14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 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. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 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. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”22 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?” 23 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.’”24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.25 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,26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.27 And there were many lepers1 in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 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. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
Footnotes
[1]4:27Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 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. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 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. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”22 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?” 23 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.’”24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.25 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,26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.27 And there were many lepers1 in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 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. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
Footnotes
[1]4:27Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
I invite you to open your bibles to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. We'll begin reading in verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And a report went about Him throughout all the surrounding county.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. And he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written.
Jeffrey Heine:
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.
Jeffrey Heine:
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.
Jeffrey Heine:
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 that there were many widows in Israel on the day of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up 3 years 6 months and a great famine came over all the land. 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.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Lord, I ask that you would speak tonight. This is a great text. It's one that we go to over and over and over. I pray that you would teach us what it means through the power of your spirit. I ask that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, let your words remain and may they change us.
Jeffrey Heine:
We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. We've been going through the book of Luke. In the book of Luke, it starts off, being dedicated to a man named Theophilus. And Luke tells him, he says, I'm writing these things that you might have certainty about what you believe.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then, so he he tells all about the birth of Jesus, about Jesus growing up as a boy, and then we see Jesus being baptized. We see Jesus being tempted, and we looked at those temptations last week. And now we see Jesus preach for the first time. And it's very strategic that Luke puts this here because he wants you to see all of the rest of Luke through this lens. What Jesus preaches here is what He does through the rest of Luke.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is gospel ministry according to Jesus. Jesus, he travels all throughout. He traveled all throughout Galilee preaching, and all of these local synagogues, and people are just blown away. I mean, nobody's ever heard somebody preach like Jesus has been preaching. Empowered by the spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he finally, he comes back to his hometown, Nazareth, and it says, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue. And that little line there as was his custom is something that I've been just, just chewing on for a while, and I never really noticed this, but this is pretty incredible. Jesus went to synagogue every week. It was his custom. Let me try to put this in perspective.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's, a former professor of mine, professor of church history and theology. He occasionally, he will come to Redeemer, and he, the last time he came, I was, I was giving kind of a history lesson on Caesar Augustus at one point, and I look up and I see him and the man's written books on this. He was at Beeson and now he's a professor at Cambridge. And, you know, he's he's written exhaustively on this. His, textbooks are used as a standard in many seminaries across the world.
Jeffrey Heine:
And there he is, and I just felt incredibly awkward. I mean, just, oh my gosh. And I kept thinking, don't plagiarize. What did he say? Make sure that I'm not plagiarized.
Jeffrey Heine:
Make sure I get it right. He's gotta be bored out of his mind. Think of Jesus going to synagogue. You have the living word there, hearing people teach about what he wrote, teach about things concerning him, and he's sitting there and, you know they're getting it wrong. You know, week after week, he's hearing things that he disagrees with.
Jeffrey Heine:
Yet he goes to synagogue, as was his custom. It's a lot of humility there, humility that is hard to come by. Jesus thought it was so important for Him to be with the people of God. For Him to sing songs with the people of God. For Him to read scripture with the people of God, that Jesus went.
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean, I know that there's, you know, some people here, and I'll put myself in this camp. You know, you hear a preacher say something slightly wrong. I think, you know, actually you parse that Greek verb wrong and I want to just shut them off. We've left churches for a lot less reasons. Jesus went to synagogue every week.
Jeffrey Heine:
Don't just don't just slip by that. He thought it was important to be with the community of God. And Jesus sees coming to his hometown synagogue. And this is, this is a special occasion right here. I mean, he's been traveling all around Galilee.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's been preaching, man, he is famous at this point. What he's been doing, nobody has ever seen him do. What he's been preaching, nobody has seen preaching like this. And so now he comes back to this little teeny town of Nazareth, and he is the homeboy hero. Homeboy made good.
Jeffrey Heine:
Right here. Jesus. And I'm sure at this time at the synagogue, people are flocking. Jesus is coming here. So I'm sure the synagogues are pretty small.
Jeffrey Heine:
So I'm sure it's packed. I'm sure nobody could get through the front door. I'm sure people are looking in at the windows in anticipation to the local hero coming back to preach. And when it comes time for the haftarah, which is the part of the service where they read from the prophets, the attendant, he gets the scroll of Isaiah, and he hands it to Jesus. To give us a brief lesson on the prophets.
