Epiphany 3

Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV)

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and 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 bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

My text this morning is written in Luke 4:16:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.

After his experience in the desert, verses 14 and 15 remind us that Jesus returned to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. News about him spread everywhere. He taught in the Jewish meeting places, and everyone praised him.

As these verses state, news about Jesus spread everywhere - including Nazareth and so we can imagine the excitement in this village when the people heard that Jesus was to visit them. The people would have flocked to the synagogue on that Sabbath, because they knew that Jesus would be there. We can therefore almost sense the atmosphere of expectation.

In verse 16 we discover a simple yet important truth. We read:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.

Notice Luke's almost unconscious use of the words 'as was his custom'. Let us never forget who Jesus was - the perfect Son of Almighty God. This local synagogue would not have been a place where profound teaching took place. Rather it would have had many aspects that would have left much to be desired - yet Jesus, while living in the area - went there faithfully every week. Jesus could quite easily have argued that the religious system of his day was corrupt and grossly imperfect. He could also have claimed that there was nothing that any rabbi anywhere could teach him because he knew everything - because he did. Instead, every Sabbath, Jesus went to the house of God to pray, hear the word of God read, receive instruction and draw close to his Father. Jesus' example was followed by the early church. In Acts 2:42 we read:

They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

God has appointed these things as the channels through which he blesses his people. These are the ways in which people draw close to God and receive his blessing. People need all these elements, but because God has decreed it in his word. We should all therefore take every opportunity to place ourselves in the pathway of God's grace and blessing. We will never know the depth of God's blessing unless we take every available opportunity to meet with Him and experience his grace. If anybody did not need to be regular at worship and with the family of God it was Jesus - yet worship became 'his custom'. The commentator in the Life Application Bible writes: '[Jesus'] example makes our excuses for not attending church sound weak and self-serving'. We should commit ourselves to worship and study because we know that we cannot survive without it.

Secondly this passage gives us a glimpse of what truly Godly worship is like. Leon Morris reminds us that this passage is the 'earliest description of a synagogue service we have, so that this passage is of critical importance for the study of the synagogue'. Barclay explains: In the synagogue service there were three parts: The first was a period of worship in which prayer was offered. The second was the reading of the Scriptures. Seven people from the congregation read. As they read, the ancient Hebrew that few people understood, was translated by the teacher into Aramaic or Greek. The third element of the service was the teaching part. There was no professional ministry, nor any one person to give the address. The president would invite any distinguished person present to speak and discussion and talk would follow.

Central also to Christian worship is the word of God. It is only God's word that is timeless and infallible. Human wisdom is worthless because it is fickle and more often than not wrong. God knows what is best for us and therefore Christian ministers need to share that and only that with the people whom attend worship, applying biblical truths to our present circumstances.

Thirdly notice how the people of Nazareth responded to the truth of Christ's message.

The people of his home town were eager to hear his teaching and see some of the wonderful miracles he was reputed to have performed. So Jesus was asked to read the Scriptures and deliver the teaching that Sabbath in the synagogue. He read Isaiah 61:1-2 which the Jewish teachers interpreted as referring to the long awaited Messiah. They might well have been shocked when Jesus stated that it spoke of Him. But most of the people were impressed and amazed by what Jesus said. Verse 22 records:

All the people started talking about Jesus and were amazed at the wonderful things he said. They kept on asking, "Isn't he Joseph's son?"

The way Jesus could have convinced them that he was who he claimed to be - would have been for him to have performed a few dramatic miracles. Miller suggests that the connection between this incident and Christ's temptation is clear. In the desert Jesus had theoretically been tempted to do the right things at the wrong time. Now came the practical test. Miller writes:

What could be better designed as a test than the situation here? Jesus, the obscure son of a small village carpenter, has suddenly become famous. ... Now he returns to his home village and speaks in the synagogue. ... They expect something wonderful from him, some sign that will demonstrate to them what has made him famous elsewhere. ... If Jesus was ever tempted to deny the decision made at the Baptism to be the obedient Servant of God, it was here!

If Jesus was the Messiah, the people of Nazareth would expect him to liberate all Jews from their Roman oppressors because Jewish scholars interpreted Isaiah in this passage read by Jesus, as speaking about the deliverance of Israel from captivity in Babylon.

The reference in verse 19 to '... the year the Lord has chosen' is of significance. In the Year of Jubilee all debts were cancelled, all slaves freed, and property went back to the original owners according to the law in Leviticus 25. This happened every 50 years. The main purpose was to balance out the economic system: slaves were set free and returned to their families, property that was sold reverted to the original owners and all debts were cancelled. 'The land lay fallow as man and beast rested and rejoiced in the Lord'. So we can understand why this was considered 'good news to the poor'.

Jewish scholars also pictured Isaiah as referring to how the people would be delivered from oppression in Babylon. The captives would be set free and could return to their homeland. But even when the people left Babylon and returned home, this prophecy had never been completely fulfilled. The Jewish people were still oppressed, conquered and broken. Isaiah had therefore spoken of more than the people's physical liberation. He referred also to the coming of the Messiah and the time when the sin that had caused the people to be taken captive, could be dealt with. What Jesus brought was the good news of salvation to bankrupt sinners and healing to broken-hearted and rejected people. As Wiersbe puts it '... it was a spiritual "year of Jubilee" ...'

The people of Nazareth wanted to hear about their earthly liberation from Roman oppression. They became angry when Jesus revealed the truth to them - that the Gospel did not introduce an era of a perfect earthly kingdom - but a spiritual kingdom that was for all people and not only the Jews. This really angered them. They refused to accept the fact that God's Year of Jubilee, God's salvation, was not only for the Jews - but for all who would come to Christ. Jesus explained this in verses 25-27. Once more we see that people are not always happy to hear the truth. The people should have rejoiced at the stories of Elijah and Elisha because they revealed that God loves all people and that God does not make any distinctions on the grounds of class and race. Caird writes:

... the suggestion that Gentiles could be admitted to God's kingdom produced and outburst of nationalistic fervour which would have ended in the death of Jesus had the crowd not been overawed by the sheer majesty of his commanding presence.

God loves all people. Let God love you and bless you by taking every opportunity to receive his grace by worshipping regularly, private and group bible study, public and private prayer, fellowship with other Christians and participation in the sacraments. And finally we need to be willing to accept the truth of the Scriptures and allow God's Spirit to use his word to transform us into the people He intends us to be. For this is the example set for us by Jesus our Lord as Luke explains in 4:16:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.