This week, we are looking at a section of an account of
Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday,
Luke revealed that as Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, He
volunteered to read a section of the Bible called the book of Isaiah.
In Isaiah
61:1, the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah
arrived, He would live a life that was controlled, influenced and empowered by
the Holy Spirit. And as He lived a Spirit filled life, the Messiah would preach
the gospel to the poor. Now the word gospel literally means good news. And this
good news would be proclaimed to the poor, which refers to those who were of
low status that were viewed as outsiders who were far from God.
In addition, the
prophet predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim release to the
captives. In the Jewish culture of the day, this was a word picture of the
release that comes from the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah also predicted and
proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim the recovery of sight to those who
were blind. The Messiah would restore the sight of those who were physically
blind and give sight to those who were spiritually blind.
And Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah
would set free those who are oppressed.
The Messiah would proclaim good news that would provide an opportunity
for people to be released from the debts that surrounded and overwhelmed them.
Jesus continued to read the first part of Isaiah 61:2,
where the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah
arrived, He would proclaim the good news about God’s grace that the Messiah
would extend towards humanity. And then, in the middle of Isaiah 61:2, Jesus
abruptly stopped reading and sat back down.
Luke then tells us that all eyes were fixed on Jesus.
Everyone waited with anticipation to hear a great sermon from Jesus that they
had already been hearing about. Now a natural question that arises here, and
probably arose at the time, was “why did Jesus stop there?” We discover the
answer to that question in the sermon which Jesus gave, which Luke records for
us in Luke 4:21. Let’s look at it together:
And He began to say to them,
"Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all
were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were
falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's
son?"
Jesus gave a one sentence sermon: "Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." In other words, Jesus
basically said to them “God’s promise of a Messiah has been fulfilled today as
you hear Me speak. I am the Messiah. I am the Promised One who is anointed by
the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of God’s rescue from selfishness, sin
and rebellion that will usher in the beginning of God’s kingdom”.
The reason why Jesus stopped at the first part of Isaiah
61:2 is because the second part of Isaiah 61:2 refers to Jesus 2nd
coming, where He will execute God’s right and just response to the selfishness,
sin, and rebellion of humanity. Jesus was fulfilling the first part of God’s
promise to humanity by entering into humanity in order to provide all of
humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God
that they were created for.
Luke tells us that the crowds in the synagogue responded
to Jesus one sentence sermon with glowing approval. The crowds were
extraordinarily impressed with the winsome and attractive words that were
coming from Jesus. The crowds also recognized that Jesus was one of their own: "Is
this not Joseph's son?" they said.
You see, the crowds believed that because Jesus was one
of their own, that the result would be that they would benefit from an extra
dose of God’s favor because of their close connection with Jesus. The crowds
believed that they would receive some spiritual brownie points from God because
they were insiders when it came to Jesus. And the crowds believed that their
insider status would provide them with insider privileges when it came to their
relationship with God and when it came to their relationship with the people
and nations around them. However, the crowd was not prepared for what Jesus had
to say next, which Luke records for us in verse 23:
And He said to them, "No doubt you will
quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done
at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'"
Jesus, sensing the crowds glowing approval of Jesus and
growing expectation of what they thought Jesus would do for them, responded by
quoting a well known proverb of the day: “Physician heal yourself”. This
proverb, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would
have sounded something like this: “Do for you what you do for others.” This
proverb basically says “you must not refuse to do for those who are close to
you what you have done for those who were far from you”.
You see, the residents of Nazareth believed that Jesus
would do the miraculous for them simply because they were insiders with Him.
The residents of Nazareth believed that because they were insiders with Jesus,
they should get the best from Jesus. Jesus focus should be on meeting their
needs first and then dealing with those who were outsiders. After quoting this
well known proverb, Jesus changes the tone of the entire encounter in verse 24:
And He said, "Truly I say to you, no
prophet is welcome in his hometown. "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 great famine came over all the land; 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. "And
there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of
them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
Jesus confronts the crowds by making the claim that no
prophet is welcome in his hometown. Jesus is claiming that no person who
proclaims the truth about God to those who consider themselves insiders is met
with approval by those who consider themselves insiders. And to back His claim,
Jesus refers to two different events from the history of the Jewish people.
First, Jesus reminds the crowds of an event in history
that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called
the book of 1 Kings. In 1 Kings 17, God sent the prophet Elijah to a widow in
the land of Sidon during a time of severe drought that plagued the entire
Middle East. The land of Sidon was a region of the Middle East that was
dominated by the worship of false gods and the people of Sidon were outsiders
who were far from God. Upon arriving in Sidon, Elijah miraculously provided
food for the widow and her son during a time of extreme drought.
Jesus point is that while Jewish people who considered
themselves as insiders were suffering from the famine, God did not send Elijah
to do the miraculous for the insiders. Instead, Elijah, as God’s messenger, was
sent to do the miraculous to those who were outsiders and far from God. Elijah
was sent to those who were irreligious, not to those who were religious and
familiar about God’s promises. Elijah was sent to unchurched people, not to
church people.
Jesus then reminds the crowds of an event in history that
is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the
book of 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 5, the prophet Elisha was used by God to
miraculously heal a military leader from what is now the nation of Syria from
leprosy. This military leader was part of a nation that worshipped false gods
and was the enemy of the Jewish people. This was a nation of outsiders who were
far from God.
Jesus point is that while Jewish people who considered
themselves as insiders had many people who suffered from leprosy, God did not
send Elisha to do the miraculous for the insiders. Instead, Elisha, as God’s
messenger, was sent to do the miraculous to those who were outsiders and far
from God. Elisha engaged those who were irreligious, not to those who were
religious and familiar about God’s promises. Elisha engaged unchurched people,
not church people.
You see, the Jewish people who were insiders had
repeatedly rejected God and the word of God through His spokespersons the
prophets. The Jewish people did not approve of the prophets or their message. Those
who were insiders; those who were raised in church; those who considered
themselves religious had God’s predictions and promises in the Bible to point
them to God but rejected God.
Jesus is revealing the reality that self righteous religious
people who consider themselves insiders would reject His message just as they
rejected the prophet’s message. And Jesus is revealing the reality that His
message, the message of the gospel was for all of humanity. Jesus was sent not
simply for the insiders.
Instead Jesus was sent to proclaim the message of the
gospel to the outsiders. Jesus was sent to proclaim the gospel to the religious
people who were far from God and the irreligious people who were far from God.
Friday, we will see how the crowds responded to Jesus
claims…
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