Jeffrey Heine:
And Jesus unrolls the scroll to Isaiah 61, which is a text about the Messiah and the kingdom of God, and he enrolls it and he reads this, and let's read it again, verse 18. 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, in recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And so he reads that and he rolls back up the scroll. He hands it to the attendant and then he sits down to teach.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now in this day, teachers sat down. Everybody stood for the reading of the word and then the teacher would sit down to teach. Often the congregation would stay standing the entire time, which we could bring back, but the teacher would sit down and it says he sat down and all eyes are on him. And he gives one of the shortest sermons in history today. This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now he probably said a little more than this, because Luke says, he began to say this, but this is the meat of it. This is the thrust. What you've just heard is now being fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come. The Messiah is here in your midst.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is happening. And as a preacher, Jesus nailed it. I mean, he nailed it. We would say he brought it. He absolutely brought it.
Jeffrey Heine:
And everybody there, they're they're marveling at His words, and His gracious words, and the the sermon couldn't have gone any better. But as Jesus is looking out into this crowd that He knows, He has known for 30 years, He knows them well. He knows, He can read their faces. Realizes they don't get it. They don't get it.
Jeffrey Heine:
They don't believe any of it. I mean, these people have grown up with Jesus. They've seen Jesus do household chores. They they've seen him do, you know, his carpentry, go to the grocery store. They've they've rubbed shoulders with Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:
They've, some of them I'm sure went to school with Him. Some I'm sure taught Him. I'm sure when this was all over, you know, He probably got somebody to come up and, you know, maybe even pinch his cheeks and say, Jesus, I used to babysit you. I'm so proud of you. You did so good.
Jeffrey Heine:
You did so good. This happens, you know, when, occasionally I'll get to preach in my hometown back in Atlanta. And I found that when I go there, often I'm angry, and, I preach just as hard as I possibly can. And, and afterwards, no matter what I say, people just come up and they almost want to rub your head and go, you're so sweet. Your sound is so good.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I'm thinking, you didn't hear anything. You heard nothing. The proud of him for being such a good speaker, but they didn't get his message. They're thinking the kingdom of God can't come through such ordinary means. I mean, I mean, we've seen you just go through ordinary life.
Jeffrey Heine:
Does the kingdom of God really work its way through like carpentry and doing chores and going to the grocery store really is the kingdom God a part of that? Jesus, who looks at all their faces and he could see their disbelief. He decides now to officially bring it. And not the kind where you hear a preacher preaching, and you're like, bring it, amen. No, he brings it, and they want to kill him.
Jeffrey Heine:
That kind of bring it, because he looks out there and he knows that because they liked the sermon, they didn't understand it. Because they liked the sermon, they didn't understand it. Because when the gospel it's either going to it's either gonna bring about repentance and faith, or you're gonna absolutely be filled with wrath. It's either gonna bring about repentance and faith, or you're gonna be filled with wrath and anger. That's what the gospel message does.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's gonna have one of those two effects. You're never gonna understand the gospel and walk away and say, what a nice message. It's gonna have one of those two effects. Says people, you know, are rubbing Jesus's head and pinching His cheeks and all that. He's thinking, he's like, I'm gonna have to make sure there's clarity.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then he says, I know what you're gonna say. You're gonna ask me to do the same miracles that I did in Capernaum. That's what you're going to ask of me. I know what you're thinking. Anybody can say these gracious words.
Jeffrey Heine:
Back it up. And if you notice, Jesus says, says, you're going to ask to do what we have heard you did in Capernaum. He doesn't say what you did, but what we heard you did. He knows that the people don't even believe the reports that are coming back to them. But Jesus here, he doesn't put on a show.
Jeffrey Heine:
He doesn't just start doing miracles. He's already dealt with that temptation right before when when, when Satan said, come on, put on a show, throw yourself off of this, temple mount here. Throw yourself off and let angels save you. Do something spectacular. Jesus said, no.
Jeffrey Heine:
Ironically, now the people are gonna take them to a cliff and try to throw them off, in which God will miraculously save him. He's not gonna do it here. And so Jesus, he tells him 2 stories to flesh out the sermon that they just heard. 2 stories that are going to bring clarity. And the first one comes from 1st Kings 17, about a little widow.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's a story about, the prophet Elijah and God spoke through the prophet Elijah, and there was a great famine in the land. It didn't rain for three and a half years, and God told Elijah, I want you to go, not to any place in Israel, but go to this outside place and find a widow there in another country, take care of her. And so Elijah left all of the widows that were in Israel, and he went to a Gentile woman. And in this story, the widow, it's amazing, she actually gives Elijah the last bit of food she has without asking for a sign. Are you really a prophet?
Jeffrey Heine:
Show me, prove it, and then I'll give you all I have. This gentle woman just gives it to him. And she says, now I'm just going to go and die. Jesus then tells the story of Naaman, who's this commander in the army of the King of Syria, Syria that had just conquered Israel, taken many of the Israelites off to be slaves. To kind of put this in, something you might understand it, it'd be the equivalent of of god sending a prophet, and this was a prophet Elisha.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you were a Jew, to go and take care of a commander in the Nazi regime. I want you to go to the Nazi regime and I want you to take care of 1 of the commanders there, which is what God did. And here you find Naaman who has leprosy and he comes and he humbles himself. He dips himself 7 times in the Jordan river, just because the prophet told him to, and he's healed. And when the people hear these two stories, they're filled with wrath, which is really unusual.
