Introduction
When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in bodily form like a dove. From then on, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and fasted and prayed in the desert for forty days as the Holy Spirit led him. And although he was tempted by the devil in the desert, he defeated all of the devil's temptations with the word of God.
Afterwards, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to Galilee where he began teaching in the synagogues of various towns and villages.
I. Jesus teaching in the synagogues of Galilee (vv. 14-15)
Look at verses 14 and 15. “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Jesus' teachings were a completely different gospel that people had never heard before from the teachings of the scribes. Jesus did not tell them what they should do if they wanted to be saved, but focused only on the grace of God, who always cares about God's people. Moreover, by the many signs and miracles Jesus performed, he confirmed that God's grace had returned to God's people through Jesus himself.
Everyone talked about Jesus. News about Jesus spread everywhere. Centering on Galilee, it would have spread to the Decapolis region, the Phoenician region with Tire and Sidon, the Idumea region, and the Jerusalem and Judea regions. After hearing about Jesus, people came from all over to hear his words or be healed by Jesus. Jesus was praised by all. People had never seen or heard anything like this before.
Why did people praise Jesus? Is it because they have heard and seen God’s grace come to them in Jesus? For most people that was not the case. Jesus' Word did not take hold of them unto eternal life. They just found exciting about Jesus' Word. Jesus' teachings and miracles did not free people from the guilt and the power of sin. People only praised Jesus because of the miracles he performed. Thus people's hearts were cut off from Jesus.
If Jesus went to Nazareth, where he grew up, how would people react to him? Would the people of Nazareth be proud of a young man from Nazareth who was praised by everyone in his village? They saw Jesus growing up and playing in the streets. They heard and knew what Jesus had done. Before Jesus began his public ministry, he supported his family by working as a carpenter in Nazareth. And after receiving water baptism from John the Baptist and fasting for forty days in the desert, Jesus preached the gospel in Judea and Galilee before visiting his hometown of Nazareth for the first time. Will the people of his hometown, Nazareth, truly accept Jesus as the One who has been anointed by the Holy Spirit for the work of redemption? Will they really believe in Jesus in order to be saved?
II. Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (vv. 16-22a)
Jesus went to Nazareth, where he grew up. The people of Nazareth may have known he was coming, but what they expected did not happen. Many miracles did not occur. There were sick people in Nazareth too, and Heavenly Father would have given Jesus the opportunity to perform many miracles. However, because of their lack of faith, He did not do many miracles in Nazareth (Matthew 13:58). Jesus layed his hands on a few sick people and healed them (Mark 6:5). Jesus performed many signs and miracles in the Galilee region, but in Nazareth, Jesus was just one of them, and he was just an ordinary citizen of Nazareth. The people of Nazareth not only did not believe in Jesus for their own salvation, but they also did not believe in his power to perform miracles, thus they could not be healed. This fact was clearly revealed when Jesus taught on the Sabbath day.
When the Sabbath began to dawn, like old times, Jesus went along the familiar streets and passed through the door of the synagogues he knew so well. There Jesus seated himself, just as he had done so often in the past (v. 16). Yet it was different now. Great tension could be felt among the people in the synagogue. Would Jesus now teach here too? What would Jesus say?
The man in charge of the synagogue read the selected portion from the books of Moses. Next in the order of service was the reading of a portion from the prophets. That portion could be freely chosen and anyone could de reading. At this point Jesus stood up and went forward. An attendant gave Jesus the scroll of Isaiah. Jesus rolled it open to chapter 61:1~2 and began to read (v. 17). Look at verses 18-19. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” This means that God's anointed Messiah will come and free those who were held captive by the fetters of sin. Jesus proclaimed a great jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor. The Jubilee year comes after a full 50 years, and in this year, all the Israelites who were sold into slavery because they could not pay their debts are freed. They are free and can return home. Spiritually, it means that sinners who were slaves to the evil devil are liberated and saved through Christ Jesus.
After Jesus had finished reading Isaiah 61:1-2, he gave the scroll back to the attendant and sat down to teach. Everyone in the synagogue looked at Jesus, paying attention to what he was going to say (v. 20). Look at verse 21. “And he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'” What does it mean? “Today you are experiencing the fulfillment of this prophecy. For I am this servant of the Lord, the Anointed One. I have been sent to set you free from your sin and from its consequences.” Without hiding anything, Jesus asked the people of Nazareth to believe in him as the promised Redeemer, as the anointed servant of the Lord.
The people listened breathlessly. When he stopped just a moment they looked at one another and spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips (v. 22a). They thought Jesus was great. No one else had ever said anything like this. They had never expected this of the boy who had played in their streets and whom they had so often seen in Joseph's carpenter's shop. They were only amazed and had not heard the content of Jesus' words. Although they were proud of Jesus, they did not have the heart to acknowledge his words. They did not acknowledge Jesus as the servant of the Lord. They found it all very interesting and were very amazed, but they rejected Jesus. How often does this also happen in our day when the Word of God is heard!
