Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 4:16-30 "MINISTRY IN NAZARETH"
Day 50 – Luke 4
Text: Luke 4:16-30
MINISTRY IN NAZARETH
Jesus grew up in Nazareth. Luke gives us a glimpse of how Jesus must have grown up in Nazareth in this statement.
“And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day,
and stood up to read.” (Luke 4:16)
It was common to devote time to the reading of the Scriptures in synagogues. Jesus must have kept going to the synagogue when he was growing up. It was not uncommon for the synagogue to invite members of the congregation to read from the Scriptures. The congregation would then hear an exposition from the Scriptures read. There would usually be active discussion after the exposition of the text.
A DEEP AND PROFOUND KNOWLEDGE DISPLAYED
On this occasion, Jesus was handed “the book of the prophet Isaiah” (Luke 4:17). The deep and profound knowledge of Jesus with reference to the Scriptures is now clearly displayed!
He opened the Book of Isaiah, and then found the appropriate text, and began to read from Isaiah 61.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19
After having read the Word of God, Jesus gave the Scroll back to the synagogue attendant and then He sat down. The reading of the Scriptures was usually done standing up. By now, the synagogue must have been filled with a tremendous sense of anticipation awaiting the exposition of this text. How a person reads can sometimes bring about an electrifying response from an attentive audience.
“TODAY, THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING”
Once again, Luke used the word, “fulfilled” (Cf. Luke 1:1). This time, he wrote about how Jesus fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. The prophet Isaiah had written prophetically about the Messiah coming to Israel with a special ministry. The description of the ministry of the Messiah was something that filled the longing of many hearts in Israel. If only the Messiah would come and fulfil this promise! Israel had waited for a long time for their Messiah!
This text from Isaiah had been read before, wistfully. It was a text that brought both sadness and hope. Sadness because the Messiah had not appeared. Hope, because faith teaches the heart to trust in God, despite adverse and difficult circumstances!
Suddenly, Jesus declared that this Scripture was being fulfilled in their very ears! The whole synagogue came alive at this statement! The congregation could not help but realize that as Jesus spoke, they “marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22).
The words they heard seemed to be “fitting words”. Nobody else would be able to read those words with greater natural ease. The simple exposition that followed the reading of the Text from Isaiah could not have been misunderstood! Jesus said that the Messianic prophecy applied to Him! What an astonishing statement!
“IS THIS NOT JOSEPH’S SON?”
Luke was candid in his observations about how people received the teaching ministry of Jesus. There were some who received Him well. They glorified God as they heard Jesus teach the Scriptures.
However, there were also some who did not receive the teaching ministry of Jesus very well. Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus did not receive His teaching ministry well.
The early signs of unbelief had been sown. The congregation had known Jesus since He was a boy. They also knew Joseph, his earthly father. They could not bring themselves to believe that this humble son of a carpenter could be the promised Messiah! No stretch of their imagination could bring them to believe that this young carpenter, no matter how well he could read the Scriptures, could be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic word!
EARLY OPPOSITION AND REJECTION
Luke records for us one of the earliest hostile reaction against Jesus. The congregation was already unduly prejudiced against Jesus. They felt that since they knew Him from young, then it must mean that He could not be the Messiah! What a narrow interpretative platform!
They had already made up their mind that they would not recognize Jesus as the Messiah! They would wait, as they have been doing all along, for God to send them the Messiah. Surely, that promised Messiah could not have grown up in such humble surroundings? Their assumption as to how God would send them their Messiah was all wrong! They did not realize just how wrong and foolish they were in opposing and rejecting Jesus!
They were not unprepared to use physical violence to demonstrate their outright rejection. Had it not been for the special protection of God, the congregation would have slain Jesus! (Was this just mere human anger, or can we trace the evil hand of the devil at work in the hearts of wicked men?)
How dangerous it is to be carried away with our emotions, especially when prejudice enters into the picture. How courageous Jesus was when He dared to face such a hostile crowd, and yet how calm. “But We See Jesus…”