Our reading from Luke 4:16-30 is known as the Rejection at Nazareth. It takes place immediately after Jesus had been tempted by the devil in the Judean Desert and before he travels to Capernaum, where he teaches and performs many miracles.
In it we find a fast moving story that turns from respect and intrigue into hate and attempted murder. Jesus goes to the synagogue where he reads from the scroll of Isaiah. But he hands back the scroll stopping short of an important point for the Jews. In his reading he announces that the spirit of the Lord is upon him. Although those around him are amazed at his wisdom, His words anger them because they see themselves as Gods chosen people, who are perfect, and they do not agree that the good news should also be for the Gentiles. They are angered by his words and throw him out of the synagogue and take him from the city where they drag him to a hill top and try to throw him off a cliff, but he manages to walk away from them unhindered.
Luke is a comprehensive Gospels, written around 60 A.D. A Dr by profession, he had a style of writing, that not only showed he was an educated but a caring man, who had an eye for detail. His main purpose in writing the gospel was to give an accurate account of Jesus’ life and to show Him as both a perfect human being and the Saviour. He often spoke out about the telling of good news, which made him an evangelist.
To put our reading into a geographical context it is important to know that Nazareth was built in a hollow on the southern slopes of the Galilean hills and from the top of the hill a view could be seen that stretched for many miles. Its situation was at a busy convergence of three major trade routes, making it an important place both biblically and commercially.
The synagogue was a place where people went to read and study the scriptures. There they had set prayers and readings for each day of the year, a little similar to our lectionaries. This was Jesus’ first public sermon, which holds an important place in Luke’s gospel, as it marks the beginning of his ministry, which all started in his childhood town of Nazareth.
When Jesus began to read it was not from the Torah, but from the scroll of Isaiah that was handed to him by the Chazan or the cantor of the synagogue. He began at the appointed reading from Isaiah 61:1-2.
Jesus began his sermon with a statement “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” The anticipation from those around him was great as eyes were fixed upon him. They waited for him to say more. Some may have accepted what he was saying and others did not. With the words “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” the people who were listening to him began to realise and to understand the depth of what he was saying.
Piece by piece they strung together his words, actions, and stories, which they had just heard until they reached a point when they finally realised that he was speaking about himself. This was the point where they began to despise him.
Jesus stopped reading in mid sentence, finishing with the year of the Lord’s favour and this was what caused the consternation; it was what Jesus did not say as opposed to what he did say. This was quite often the case. The Jewish people expected God to restore Israel to what they considered was its rightful position and to show no mercy to those who had persecuted them. On one hand their way of thinking could be understood, especially when you look back at their exodus from Egypt and how God crushed the Egyptians as they pursued them across the Red Sea, so why should they expect it to be any different now. Initially the Jews were impressed by Jesus’ words but when He spoke about their Roman captors in a forgiving way and showed that the good news was for Jew and also the Gentile alike, they began to seethe with anger. They did not want to share their privileges with non Jews and they disagreed with what was being said.
After reading from the scroll he handed it back and sat down. This was an act that signified that he was about to teach, because teachers sat whilst pupils remained standing. But the words that Jesus read caused the Jewish people to think deeply about what they had just heard. The text that he had read spoke strongly of a Messiah and the work that he was called to do, such as bringing good news to both Jew and Gentile alike.
Although the words he read were from Isaiah they very much spoke about him. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” he said. As Jesus spoke these words he enabled people to see that even though he was the son of God he still needed God’s Holy Spirit and anointing to be able to do God’s work. His words told them that he was the anointed one, commissioned by God and that he was both the right person and the one that God had called to ministry. He was anointed to preach to the poor and to tell the good news of the gospel. This anointment was seen as John baptised Jesus in the Jordan. These words left the Jewish people pondering on how to interpret these mission statements in either a physically or spiritually way. It posed questions such as “Who was Jesus to save the materially poor or the spiritually poor?” It also led them to ask “Who are the captives that are to be freed? Are they the people who are slaves to the Romans or slaves to the devil in other words sinners?” also “Is it the physically blind who need healing or is it those who are unable to see God at work amongst them?” These were the questions that they wrestled with. Jesus healed those who were in both physical and spiritual need and by healing a physical need he touched upon a spiritual need. He came to preach to the poor, those who had no job and were so poor that they had to beg in the streets to survive. He identified himself as being the prophet that Isaiah spoke about. He told them, in his usual couched way, that he was there to make a difference, which would bring a change to people. As is often the case Jesus allows his listeners to work out the meaning of his words for themselves. The people who had just heard God’s message with were now about to feel and experience it within themselves. Jesus was to preach the good news by both word and action. Christ was telling them that he had come as a prophet and physician to heal the spiritually sick, to those who were weighed down by sin. He offered an opportunity to give these burdens of guilt and shame over to God.
