Post by M.R. Hagerty on Mar 13, 2023 18:38:16 GMT -7
Luke 4 14-30
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. (Luke 4:14-20)
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22 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?"
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.' " 24 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 "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; 26 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. 27 "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." 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. (Luke 4 14-30)
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Commentary
Luke 4:14-16
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, . . . 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues . . . 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom,
The repetition here is to emphasize that Jesus was moving and directed by the Spirit. He is therefore precisely where He ought to be at all times. That the power of the Spirit is mentioned is key because it means that the Son has suspended the use of His own powers while in the flesh so that when and where He must act with power He meets the Spirit who joins Him and empowers Him. He is not, as in human operations, out doing His own work and expecting the Spirit to be called when needed. They are working in concert, hence, power is dispensed in the right place at the right time.
As He moves E from Cana, news of Him spreads and He is attracting crowds along the way. We must be careful in assuming that all such people are becoming His followers or “Christians” in the NT sense of the word. Many are merely curious as to what He might do. To be sure, He and His disciples are making genuine followers along the way, but the proof of how many remain and how many fall back into the woodwork of their daily lives is to be seen later.
“teaching in their synogogues”
The synagogue system is not seen in the closing pages of the OT. It simple appears in place and well established as we open the gospels. The synagogue was a place of spiritual learning and worship, but not a place of formal offerings and compliance with the feasts. Jews everywhere were expected to make the journey to Jerusalem at the appointed times; and for other offerings (Mary bringing the sin offering after the birth of Jesus.)
This necessarily brings up the case of Jews too far away to make such a journey. It is to some degree considered part of their 6th century punishment that they had been dispersed such that they could not participate in the Temple ordinances. Jewish leaders of the times and historians in our own times explain this variously as a case of making the best of one’s limitations. There was no temple in Rome, Macedonia or Asia Minor that those Jews of the diaspora might use. According to strict OT ordinances they were not being compliant in their distant homes. (That they were in distant homes was never intended. They were there because of their sins.) The best they could do was meet in places like synagogues and continue to read and study their scriptures. And the synagogue had come to Judaea but not as an alternative to the Temple.
Jesus then arrives in Nazareth, attends the synagogue there and is given a scroll. This procedure is part of the synagogue practice. Each man in the community is given a turn to read a portion of Scripture which a leader assigns him and then he is expected to add commentary.
Luke 4:17-21
16 . . He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.
This means that since He was unexpected, He was no doubt taking the place of another man whose turn it was to read that day. This often happened when guests came, as a gesture that honored them. As above, the passage is assigned to Him from the elder of the synagogue, but we will soon see this was no human coincidence.
18 . . "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." . . 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down;
The reader had the privilege of selecting the precise passage from what was handed to him. Jesus chose this section from Isaiah 61:1, and we can see why. This was Messianic and everyone in the place knew it quite
well. Each of these phrases – preaching to the poor, release to captives and the oppressed, healing to the blind – were taken as earmarks of Messiah, so one claiming to do these things was saying something extremely serious.
He then closes the book precisely at the juncture between the declaration of the peaceful mission of Messiah and that of His future judgment. (In our terms, between first advent prophecies and those judgmental aspects of His Second Coming.) The place stopped was just before: ”And the day of vengeance of our God;” Everyone was now ready for His commentary.
20 . . and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
To those listening, the passage was taken as a whole and not split up (they knew of no first and second comings.) So it is understandable that their keenness to listen had no expectation of the sermon about to come from the Reader. They had no doubt heard the claims about His messiahship, if only in rumor. So they were poised all the more to hear what insights (or declarations) this man would make.
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
This is not a statement which began with, “If you can receive it” which would mean this was merely a picture of the fulfillment. He was claiming the actual fulfillment and it was obvious He meant He Himself.
Luke 4:22-28
22 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?"
No doubt He said more which is not specifically recorded here because John tells us that as he was speaking they wondered at the words falling from his lips – the present participle – which meant the action was continuing into the present. We are, however, surprised that they did not rise immediately in indignation, that a man would be so bold as to claim to be their Messiah. But it should be noted that in prophecy someone was to come; and it would be a man; and such a one would make similar claims. So it was not a case of the village braggart boasting the claim.
The news of His works had preceded His arrival such that there was a delayed reaction (you did not want to be in opposition to the real Messiah, so it would be best to wait and take this further.) Jesus, however, gives them cause in his next words.
23 ". . you will quote this proverb to Me, `Physician, heal yourself! . . . do here in your hometown as well.' " 24 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Much of our understanding of this upbraiding must come from our confidence that Jesus was reading their hearts. To cry to the physician to heal himself usually meant to care for your own family as well as you serve others. So Nazareth was calling for Him to do the same things done from Cana and effected in Capernaum (the man with the son.)
But it is not the desire for healing but the spirit in which it is being requested. His is virtually being ordered. The offense is that Jesus was there to offer new life, that they become citizens of the Kingdom He is announcing; and they see Him merely as a magician who can fix their many problems. They have not as yet treated Him as unwelcome at this juncture, though He repeats the saying, a prophet is not welcome in his hometown. This is, rather, an anticipation of what is about to happen.
25 " many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah . . . 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but . . . Zarephath, . . 27 many lepers in Israel . . . and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman . . " 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these thin
This was to them an insult in that He was identifying them with those unworthy of healing in the times of Elijah and Elisha. The lesson which they knew from the OT was that these were passed over because they lacked the faith needed. What was interfering with their faith in Him was their knowledge of His life in Nazareth. “Is this not Joseph’s son?” It is one of the voices in the mix of praise and doubt that says, “We know you, and you come to us as Messiah?”
But note the transition. All the people rose up in rage. How easy it was to move from compliments and praise to words of anger. The mettle of their faith is now seen for what it was. There is an adage that remains today, “Familiarity breeds contempt” and it applied here in Nazareth as well as it does today.
Luke 4:29
29 . . and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill . . in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.
Nazareth is built on a significant rise above the plain and on one side of this promontory there still exists a very sharp drop to the surrounding countryside. So, the movement of the crowd would not require carrying Him in custody up some distant hill where He could be thrown off. The escarpment was very near at hand. (”out of the city” does not here mean some distance – the town was extremely small. So this would be but a few minutes away at best.)
But again, Jesus is on a divinely appointed plan and nothing man or the devil might try to do could alter it. How He escaped is not told, and we are amazed because all had their eyes fixed on him and would certainly see or feel any physical attempt to do this (they didn’t all walk casually over to the cliff, but had Him well in hand.) This is certainly a case of supernatural power, being in their grasp one minute and nowhere to be found the next.
This is the first case of what we might ineptly term failure on Jesus’ part. He certainly left with nothing accomplished, save the revelation about the passage from Isaiah. His good witness and works had born the fruit of hatred and violence. But failure is only appreciable where there is an expectation of success. As for Nazareth, there clearly was none. Jesus had long before predicting the outcome to His disciples.