Messiah’s Ministry (2)

Luke 4:14–30 ESV

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 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. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 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. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 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?” 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.’ ” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 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, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 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.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 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. But passing through their midst, he went away.

Introduction:

Have you ever had this experience, where you've been looking for something very diligently in your house? Maybe it's your keys, your phone, the tv remote, or your homework... You know you had it and you know you didn't leave the house with it. You're looking under things and over things... And someone points out to you that it's right in front of your face. It's sitting there in front of you. My mom would say, "if it was a snake it would have bitten you." And if you're like me you feel dumb because your glasses were on your head or your phone was in your hand while you were looking for it. Sometimes we miss the obvious thing right in front of our faces.

In our passage for today, Jesus encounters some people who can't see what is obviously true about Jesus even though it's right in front of their faces. When Jesus makes claims that confront them with this, they react with either astonishment or wrath. When we hear the news about who Jesus really is, we have a response. We either joyfully believe and have faith or we refuse and continue as His enemies. To not do anything with the news about Jesus is to make a choice. In Luke chapter 4, at the synagogue in Jesus's hometown, we are going to see how Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture, what the focus of Jesus's ministry is, and the fandom and fury with which people respond to Him.

I. The fulfillment of scripture (v. 16-21)

To set up the context of this event, this follows the account of Jesus's temptation in the wilderness. We don't know exactly how long he had been preaching in the synagogues but it was long enough that He was beginning to gain a reputation as a good teacher and gaining a sort of fame in the area. The synagogue was a meeting place and prayer hall. It's where people gathered to worship - to pray and hear teaching. Guest rabbis did come to the various Jewish synagogues to teach.

The scriptures tell us that it was Jesus's custom to go to the synagogue. It's what He did.

[I want to take a moment here to comment on something that isn't the main point but that I find interesting and applicable in our lives.]

Today there are many Christians and even some prominent Christian leaders or influencers who tell you that you don't actually need to be part of a local church or even attend church regularly. They seem to think you can just be a Lone Ranger Christian out there just you and Jesus. We were never meant to do it alone. If Jesus went to the synagogue every Sabbath, don't you think that a Christian should get to church each Sunday? What does it say about us if we avoid the things that Jesus did regularly. I know, people will say there are a bunch of problems at church. There are problems in churches. There isn't a perfect one out there. If you're perfect you should leave now because we will mess you up. I promise you the synagogues were in worse shape than our churches and Jesus still made it a priority to get there. We should prioritize what Jesus prioritizes. Gather with the Lord's people on the Lord's day for worship.

[end aside]

Here is Jesus in the synagogue as was His custom. He opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and knows it well enough that He knows what area He's looking for. This scroll would have been long. It didn't have chapter and verse numbers like our Bibles. In fact, there wouldn't have been spaces between the words. He's reading it as written in Hebrew and likely translating to Aramaic which would have been the spoken language of the time. (NT was written in mostly Greek.). He reads the passage corresponding with (Isaiah 61:1-2).

His sermon is short. He makes one statement.

He rolls up the scroll, hands it to the attendant, and sits down. Imagine the tension in that place! Jesus is making a HUGE claim. He's claiming to be the anointed one from the prophet's writing. He's claiming to be Messiah. This is a GIANT moment.

This passage informs how we see the events that will happen at the end of chapter 4.

_This brings us to the focus of the Messiah's ministry. The focus of Jesus's ministry._

II. The focus of Jesus's ministry (v. 18-19)

Isaiah 61 contains the prophecy that the Messiah who was coming to bring the salvation of God would be anointed to do one primary thing: preach.

Jesus begins his ministry by preaching.

Jesus tells us that this text refers to His life and ministry. It is first and foremost not about us.

Jesus describes his ministry as preaching/proclaiming the good news.

Who are the targets of His proclamation?

Four kinds of people He would proclaim to:

- The poor

- The prisoners

- The blind

- The oppressed

In its original context this refers to the oppressed and exiled people who were awaiting God's salvation. Here, in this New Testament context it refers to marginalized groups who are thirsting for the deliverance of God to come.

Some people mistakenly think of this as a declaration that Jesus is some kind of social and political revolutionary.

Spiritual view of these terms... they cannot mean less than what they are. But can be more...

- The poor - Those impoverished by their sin, yes but not also those who are impoverished in this world. These are the types of people who we see respond to Jesus's preaching quite positively and quickly in Luke.

- The prisoners

- The blind - Those who are spiritually blinded but also would include actual blind people who encountered Jesus.

- The oppressed

Jesus did go to these people and proclaimed the truth of the kingdom of God. As one commentator writes:

"The primary means of setting people free in whatever their social or political circumstance is the proclamation of the gospel. But that means the gospel has to be so real a gospel that it addresses people in their social and political position. The gospel cannot be abstracted from the real conditions of the people it addresses. Israel was under Roman occupation. Israel was oppressed. Israel was crushed beneath the heel of the Caesars. And Christ came to them preaching the gospel of the kingdom—not the kingdom of Caesar but of another world. He gave hope to a people broken by the rule of men.

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."

Remember: This passage is about Jesus and not about us. Jesus is telling us that the prophecy of Isaiah refers to His life and ministry.

We are not to try to be a functional messiah for people but are to point to Jesus who does set free by his completed work on the cross. He entered into this fallen world and faced temptation as we do but was without sin. He brought with Him the promise of deliverance.

The year of the Lord's favor - referring to the year of jubilee that was to be celebrated every 50th year.

"During this year, economic debts were to be forgiven, land restored to families who sold in order to repay debt, and slaves sold to repay debt were to be liberated. While clearly specified in the biblical text, there is no biblical or extrabiblical evidence that the practice of a Year of Jubilee was ever celebrated." (Lexham Bible Dictionary)

Jesus proclaimed a jubilee to end all jubilees!

III. The fandom and fury of the people (v. 22-30)

The hometown preacher in His hometown.

Their questioning response: Isn't this Joseph's son? Irony of this question...

This should be seen as a negative response.

Jesus is both the anointed and the rejected one.

Jesus being rejected proves His identity as a true prophet.

Jesus is the anointed one of God (the Messiah) and also the Suffering Servant from the book of Isaiah. He totally and perfectly fulfills each role.

Conclusion:

The religious people of the day were not mad because Jesus was proclaiming a mission to the downtrodden. They were angered because He claimed to be the Messiah sent by God. He illustrated in the stories from the prophets that the salvation of God would not be only for Israel but would also include the Gentiles.

They missed Jesus even though He was right in front of them.

Familiarity can lead to missing out on what God is clearly doing right in your face.