He was the long awaited Messiah who had come to set them free. But the people in the synagogue expected Jesus to perform the same miracles in Nazareth as he had performed elsewhere, but this was not what Jesus wanted to do.
They wanted a piece of the action, after all this was his home town, so why should they be so wrong for wanting or expecting him to work miracles there? Jesus was not prepared to acquiesce to their expectations or demands. There was deep rooted prejudice held against him, based on the knowledge that he was only the son of Joseph, the artisan builder cum carpenter, so how could he me the Messiah. They remembered the man as a boy and teenager and had watched him grow up. Their knowledge of Jesus encouraged them to have feelings of contempt for him.
In v 25-27 we read how Jesus is likened to the prophet Elijah. Jesus didn’t go to help those who he was expected to go to, he went to those who people did not expected him to go to; people such as tax collectors, prostitutes and fishermen. Elijah did the same when a drought and famine, which lasted 3 ½ years had raged people suffered yet the prophet Elijah did not go to comfort them, but he went to someone else in another land that they did not expect him to go to and offered comfort to them.
The Jews resented Jesus’ words and hatred began to fuel their feelings for him to such a point that they threw Jesus out of the synagogue, city and dragged him to a hill top and tried to throw him down a cliff, as they believed he was unfit to remain there because of his beliefs. He managed to escape and passed through the crowds, which he managed to do either due to his sheer strength or his divine nature.
This encounter with the synagogue officials acted as a wakeup call for the Jewish people to realize that God wanted a relationship not only with Jews but also with Gentiles. He told them how he had come to help those who were persecuted, unloved, poor, captive and spiritually blind. These were the people who were of concern to Jesus, not the comfortable and devout ritualists of the synagogues, who lived by rules and regulations and not by the word of God. He came to bring salvation and a new life for those persecuted groups and to put an end to the old ways that the Jews cherished so much.
We have explored what this reading meant in its original context but how should we interpret it for ourselves today?
The first thing that I believe it says to us is that it is important to attend church, to read and study God’s word. This was exemplified by the example that Jesus gave to us. He regularly attended the synagogue. That leads us to ask how long do we spend each week studying God’s word. Work, on average, takes up about ten hours out of our day, this includes travelling. Sleeping, eating, showering and dressing also takes another ten hours. Our family and our hobbies account for the remaining 4 hours. It is thought that a committed church member is in church two to three times a month. Out of 168 hours in our week, about ninety minutes are given to spiritual growth, which is less than one percent! This can lead to some frightening results such as spiritual ignorance and weakness. It also can lead to some weird theology. Some believe in the resurrection, but they also think reincarnation is okay. Some believe God guides through prayer, and also through horoscopes. While devout Muslims commit themselves to memorising the Koran, the average Christian doesn't bother to even read their Bible.
Ministers try to encourage people to grow in their spiritual lives as we preach the gospel from the pulpit. God’s word is a light for our path. We have to put God's Word at the top of our daily 'to do' list. '. We are supposed to be mature Christians and this calls for commitment, which no longer allows ourselves to be tossed to and fro and carried about by the wind of doctrine as the fancy takes us and often made to feel right by the trickery of humanity. By studying and reading God’s word we are fed substantial spiritual food, which will help us to grow spiritually.
The second thing that I believe it says to us is that God is for everyone no matter how diverse a society we may be. He doesn’t come just for those of us who are in church worshipping him, but to those who don’t come to worship him. He comes to all through people like you and me who reflect Christ to them by what we do and say. It is highly important that we tell others about the goodness of God because rest assured Atheists will definitely speak out against him. I have recently been involved in a persistent discussion on Facebook about God. The utter trash that this atheist spouted and tried to argue was both astounding and quite scary. The most disappointing thing of it all was the sad fact that out of all the other Christians who were able to join in with our conversation didn’t bother to join in. Only one spoke out in support of God. It was sad but it taught me that we must take every opportunity to speak out for God and to tell others about his grace, power and majesty and what he has done for each of us. I read recently that the best way to counter negative perceptions of Christianity is to put out lots of positive information. God speaks out for us so we should speak out for him as a living testimony.
As I leave you with these thoughts I would like to invite you to examine your own spiritual lives and see if there is something more that you can do to help yourself grow in your spirituality and how you can speak out in support of God in your everyday interactions with other people by making theological connections in everything that you do.
