that were given by God.

And as we will see that’s going to get Jesus is trouble.

It might get us in trouble too, but we have to stand firm and not compromise the truth of what God has revealed.

Jesus is providentially given the scroll of Isaiah.

Many Scholars call Isaiah the 5th gospel b/c of how much it reports about the coming of Jesus and his life death and resurrection.

Isaiah talks profoundly of the Messiah to come.

Giving characteristics of his life and ministry, so it’s no accident that this is the scroll Jesus is given.

He then unrolls the scroll and finds the place from which he wants to read.

There is some debate about this, if Jesus actually chose this scripture or if it was the assigned scripture for that day.

It doesn’t really matter either way, but on a plain reading of the text it appears to me that Jesus readily and purposely searched out the text he was going to read for this gathering.

And here’s what it said.

Luke 4:18–21 CSB

18 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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 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. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Jesus’ Mission

This reading comes from Isaiah 61:1-2. We read this scripture earlier in the service.

But there are a few things that I want us to notice about the verses.

First, the Spirit of the Lord is on Jesus.

This was mentioned earlier, but It’s important for us to note that in Luke’s gospel and in his second account Acts, the spirit plays an important part in the story of Jesus and the early church.

Just in the short time of Jesus’ life recorded here in Luke we read

Luke 3:22 “22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.””

Luke 4:1 “1 Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”

Luke 4:14 “14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.”

In this opening statement of Isaiah, and in Luke’s account of the Gospel we are meant to realize that Jesus is the one of whom this scripture speaks.

And Again what it the mission of the one anointed?

The one set apart with the Spirit upon him?

Three time in these verses we see preach and proclaim.

There is a proclamation of the Good News.

Who is the preaching and proclamation towards?

The broken, outcasts, sick, hurting, oppressed, and captives.

Those who recognize their need for good news.

Those who see the reality of the world around them and long for something more.

Jesus here is proclaiming the good news of grace for those who recognize their need.

The reality of these verses isn’t that Jesus is going to make the poor wealthy.

Free people from prison.

Make all who suffer from blindness see.

Or liberate the oppressed from under the thumb of Rome or other regimes.

These are not just physical ailments that Jesus is talking about.

He is speaking about the more pressing need.

The need of spiritual renewal.

The need of restoration and reconciliation.

Free from what exactly.

What are we bound to?

We are bound to sin and death.

We are slaves to our sinful desires and dead in our sins and trespasses.

But Jesus came to set us free.

The theme of release or freedom in this passage is linked back to Lev. 25.

Which describes the year of Jubilee.

If you aren’t aware, the year of Jubilee is a special time for the Jewish People.

It was a time that only came around every 49 or 50 years.

And during the Year of Jubilee, or the Year of God’s Favor every debt would be forgiven.

All sold land would be returned to the original owners family.

Every slave would be set free.

There would be a restoration of people, land, and finances.

Things would be set right.

This is what Jesus came to do not in a temporal sense.

Not in a restructuring of society, but in the hearts of individuals.

Those who are poor in spirit will be comforted.

Would find richness in the good news of grace.

Those who are slaves to sin

Would be set free to live a live devoted to the things of God.

Would be free from the slavery of selfish desires..

Those who are spiritually blind would have their eyes opened to the beauty and grace of God.

To the redemption found at the foot of the cross.

Those who are oppressed by the trappings of the world would be liberated.

Those who are crushed in spirit will be renewed.

The debt of sin.

A debt we cannot pay.

A debt we all owe.

The debt that causes a chasm between our creator and us.

That is death and separation from God would be paid.

Those who trust and believe can rejoice at the salvation found in the arms of Jesus.

Exalting Jesus in Luke One Dramatic Reading of Scripture (4:16–20)

The gospel we preach cannot be an escapist, pie-in-the-sky gospel; it must be a gospel acquainted with pain, roughened by grit, and smelling like marginalized people. The gospel must enter the world as it is and proclaim to broken people a healing Savior.

That is the Lord’s favor.

Forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love are available to those who receive it in humble submission to Jesus.

Repenting of their sins and trusting the creator of all.

And what did Jesus say there in that synagogue right after he read that scripture.

“Today as you listen, this scripture has been fulfilled.”

He said the year of Jubilee.

The offer of freedom.

Grace. Mercy.

and peace.

Is fulfilled that day as they listened.

He is the one who fulfills the promise that God made 700 years before through the writing of Isaiah.

And I’ve got some good news for you church?

The scripture is still fulfilled.

Nothing’s changed.

The offer of freedom, grace, mercy and peace is available today.

The sin that you are holding onto can be forgiven.

The crushed spirit you have can be renewed.

The debt that you owe can be forgiven.

If you trust and believe in Jesus.

If you repent of your sin and believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and rose again on the third day.

You will be saved.

The message of Jesus.

The proclamation and preaching of the good news is that freedom and grace is available to all who will believe.

The good news of the gospel message comes from Jesus alone.

Grace comes through faith in him alone.

We can’t earn it.

We can’t work for it.

We can’t achieve it.

We can only simply receive it through faith.

Forgiveness is available.

The debt has been paid.

Trust and believe.

Now I don’t know about you, but to me that’s some great news.

However, those present at Jesus’ revelation don’t know what to make of Jesus’ claim.

Luke 4:22–24 CSB

22 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?” 23 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.’ ” 24 He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

Crowd Confusion

They are confused by Jesus’ claim to be the promised Messiah that offers life.

They all knew about Jesus.

He had grown up before their eyes.

They knew his family.

He’s Joseph’s son, how could he claim these things.

They had a hard time believing that the kid they watched grow up could be the one who would fulfill the Scriptures.

Even his brothers didn’t know what to think about him.

And sadly familiarity with Jesus is why so many people don’t know Jesus as the Savior.

