Embracing Grace

There’s a key word in this passage that I would like to point out. It is not obvious in the English, so it’s a bit tricky. But the word ‘favor’ in verse 19 and the word ‘acceptable’ in verse 24 render the same Greek word, which is dektos. In fact, in the King James Version it is translated ‘acceptable’ in one place and ‘accepted’ in the other. It is not a small point, because I believe accepting Jesus is the issue in this passage. Jesus says in verse 24, ‘Truly…, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.’ The people there in His hometown, in Nazareth, did not accept Him. Nor do the vast majority of people. He was sent to proclaim ‘the Lord’s favor,’ or God’s grace, and, despite the well-meant offer, few embrace it. That’s the theme of my message this morning: Embracing Grace. And it’s something better make sure we do. If you look at the Westminster Larger Catechism, in its answer to Question 67, you’ll see that the Spirit of God makes the sinner ‘able…to accept and embrace the grace offered’ in Christ. It cannot happen without the Spirit’s work, as we shall see, but embracing grace is critical for each of us.

But how do we do it? Here in Luke 4, we are given three means. We learn here that we embrace grace by understanding God’s Word, by assenting to God’s Word, and by trusting God’s Word.

I

So, to begin with, we embrace grace by understanding His Word. This should be no surprise to us. We cannot accept God’s grace unless we know about it and unless we understand something of what we know. And how do we understand it?

First, by gathering around the Word. At the beginning of our passage today, we see Jesus as he is just returning from the wilderness, where He has been tempted sorely by the devil, to Galilee. He teaches in the synagogues of the region, and when He arrives at His hometown of Nazareth, as we read in verse 16, ‘as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day’—and what did He do? ‘He stood up to read.’ This is the beginning point. We gather around God’s Word. We go to the place where it is read. For Jesus’ contemporaries it was the synagogue. For us, of course, it is the church. But then what?

We listen as the Word is read. We understand the Word by gathering around it, and we understand the Word by hearing it read. When Jesus arrives in Nazareth, his hometown (‘where he had been brought up,’ 4:16), He attends worship at the synagogue (‘as was his custom,’ v. 16), and He is asked to read from the scroll of Isaiah. He finds the place where it is written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor…,’ etc. He is, of course, reading Isaiah 61:1-2.

In its original context, the Isaiah reading is an announcement of God’s gracious deliverance of exiled Judah and their restoration. The ‘poor’ are the afflicted, and the affliction, of course, is God’s judgment upon their sin. But an evangel has been proclaimed, a gospel, and the words used portray the beneficiaries are the ‘broken,’ the ‘captives,’ and the ‘prisoners.’ The ‘year of the LORD’s favor is also announced, referring to the year of Jubilee, when all debts are forgiven and debtors have their lands restored to them (Lev. 25:8-10).

This passage is filled with gracious words, announcing God’s favor upon people who have been afflicted, even (and especially) if their affliction has been a result of their sin. It is a perfect way for Jesus to announce His mission to His hometown neighbors. His arrival is ‘good news of great joy that will be for all the people’ (Luke 2:10). In Him God’s mercy flows. This is the era of grace, and God is kindly disposed toward the penitent.

II

When we understand this, we understand His Word. And that is the beginning of embracing grace. But we must also assent to His Word. We embrace grace by understanding His Word, and we embrace grace by assenting to His Word. So, how do we do that? We yield our attention to Jesus, and then we yield our will to Jesus.

The folks in Nazareth got the first part right. They yielded their attention to Jesus. Verse 20 says that Jesus ‘rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. In those days you stood to read the Scripture, and you sat to teach it. And look at the end of verse 20: ‘And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.’ The air is charged with expectation. And that’s the way it ought to be. Because what they heard next could have been life changing. ‘Today,’ Jesus said, ‘this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (v. 21). And it looked like it was going to ‘take!’ Luke says that ‘all spoke well of him’—you can almost hear the buzz in the synagogue—‘and [they] marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth’ (v. 22a). But then something happened. Something went wrong.