A Marvelous Story

(Image courtesy of istockphoto.com.)

And [Jesus] 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 (Luke 4:16-30).

This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Simply put, Jesus is “the man.” Let me point out a few things from this passage as to why it’s one of my favorites:

1) Jesus goes “OG” on the Jews. (“OG” stands for “Original Gangsta,” and it was popular with kids a few years ago. In the best definition, it means someone is courageous, bold, and a bit rebellious.)

Jesus sits in the Jewish place of worship on the Jewish day of worship and reads from the Jewish holy book in the midst of devout Jewish folks. Then, Jesus sits down and tells everyone, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

I love it. He sits down. He says it so calmly and matter-of-factly. In response, the people “spoke well of him and marveled” at his words. Jesus was bold to do this, we might say, but in reality he was merely speaking the truth.

At first the people receive his words well. “Oh, sweet little Jesus. We’ve known him from his youth. What a nice boy. He’s becoming such a nice Jew.”

However, they weren’t prepared to have their hearts examined in the next moments.

2) Jesus immediately cuts to their unbelief by citing two Old Testament examples. (We might say Jesus goes “OT” on them.)

Jesus summarizes the story of Elijah who helped a widow woman and her son during a horrible famine, but this family was not Jewish! Out of all the widows and people in need during that time, Elijah was sent to a Gentile family.

Then, Jesus tells the story of Naaman, when Elisha was sent to heal him – and he wasn’t a Jew either!

What Jesus is saying here is bold. Jesus is calling out the unbelief of the Jewish people of his day. He essentially says that they are hard-hearted just like their forefathers, but that God is looking for people who will believe in his Words and in the One who has been sent to fulfill them all. It doesn’t matter if they are unclean Gentiles; it is faith that matters.

These statements made the Jews very angry. No longer was Jesus a sweet little boy; he was now a villainous traitor! Yet…

3) Jesus walks away unharmed.

The crowd gets so angry that they lead Jesus away to a cliff outside the city so they can throw him off of it. This wasn’t a game. This meant they were trying to kill Jesus. But since it wasn’t Jesus’s time to die yet, he simply walked right through the crowds and went his way.

What power and authority Jesus possesses!

All in all, this story recorded for us in Luke reminds us:

1) To not be hard-hearted. When we hear the Word of God, we need to respond rightly. Pray that God would give you a right attitude to respond to his truth.

2) To believe. The only people God condemns are those who refuse to believe. We must lay aside our false views of who Jesus was and get to know the real Jesus as he is revealed in holy Scripture. Then, we are called to believe (or to trust) in him alone.

3) To submit to the sovereign power of Jesus. I can only imagine the bewildered looks on the people’s faces as Jesus walked right between them to go on his way! We must submit ourselves to the Word of God in all areas because he is the sovereign Lord of all. He is worthy of our praise, honor, worship, and our obedience.

Lord, please soften our hearts so that we will respond to you with trust and obedience. Please help us in our unbelief. In Jesus’s name, amen.