They are familiar with the bible.

They are familiar with the Sunday School Stories.

They are familiar with church activities.

They are so familiar with the things of God, that they miss him entirely.

Or even worse, they believe their familiarity is enough.

But Jesus doesn’t care if you’re familiar with the order of church service.

Or with the phrases and cues of Christianity.

He doesn’t care if you know about him.

He wants you to know and recognize him for who he is.

It’s not knowing about Jesus, its about knowing Jesus.

We have to look past what we think about Jesus and see who Jesus claims to be.

And in order to receive life, we have to accept him on his terms not on our own.

We can see this in in our lives too.

When Jesus saves us it can be hardest to witness to those who were closest to us.

Parents, siblings, or even lifelong friends.

They don’t know what to think about our devotion to Jesus.

Surely you can’t be all that different.

Surely what you believe can’t be true.

They reject you b/c of their familiarity with you.

They don’t believe you can change.

This is even more extreme when You are the Son of God.

They don’t know what to do with Jesus’ claim.

But Jesus has a supernatural understanding of what’s going on in their hearts.

So he knows what they want.

They want to witness some miracles.

They want him to do what he did in Capernaum.

Luke 4:23-24 “23 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.’ ” 24 He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”

If they are to believe Jesus, they need something to see and believe.

The proverb “Doctor, heal yourself.” can be confusing but it’s explained by the following part of the verse.

They want Jesus to show them who he is through signs and wonders, not simply through the proclamation of the the truth.

There are a lot of people in certain denominations and sects of Christianity that put emphasis on the healings of Jesus.

But I want you to see here and later, that Jesus never went on a Healing Tour.

He went on teaching tours, proclaiming the kingdom of God.

And the healing came as a by product of the message.

He healed on route to the teaching destination.

Jesus is about teaching, heralding, and proclaiming the good news.

The healings of Jesus were always working in concert with the teachings of Jesus.

The healings were signs of the message.

It’s the teaching and proclaiming of the Gospel message that sets people free.

The power is in the message.

Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

The miracles serve the message and if the message isn’t seen as enough then the miracles don’t matter.

But Jesus knows that the Israelites have a history of rejecting their prophets, so he points to two well known stories about two well known prophets.

Elijah and Elisha

Luke 4:25–27 CSB

25 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. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 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.”

Prophets Rejected

If you don’t know these stories you can go back and study them yourself, I’m only going to go over the highlights.

In both of these instances, the Israelites have started to worship false gods so God raises up Elijah and Elisha to preach about repentance and returning to God.

They are rejected by the Israelites as a whole and so they changed strategy and they went out to do miracles for those that Israel would see as unworthy of God’s grace and love.

Both the Widow at Zarephath in Sidon, and Naaman the Syrian were in a rough place.

The widow didn’t have enough food to eat, and Elijah told her to bring him some bread to eat.

The area was in a time of famine. Nobody had any flour or wheat.

She didn’t have anything but a little flour and oil, but she made the bread for Elijah and God blessed her.

B/c she believed and trusted Elijah, her flour and oil never ran out.

With Naaman, he had leoprasy.

He wanted and needed to be cleansed.

Elisha told him to go and wash in the Jordan River, he didn’t want to.

But he eventually obeyed, and was washed clean.

He believed and was cleansed.

Both of these examples were blessed and cleansed b/c of their belief and trust in God’s Messenger.

Their belief led to their Miracle

Those in Jesus’ presence didn’t believe the message, just like the Israelites didn’t believe the Prophet’s messages.

So, Jesus reminds them of the blessings that went to non-Israelites instead of the people of God.

I want you to see here, that this would have been scandalous to their ears.

They knew the stories, but that doesn’t mean they liked the stories.

The prophets going to the widow and Naaman was a judgement on the Israelites.

The fact that God would bless gentiles or non-Jewish people is ridiculous to their ears.

Jesus is attacking these people’s ethnic and spiritual pride.

They are prideful b/c they see themselves as superior to all other people.

That they are God’s chosen people who deserve God’s blessing.

Who deserve God’s grace, mercy, and compassion to the exclusion of the poor, captives, blind, and oppressed.

And let’s not think that we are much better than them.

This week we were in Wed. bible study and we were talking about God’s grace.

And how there may be people in our lives that we see as undeserving of his grace.

But God desires that all types of people be saved.

Your enemies, the evil and the wicked, those who believe differently than you.

Those who seem so far outside of God’s good graces that they could never know or have salvation.

God is calling all who will be humble enough to trust and believe.

The problem with these Israelites Jesus is preaching to is there isn’t humility.

So Jesus is going to leave them and preach to those who are humble and ready to accept his word.

But not before they try to kill him.

Luke 4:28–30 CSB

28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. 29 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. 30 But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Murderous Mob

Being confronted by Jesus did not sit well with those in attendance.

Those who welcomed him and praised him were ready to kill him.

They were enraged at the thought that Jesus would claim to be the messiah, and would confront them about their own pride.

This event in Nazareth is a shadow of what’s to come in the Crucifixion.

The religious handing over Jesus to be put to death on a hill outside of Jerusalem.

Praising him one minute and calling for his death the next.

But at this time it wasn’t time for Jesus to die.

We’re not sure how it happened, but Jesus is able to escape their anger.

It wasn’t his time to die.

His mission of proclaiming the good news had just started and wasn’t going to be over in his home town.

He was destined to die not on a hill in Nazareth, but on hill in Jerusalem.

Where his blood was shed for the forgiveness of Sin.

Where death was defeated.

Where the grave was over come.

Where we can turn to the cross and find grace and forgiveness.

His body was broken and his blood was shed so that you can have life in his name.

And that’s what we are going to celebrate right now through the Lord’s supper.

Matthew 26:26–30 CSB

26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.