Rejection at Nazareth
Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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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.
Jesus travels from Galilee to Nazareth. To His hometown.
AS USUAL - Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath.
AS USUAL!
I hear people all the time: they didn't even have church in Jesus’ day - WRONG
“I don’t need church, i study the Bible for myself” - WRONG
If you are a Christian - Christ Like - Little Christ - then you are to walk as Jesus walked, and AS USUAL, Jesus spent the Lord’s day in the Lord’s house! They called in Synagogue, we call it CHURCH!
On this day, Jesus enters the synagogue, AS USUAL, and stands to read.
The question here begs to be asked: why was Jesus given the opportunity to read? You could not just walk up and choose to read. You had to be recognized as a Rabbi. So clearly, in Jesus’ hometown, He was recognized as someone who was in their official capacity.
This is huge because it tells us something about Jesus.
While his public ministry was just beginning, Jesus’ usual practice of engaging with God, God’s Word, and God’s people had always been a regular pattern in His life.
QUICK QUESTION: Is it your USUAL practice to spend time with God, read God’s word, and spend time with God’s people?
What did Jesus read?
What did Jesus 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.
So let’s look into this: On this day, Jesus stands up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is handed Jesus. The Scroll:
Isaiah: written around 700 BC,
the Great Isaiah Scroll dates to 100 BC!
AMAZING!
Jesus then unrolls the scroll and reads:
First off, this is a beautiful picture: The WORD of God made flesh, is reading the WORD OF GOD!
It is a beautiful picture of the Trinity yet again: The Father anoints the Son, the Son goes in obedience, and now reads the The Word of God - the Scriptures, written by INSPIRED MEN, carried along by the Holy Spirit!
And see what we have is an ACCOUNT: This is what happened, this is what Jesus said; but there is something interesting happeneing as well ebcause when you go back and read Isaiah, something interesting sticks out!
Jesus reads Is 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,
But notice the difference? Jesus stops at what we would call a pause spot. The Comma. Now there were not commas and all these common english things in ancient Hebrew writing. But the sentence is still a sentence.
Jesus says: to proclaim the year of the Lord’s FAVOR - he stops before the day of our GOd’s VENGENCE - the coming wrath.
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.”
He makes a VERY PUBLIC and BOLD statement. Jesus stops reading, sits down -
sitting down means the reading is FINISHED.
Then he teaches. It was very common for the teacher to be teaching from a seated posture. And he says: Today, this scripture has been fulfilled.
This scripture is about ME!
So what exactly was Jesus claiming:
The spirit of the Lord had anointed Him - At Jesus’ Baptism, the spirit of the Lord descended on Him
(Luke 3:21–22 “When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened, 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.”” )
From that moment, Jesus had been Full of the Holy Spirit. He moves in the POWER of the Holy Spirit. He is LED by the Holy Spirit.
So understand here: Jesus did claim to be the Lord’s Anointed one - Hebrew, Messiah; In Greek - Christ.
Some people say that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah - HE DOES HERE!
He was saying very plainly - I am the one whom you have been longing for!
Think about Jesus in the Bible, what does Jesus do? What was Jesus’ earthly mission?
to bring good news to the poor
to heal the broken hearted
to proclaim liberty to the captives
free the prisoners
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
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?”
The people were speaking well - THEY WERE ALL. It is interesting. There you have this amazing encounter, and of course they did not realize how awesome this encounter was.
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.’ ”
What are they saying here? DO SOMETHING THE MESSIAH is to do! Do a miracle like over in Capernaum, because we aren’t sure this is all true. GIVE US SOME PROOF!
go forward to Crucifixion - what things did the Romans say?
QUICK QUESTION: Do you ask for proof?
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.”
Where was Jesus? In Nazareth, where He had been brought up. People thought they knew him.
THese people think there is nothing special about Jesus bcause they thought that they knew him.
The reality is that Jesus knew that no miracle would turn the minds of the skeptical. He quotes 2 well known old testament prophets as proof! Not only did the Israelites reject the prophets despite the miracles that prooved that they were who they claimed to be: GENTILES received the blessings instead! GENTILES, those that were not God’s people, acted in faith toward God and were blessed by God! d
Little foreshadowing here maybe!
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.
Why were they so mad?
Was it because He said that He was the fulfillment of the Scripture?
Well, history tells us that between the closing of the OT and the birth of Jesus, there had been over 200 people who had claimed to be the Messiah. But The Scripture says that we are to test a prophet, and that only by the fulfillment of the Scripture can someone be proved to be a prophet, or not. It takes time.
SO was it this claim that made them want to throw Jesus off the cliff? The Bible says that they were speaking WELL of Jesus. - So it is not that.
Was it because they wanted PROOF?
They had heard the stories of Capernaum.
Or was it because Jesus hurt their feelings. Because Jesus said that they would not receive him, but the Gentiles would. BY the way the same thing that God the Father said to Abraham when He first called Abram - that the WHOLE WORLD would be blessed through Abram.
The people rejected Jesus because Jesus spoke the truth. Because the truth hurts.
What about you? Have you ever rejected Jesus because He hurt you?
The Word of God cuts deeper than flesh and bone.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
It hurts often.
But listen to the Words of Jesus:
THe BIBLE SAYS:
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,
Jesus Preaches the GOOD NEWS to the poor
TO RELEASE the captives
to give sight to the blind
to free you from oppression
To tell you that salvation is near!
Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
To free you from the bondage of sin!
and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
To open your eyes to the truth!
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
To free you from this oppressive world into a land of FREEDOM!
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.