Luke 4:14 - 30 – Letting Jesus out of the Box
Props : A large cardboard box wheeled onto the stage (with a person inside of it)
A man who smelled like a brewery flopped on a seat at a bus stop next to a priest. The man’s shirt was stained, clothes unkempt, and a half empty bottle of wine was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. Needless to say, the priest became uncomfortable at the smell and appearance of his seatmate.
After a few minutes the disheveled guy turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"
In his annoyed state, the priest retorted, "Mister, it’s caused by loose living, being with cheap women, too much alcohol and a contempt for your fellow man."
"Well I’ll be...." the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.
The priest, realizing the error of his comment, apologized. "I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude. How long have you had arthritis?"
"I don’t, Reverend. I was just reading here that the Pope does."
Just like this priest, too often we can make assumptions about people that can be completely wrong. What is worse though, is that too often we can make assumptions about God that can be completely wrong. We conservative evangelicals are very prone to doing this. We try to squeeze the creator God with all his awesome characteristics into a box or into a set of creeds or theological explanations which we can comprehend or handle with our feeble little finite minds. In so doing, we put limits on what we will allow God to do in us and more seriously, we try to limit what God is allowed to do in other people.
This morning, I want to look at a passage in Luke’s Gospel, where a group of people who know Jesus very well tried to stuff Him into their box. The problem was, that Jesus’ purpose and his whole ministry was way too big to be contained in any box dreamed up by the thoughts of mere men. And so unfortunately, he burst out of the box, ripping it to shreds in the process. (Person bursts out of the box) The people who had created this box for Jesus didn’t like this very much as now Jesus was uncontained and they didn’t quite know how to understand Him or his ministry.
Come with me to Luke’s Gospel chapter 4 vs 14- 30. Pray & Then Read Luke 4 :14-30
Here we have an account of Jesus coming home. Nazareth was the place where he grew up. He no doubt had some wonderful memories of this town. Just outside of the gate there was that favourite climbing tree. He was able to wander the streets and lanes without even thinking about where he was going. He was able to greet people by name and they also knew him. It was a good place to be. And as was his custom, every Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue to worship God.
Synagogues were meeting places where people came together to worship. They were usually constructed on the highest piece of ground and were build so that as people entered and knelt down to pray, they would be facing Jerusalem (and the temple and ark of the covenant). The Synagogue was fashioned after the temple and so at the end of the building closest to Jerusalem was a chest, commonly called the ark where the sacred scrolls were kept. This mirrored the holy of holies. In front of this was an 8 branched lampstand like the temple, and besides this was usually a single lamp which was kept burning all the time. Nearer the middle of the building was a raised podium, usually with a pulpit where the Scriptures would be read from and where the teacher would sit to teach. Men would be grouped on one side of building with women on the other and a 5 or 6 ft wall separated the two.
Synagogues were not like churches today where they had minister. Some did have teachers or rabbis with them, but more often than not the local synagogue leaders would invite people to do the readings and then preach or reflect on it. Jesus had begun to make a bit of a name for teaching as he wandered through the region of Galilee and so on this Sabbath, he was asked to read from the Holy Scriptures. We don’t know whether the passage he read was his choice, or whether it was set down, but in any case, he was given the scroll of Isaiah the prophet and Jesus stands to read the Scripture up as a mark of respect and turns to chapter 61. In actual fact, it is not a direct quote, but he has joined 2 passages and purposely left out some specific phrases. Don’t get hung up on Jesus doing this. Both passages in Isaiah were recognized as messianic passages and here Jesus picks up several ideas and combines them. He says.
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, (that is all from Is 61:1) to release the oppressed, (That is from Is 58:6) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (That is from Is 61:2)
And then once he has read this passage, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sits down ready to start preaching. And this is what he says … “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
In this short commentary, Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”. We’ve just studied Jesus’ Baptism and there could be no doubt about the fact that the Holy Spirit was indwelling Jesus. But why was the Holy Spirit upon Him? “Because the Lord has anointed Me”. Remember, that this was one of the reasons why Jesus had to be baptized – to be anointed or set apart for the ministry God had prepared for him.
Jesus had the Holy Spirit for a purpose and we have the Holy Spirit also for a purpose. Just as Jesus was anointed for a ministry, we also are set apart for a ministry. What was Jesus’ ministry? He was anointed to
1) Preach the good news to the poor. Jesus brought the good news of the forgiveness that was to be offered to all mankind. God wanted a new relationship with us as people, but Sin stood in the way. He had to get rid of our sin problem and so he was planning to offer his Son as a sacrifice so that the consequences of our sins might be dealt with. Jesus said – I came to preach this good news to those who were poor. Jesus didn’t just preach to the economically poor of this world, though he did focus on them to a large degree. But Jesus came to preach the good news of salvation to those who were spiritually poor – those who were hopeless because of sin, without the power to save themselves, without potential for the future. Who are the spiritually poor in Gladstone? Are they just those who we are willing to be seen in public with? Are they just our friends? Of course not. Everyone who doesn’t know God is spiritually poor and needs the good news Jesus brings. Even those hard nosed construction workers who live to drink and drink to live.
