There is something unique about visiting your hometown after being gone for a while. As you drive through and visit those familiar places from your childhood you experience a flood of different emotions. I have to tell you from experience that it is very strange. You experience a very strange mixture of nostalgia, celebration and frustration. Although it is your hometown, it just doesn’t feel the same. As you encounter relatives, childhood friends and people that knew you as you were growing up the frustration often becomes more magnified. They remember you as the person you were then not the person you have become. They remember you in those awkward moments of growing up. In fact it seems as though your flaws become magnified as you reminisce. The simple truth is this, you are not the same person, you have grown up, and you have been shaped by the experiences and trials of adulthood. So although it feels good to go home again, we must accept the reality that it will never be the same because we are not the same. Without a doubt Jesus had a similar experience as He returns to His hometown after being gone for a while. He’s been actively involved in ministry, He’s been tempted by Satan, turned water into wine and healed many diseases. His reputation as a great teacher and miracle worker has made the headlines. However, in the eyes of the people in Nazareth He is still Joseph’s boy who they remember hanging around the carpenter shop. This is what causes the tension, they people would love to see a hometown boy do well, but they cannot picture Him as the Messiah. Today, as we look at this text we will discover that this experience teaches us a lot about Jesus and just maybe something about ourselves.
I. Jesus upon His return to Galilee found Himself in great demand.
A. The Spirit leads Jesus back to Galilee to begin His teaching ministry there.
1. Jesus having just won a major victory over Satan in the wilderness returns to Galilee.
2. This passage leaves little doubt that the Holy Spirit played a major role in directing Jesus’ life and ministry.
3. Luke doesn’t fill us in on the details that happened in between His temptation in the wilderness and return to Galilee but the other Gospel writers do.
4. In fact John includes three major events that took place during this interim period.
a. Jesus changing water to wine.
b. Jesus cleansing the temple.
c. Jesus ministering in Samaria.
5. Just considering the events that happened in the interim recorded by John it is no wonder that the word about Him is spreading.
B. As Jesus taught throughout Galilee His reputation and popularity grew.
1. Jesus regularly attended worship and taught in the various synagogues.
2. During the exile after the temple had been destroyed synagogues popped up as a place of worship on the Sabbath and a school for young boys during the week.
3. If a community had at least ten families then they were able to have a Synagogue. Each synagogue would have one leader and one assistant.
4. Often the synagogue leader would invite a visiting rabbi to read Scripture and teach. Considering the fact Jesus was travelling throughout the area preaching and doing miracles, He would have been a very popular guest speaker.
II. Jesus caused quite the stir as He taught in His home town of Nazareth.
A. As a part of His Galilean speaking tour Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth.
1. The village of Nazareth was the village in which He was raised and apparently His family still lived there.
2. The village of Nazareth sat in the hilly area of southern Galilee close to the crossroads of an important trade route.
3. The people of Nazareth would have had contact with people from all over and without a doubt news had reached them about all Jesus had been doing.
4. By His presence in the synagogue He shows that He continued the piety that was first modeled in His parents.
5. When word reached the synagogue leader that Jesus was back home in Nazareth He probably extended an invitation for Him to come and speak in light of His growing popularity.
B. It is not Jesus’ teaching that upsets the people of Nazareth but the Messianic claim He makes.
1. Jesus stands up to read the Scriptures as was customary in His day and then is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. What we do not know for sure if Jesus chose the Isaiah 61 passage or if it was the one assigned for that particular day.
2. Jesus’ commentary on the passage is brief and to the point, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” This claim He is making is absolutely huge.
3. Jesus makes it clear that His mission is divinely directed. Jesus did fulfill every prophecy concerning Him; the problem was that He did so in a way no one expected.
4. Everything is going well and the people are thrilled with His message of grace. The problems begin when Jesus uses a proverb that reflects a refusal to do any miracles in Nazareth.
5. We need to notice the fact that Jesus was familiar to them as they asked each other “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
6. Things begin to go from bad to worse as Jesus continues to speak and present examples of God’s love and mercy toward the Gentiles.
7. This paints Jesus as being more of a universal Messiah, not just the promised and long awaited Jewish Messiah.
8. The last part of Jesus’ statement pushes the crowd over the edge to the point they have they desire to kill Him. His words almost seem to highlight God’s rejection of the Jewish people.
9. The passage leaves us with the impression that since Jesus would not prove His claim by doing a miracle the crowd refused to accept Him or have anything to do with Him.
III. There are several things that we can learn from Jesus’ life and His experience during this visit to Nazareth.
A. Jesus made it a custom to attend weekly worship gatherings.
1. “I don’t get anything out of it.” “The sermons are too long.” “There’s too much singing.” “The building is too hot or too cold.” “I don’t like the music they sing.” “The pews are too hard.” Have you heard any of those excuses or maybe said a few of them yourself?
2. We learn from this passage that Jesus chose to make participation in worship a priority and He did it on a regular basis.
3. Regular participation in worship is not an option. Not only did Jesus model it, we are commanded to gather to worship.
4. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrew 10:25—NIV)
5. If we truly love Jesus, if our heart really belongs to Him it will be reflected in our worship attendance, our giving and our involvement in the local church.
B. Familiarity often causes a lack of proper respect.
1. Whenever something is very familiar to us we run the risk of taking it for granted.
2. We that have been in the church our whole life have the great tendency to take the church and things of God for granted. When we take them for granted we will not give them the respect that is due them.
3. The same can be said of people. It has been said, “An expert is someone who comes from out of town.” This is in part due to the fact that we have great difficulty believing that anyone can grow beyond our expectations.
4. This is the same exact thing we see illustrated in our passage in regard to Jesus’ return to Nazareth.
5. We need to evaluate a person by their words and actions not by what we know of them. We cannot dismiss people because we have unfair expectations of them.
C. God often uses people and things that you least expect.
1. Whenever someone with great potential and notable talents and gifts say they are going into ministry everyone is pleased.
2. When someone that is less gifted or maybe has a checked past announces they feel God’s call to ministry people are much less enthusiastic about it.
3. The one thing that we learn from God’s Word over and over again is, “God takes great pleasure in using the most unexpected people to accomplish His purpose.”
4. The people of Nazareth showed their racist attitudes in their response to Jesus after He had given them several examples of God working among the Gentiles.
5. We must not allow ourselves to dismiss others because we feel that they are unlikely candidates to be used in God’s service.
For more than 600 years the Hapsburgs held great political power in Europe. When Franz-Josef I the emperor of Austria died in 1916, his was the last of the very extravagant imperial funerals. A processional of dignitaries and elegantly dressed members of the imperial court escorted the coffin draped in the black and gold imperial colors. The funeral procession descended the stairs of the Capuchin Monastery in Vienna accompanied by a military band playing somber dirges. At the bottom of the stairs was a large iron door leading to the Hapsburg family tomb. Behind the door was the Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna.
The officer in charge followed the prescribed ceremony established centuries before. “Open!” he cried out. “Who goes there?” responded the Cardinal. ”we bear the remains of his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty, Franz-Josef I, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Defender of the Faith, Prince of Bohemia-Moravia, Grand Duke of Lombardy, Venezia, Styrgia…” The officer continued to list the Emperor’s thirty-seven titles. “We know him not,” replied the Cardinal. “Who goes there?”
The officer spoke again, this time using a much abbreviated and less ostentatious title reserved for times of expediency. “We know him not,” the Cardinal said again. “Who goes there?” The officer tried a third time stripping the emperor of all but the humblest of titles, “We bear the body of Franz-Josef our brother, a sinner like us all!” At that the doors swung open and Franz-Josef was admitted.