Jeffrey Heine:
They've heard these stories before. These are not new stories, they believed these stories. It's in their Bible. But nobody's ever applied it like this. Nobody's ever looked at them and said, you know what, you're in danger of being like all those Israelites who don't believe, and salvation might just pass you by and go someplace else.
Jeffrey Heine:
Fill them with rage. They understood the gospel, And so they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff and you really don't know what happened. I kind of picture Obi Wan Kenobi, just kind of saying like, you know, I am not the one you're looking for, and he just kind of, he just walks in through their midst and he escapes miraculously. I mean, think of this as a man they've seen grown up. They've never seen somebody so loving as Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:
So filled with compassion. So kind, they knew Him and they wanted to kill Him, because of this. Let's take a closer look at exactly at this, this message that made them so violent. There's a lot you can pull from here and we're just gonna look at a couple of things. One of the things that Jesus declared is that the kingdom of God is for all people, not for Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's one of the first things they would have gotten for that. The kingdom is God is for all people and not just for the Jews. The church is to be filled with people from every tribe, tongue and nation. Christianity is not tied down to any culture. America does not have this stronghold on Christianity.
Jeffrey Heine:
A few years ago, I read in the paper that, there's gonna be a monster truck rally at the BJCC that day. I thought, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna take Caroline, my, my little 5 year old at the time. And, and, so we went. I figured it was going to be a cultural experience. And the ironic thing there that, or at least it was funny, at the same time at one of the other theaters there, Annie was playing.
Jeffrey Heine:
The play Annie was playing. And so you had all of these fathers bringing their daughters, going into Annie. And then I go and let, no, no dear. No, no. We're going to the monster truck rally.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so we go to the monster truck rally and, yeah, I wanted her to see gravedigger. And so we, we were at this the very start of the rally, and the drivers are standing on their hoods as the engines are all cranked and roaring. And, and then the American flag is unfurled. And there's a strange blend of like redneck, patriotism, God, and Jesus, all blended together. The announcers get up there and they say, we live in the greatest country God ever made, America.
Jeffrey Heine:
And and they're like, this is a good old Christian boy. He's gonna do this. And it was this weird blending of the 2. To be American means you are God fearing, and you drive a Chevy. And it's like both of those things together.
Jeffrey Heine:
Caroline kept saying, daddy, there's such bad drivers. Why are we here? And you know, for a long time, Americans have confused being American Christian? We send missionaries over to Africa and we teach them how to be good little Baptists or Presbyterians. No.
Jeffrey Heine:
Well, first thing you need is a brick building, steeple. Alright? You got that. You need hymnals. No, no, no, no.
Jeffrey Heine:
None, none of that while dancing. You you gotta Nope. You'd gotta sing through a hymnal, be calm, be reverent, dress, wear a tie, and we make them good little Baptists or Presbyterians. Christianity should not work like that. It's not bound to a culture.
Jeffrey Heine:
God is glorified in every culture. A matter of fact, when Christianity hits a culture, it does not change the basic heart of that culture. It teaches Africans to be true Africans, to do what they were actually made to do, which is to praise Jesus Christ. It teaches aborigines to be true aborigines. To praise God in their own culture.
Jeffrey Heine:
Because every tongue, tribe and culture is for the glory of God. And so Jesus is telling these, these Jews that the Messiah has not come just to save them. It's going to go to other countries and they're ticked. It's the reason they stoned Stephen. It's one of the reasons they almost killed Paul was for the same thing.
Jeffrey Heine:
But what angered these people more than this is when Jesus said in the kingdom of God belongs to the poor, the blind, the captives, and the oppressed. When the gospel goes forth, those who are spiritually poor, are going to become rich. Those who are spiritually blind are going to see Jesus as King. Those who are in bondage to sin are going to be now delivered from this. And I think it's right to primarily see these things as spiritual and not as physical.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you know me that we've been preaching a lot about helping the poor, always in the, in the community and the poor. I don't think that's primarily what this text is about. I don't. Revelation, Jesus told the Laodiceans, for you say, I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked.
Jeffrey Heine:
The gospel is good news to those who recognize their own spiritual poverty. Those who realize they can't save themselves. Now often the spiritually poor are the physically poor, because the physically poor are used to handouts. They're used to help, which is grace, and they can receive the gospel more readily. Now the, the reason that this is terrible news that these people of Nazareth is because they're what I would call the spiritual middle class.
