Jesus Makes Three Important Announcements
July 11, 2020
Commentary
The people marveled at the gracious words coming from Jesus mouth (v. 22). However they immediately began to question what authority he had to be saying these things (v. 23). He was not accepted as a prophet in His home town (v. 24). Jesus, sensing their opposition, noted two instances in which God’s prophets ministered miraculous acts of grace to Gentiles while Israel was in unbelief-Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (vv. 25-26; cf. 1 Kings 17:8-16), and Elisha and Naaman the Syrian leper (v. 27; cf. 2 Kings 5:1-19). Jesus’ remarks filled the people of Nazareth with rage because He was saying that God sometimes chose to reach Gentiles rather than Jews. Can you imagine the Lord kicked out of His home church, yet that’s exactly what happened. Jesus went to Nazareth to visit the town and the synagogue where He was reared. At first, His town folk listened with great interest. He was a local boy who had made good. But they didn’t want to hear anything new. They rejected Him and His message and tried to kill Him (vv. 28-29).
The problem was that the people saw Him only as the son of Mary and Joseph, the boy they had watched grow up in their own city (v. 28). To make matters worse, they wanted Him to perform in Nazareth the same miracles He had done in Capernaum, but he refused. Then when Jesus began to remind the Jews of God’s goodness to the Gentiles, they became very angry and wanted to kill him (v. 29). However, God supernaturally prevented them from carrying out their wicked intentions and Jesus went away unhindered (v. 30).
Application
I have found it harder to be a witness in my hometown than among total strangers. I just need to remember that Jesus said,"No prophet is accepted in his own country” (v. 24). This does not mean I need to quit witnessing, but to just let God take care of the results.
Luke 4:22– 30 (NET)
22 All were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” 23 Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’” 24 And he added, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years, and there was a great famine over all the land. 26 Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, forced 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 he passed through the crowd and went on his way.