III. Unbelieving Israel (vv. 22b-23)
The Nazarenes in the synagogue asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (v. 22b). These words were not meant to praise Jesus. This meant that he was an ordinary person who grew up in the same streets as us and without receiving proper education. Mark 6:2~3 records it like this: “When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 'Where did this man get these things?' they asked. 'What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?' And they took offense at him.”
The people of Nazareth knew that Jesus had grown up in the same village as them and knew all about his past. So they could not accept the claim that Jesus was not a Pharisee, a rabbis, or a scribe, but rather the anointed Messiah prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. They thought the Messiah would appear in a mysterious way. So they said that the Jesus who grew up with them was not the Messiah. The biggest obstacle to their belief in Jesus was that they knew him too well on a human level. The point is that Jesus was very ordinary in human terms. People who view Jesus in this humanistic way cannot properly believe in Him.
The Jesus saw that in their astonishment they rejected him. Would he then not gain any access to their hearts? Jesus therefore began to talk to them differently. Jesus no longer announced the grace of the Lord; he wanted them to discover both their own unbelief of previous days when he had not performed many miracles, and also their present unbelief in the synagogue.
Jesus rebuked them for refusing, quoting a proverb. Look at verse 23. “Jesus said to them, 'Surely you will quote this proverb to me: "Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum." '” Here, ‘Physician, heal yourself’ means to quack physician, first heal your own family members and then act as a physician. This is a complete disregard for a physician. This means that if you heal your family member, I will recognize you as a physician. When people say that he is a physician, he should be trusted, but on the contrary, his family members do not often trust him as a physician. Rather, people who do not know him completely entrust themselves to him to receive treatment, but people close to him know him too well and cannot entrust themselves to him, so they cannot receive treatment.
IV. The prophet is not welcome in his hometown (vv. 24-27)
When the people of Nazareth mocked and rejected His words, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown” (v. 24). This means that because of his human closeness, he is not recognized as a true servant of God. Rather, if he had not known Jesus well, he would have listened and obeyed the words with a humble heart, but because he knew Jesus well, he rejected grace.
Then, Jesus cited two cases from the Old Testament (vv. 25-27). One is a story from the time of the prophet Elijah. During Ahab's time there was a drought in Israel for three and a half years. There were many widows in Israel then, but Elijah was not honored as a prophet in Israel. So God sent him to a heathen widow in Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, and she alone found her help. This means that even though the Israelites suffered from drought, they did not thirst for God's grace. Although they were worried about water, they did not long for the word of God. They ignored Elijah, the prophet sent by God.
Likewise, there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, and none of them were cleansed. The reason is that Elisha was not acknowledged as the prophet of the LORD. None of them thirsted for God's grace. Salvation came only to Naaman, a Gentile Syrian, who submitted in faith to the prophet's words of grace. In fact, Naaman was also in danger. When Elisha told Naaman to dip in the unclean water of the Jordan River seven times, Naaman became angry and tried to go back. At that time, one of Naaman's subordinates informed Naaman of an important fact. He told Naaman that he was just a leper before God. He did not appear before God with the dignity and honor of a general. When Naaman was told that if only he could be cured of leprosy, he would have to go into waters worse than the Jordan River, Naaman immediately obeyed and was cured.
God does not force grace to those who do not want to receive it. For them, God's salvation just passes by. Rather, God takes away that grace and gives it to people who are much worse than them. Envy arises in the hearts of those who have been deprived of grace, causing them to seek grace.
V. The Majesty of Christ (vv 28-30)
Jesus spoke sharply to the people in the synagogue in order that they might yet turn around and receive salvation. But despite these words, they did not repent. Jesus' reproach of their unbelief had only filled their hearts with anger (v. 28). They were angry about who Jesus thought he was to say this to them. They thought Jesus was just an ordinary boy who grew up in their neighborhood.
When they heard what Jesus said, they became furious and kicked him out of the synagogue. And when Jesus came out, they dragged him to the brow of the hill on which Nazareth was built and tried to throw him down headlong (v. 29). But when they reached the top, Jesus turned around and straightway the crowd fell back. All at once a majesty went out from Jesus which frightened them. This opened up a path among them by which he went away.
Even though they had not acknowledged Jesus Christ as God's Anointed One, they still had seen something of the majesty of Jesus Christ there. One day all men will thus behold the majesty of Jesus Christ. If they have not bowed before the majesty of the grace of Jesus here, they will one day tremble before the majesty of Jesus in the judgment.
Conclusion
Dear believers, I hope you thirst for God’s grace. And I hope you receive grace when God gives it to you. If you reject God's grace, you never know when grace will come again. I sincerely pray that we all be saved through faith in Jesus Christ and live a life filled with grace.