Jeffrey Heine:
They're the spiritual middle class, which is the hardest people to reach. They're the religious people. You know, you read through Luke, find every time Jesus teaches on the Sabbath or teaches in the synagogue. Go through. Find every time.
Jeffrey Heine:
Never once does it not end in controversy. Never once does it not end with people getting angry. When Jesus preaches on the Sabbath or He goes to a church, the religious are ticked. Because they're the middle, they're the spiritual middle class. They think, you know, we we've done right.
Jeffrey Heine:
We go to church. We read our Bible. We're good moral people. God you owe us. We've worked for this.
Jeffrey Heine:
They expect God to just pay them back. That's what these people were. They remind me of the elder brother, which we'll look at in a few months, the story of the prodigal sons and that the elder brother, you know, says father, I have served you for all these years. I've worked hard. I've done all of this.
Jeffrey Heine:
You owe me You can't rejoice at the salvation of somebody who is squandered. Somebody's thrown away all this wealth. Cannot rejoice in that. These Jews are furious that God's grace would reach even a gentile widow or some pagan commander before ever reaching them. They've worked for it.
Jeffrey Heine:
I've got a lot of the elder brother in me. I think probably a lot of us here struggle with being part of the spiritual middle class. It manifests itself with me in a lot of ways. I'm down in Woodlawn a lot, and, you know, people come up all the time and ask for money, and, and, and you just know, you know, give money, somebody's gonna go and just waste it. Buy, you know, pack of cigarettes or or alcohol or whatever.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you just, you get so angry because you think, I work hard and I don't waste the things I've been given. I've made the most of who I am. You don't see yourself as needing just as much grace as they do. You think you're so much better. I do.
Jeffrey Heine:
I feel that a lot of times with theological superiority superiority. You know, gosh, you know, I I've I've come to really understand and believe these things. Therefore, I know God a lot better. God bless is gonna bless me a lot more. Not realizing that I'm wretched.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm wretched. If these Nazarenes here want to receive grace, they have to come and see themselves as poor. They have to see themselves as being spiritually bankrupt. They're blind. They cannot see the Messiah standing right in front of them.
Jeffrey Heine:
They're captive to sin. They're going to have to admit they're no better than that poor Gentile or Naaman, that commander. And this is very hard for religious people to do. Now look at that last verse in 19. That that that one phrase, because I think this one phrase really sheds light on everything that Jesus is trying to communicate to these religious people, the spiritual middle class.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, it says to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and in your Bible, likely there's a period after favor. Favor period, which is a travesty. It should be comma. It's a comma there. You go back to Isaiah 61, and you're not gonna have a period there.
Jeffrey Heine:
It says, in Isaiah 61, it says, to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our Lord. You never stop a sentence midway through. I really think when Jesus is reading this and says to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and He rolls up the scroll, that's one of the reasons why everybody's leaning forward and says, all eyes are fixed on Him. They're like, they cut it, He cut it short. That's the part we like, is when God judges all those bad people.
Jeffrey Heine:
Like, well, you don't do that. And what he is saying is he's actually is is teaching the people that there's actually gonna be 2 times I come. One time is gonna be for grace. Next time I come is for judgment, but now we are living in the day of salvation. Now this is the age of grace.
Jeffrey Heine:
Don't refuse that. Judgment is not coming on you this time. Judgment is coming on me this time. The reason that, you know, that that the poor, spiritually poor are gonna become rich, and the blind are gonna see, and the captives are gonna be set free is because I am going to take on all of that. All of the punishment and the the the vengeance that is due to those immoral people.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm gonna take it all on myself this time. That's what the messiah does. That's the good news. That's the grace and salvation that's offered even to a people like that widow or to Naaman or to these people here. And they just didn't get it.
Jeffrey Heine:
Feels pretty good to, to live a life where you could constantly pat yourself on the back. You could constantly, you know, always kind of throw stones at others. You're so much better, you know, I'm so much better than that. And it makes it impossible to receive grace. We need to come to God acknowledging that we are the poor.
Jeffrey Heine:
If we want the Messiah to come to us, we are the blind. If we want Him to come to us, we are the ones captive to our sin if we want Him to come to us. And that's the good news that Jesus preaches if we will just receive it. Pray with me. Lord, I pray 2 things right now.
Jeffrey Heine:
1, that we would receive this good news. Most of us in this room are pretty religious. Yes. Interesting, every time we read your word, we always identify with Jesus and not the people you talk to. They're religious.
Jeffrey Heine:
Lord, show us we're broken, blind and bound and may we receive the good news of grace. Lord, I also pray that we would be instruments of this grace, that we would go and find those who are poor and blind and oppressed, both physically and spiritually. We would share the gospel that you have taken the punishment we all deserve. Jesus, we love you. Thank you for your salvation.