2) Proclaim freedom for the prisoners. Freeing the oppressed, was a role that all Jews expected the Messiah to take on when he appeared. While on earth, however, Jesus released people who were prisoners of Satan on a regular basis. Some of these were demon possessed. But more often than not, they were just people who fell under Satan’s control because they had sinned. The Bible says that because of our sins, we were slaves. Jesus in John 8:34-36 says … “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. We all needed to be set free and so in dying for us, Christ proclaimed our freedom from sin. Who are the prisoners in Gladstone that still need to be set free? What are we doing that will reach them for Jesus? What are you doing?
3) Proclaim recovery of sight for the blind, Because everyone is under Satan’s control initially, he blinds people to the truth. Paul writes in 2 Cor 4:2 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Jesus came to give sight to the physically blind, but also the spiritually blind and in Gladstone, there are plenty who still have the shutters down on their eyes. Jesus came so they could see the truth. So the question remains, how are we going to help them to see God’s truth.
4) To release the oppressed. This literally is release those who are bruised and speaks of those who have had to suffer any kind of injustice or oppression. This society we live in is not a fair place. It is not a kind place, but instead is a society which exploits and oppresses all kinds of people. Jesus came to release people who have been wounded from this world and offer them a better life.
5) To Proclaim the year of the Lord’s Favor, Jesus came to let us know that although we had rebelled and offended God through our constant sinning, God still desired to act to save mankind. It just so happened that the year in which this happened was the Year of Jubilee. This was a special year in the life of the Israelite nation which occurred every 50 years. It was a year when all debts were cancelled, all land was returned to their original owners and if anyone had become a slave due to their economic mismanagement, they were to be released. It was a time where all things became new and when people returned to their original privileged status. In proclaiming this prophecy, fulfilled, Jesus was saying, I’m ushering in not just the normal year of Jubilee, but a special one where you will be set free from Sin’s debts and enslavement. Now is the time when God will save – me, you, and anyone else who will care to listen …
There probably could be no better description of what Jesus came to do than these 2 verses and Luke says that the people were amazed at what he said. But this amazement was short lived. You see, in quoting these verses, Jesus left out one small clause which his Jewish audience would have been waiting for. In Is 61:2, the passage ends with Jesus proclaiming the year of favour of the Lord “and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” The Jews picture of the Messiah was of a great warrior who would come and release them from their enemies – but more than that, they expected this Messiah to lead them in a glorious defeat of their enemies and for God to judge their enemies for once and for all. Who were their enemies? All Gentiles of course. The Jews regarded all Gentiles as dogs and they believed that. God only created them “to fuel the fires of hell.” It was very significant that Jesus left out this clause because he didn’t come to judge. God’s plan was that this visit of the Messiah was to bring a day of salvation not a day of judgment. The Day of judgment will come when Jesus comes back a second time. When Jesus said in vs 21 “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” He was referring to preaching the good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, releasing the oppressed and proclaiming the Ultimate year of Jubilee. But he was not referring to the coming judgement. That was not for now, it was for later.
The box that the Jews had for their Messiah wasn’t the same as that for Jesus. To them, the Gentiles were dogs and deserved judgment. They were waiting for the real Messiah, one who brought the guts and glory. The one who would come and live up to their expectation and destroy these Gentiles. Who was this imposter. Before them they saw the young man they knew well. He was the carpenter. But what was he saying? Mark’s gospel records their changing attitude well … (Mk 6:2) “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, a Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”
Jesus sensing their growing indignation challenges them. (vs 23) He says “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.’” “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. Jesus draws out their subconscious attitude. They want proof of his so called Messiahship. Let him prove it by giving us a miracle. But Jesus rightly says, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
He goes on to rub salt into their wounds by recalling Elijah’s and Elisha’s miracles. He points out that their miracles weren’t performed in their own town. In fact, they weren’t even performed in the midst of Israelites. Rather, their miracles were performed before Gentiles – Those you call dogs.
Jesus here is challenging the box that the Jews had created for the Messiah. Their Box restricted the Messiah’s ministry to Israel. It reserved the Messiah’s victories for the Jews alone. It did not have room for the Gentiles in that box. But Jesus’ ministry was far bigger than this box they had created. Jesus’ ministry was for the benefit of all people – not just the Jews. His ministry of salvation was for all nations. The Jews had got it wrong, God’s purposes in choosing them was not to save them in isolation, but so that they could be his instruments by which he would bring salvation to the whole world. His plans and his purposes was to save Jews and Gentiles.
The Box the Jews in Nazareth had for Jesus, was just not big enough to contain the plans God had for Jesus and so Jesus burst out of it – ripping it apart at the seams.
What size box have we at Gladstone Baptist Church constructed for Jesus? What restrictions are we putting on Him here today. Churches often put restrictions on what sort of clientele we’ll entertain at our activities. We want to aim at the middle class clean people who we will naturally be able to relate to. God certainly isn’t calling us to minister to those other people. We doubt that he could or would want to reach them anyway. They are too far gone.
Many churches put restrictions on what things God can do. We want the Holy Spirit to work, but only if He promises to keep within these boundaries. We don’t want too many of those healings or spiritual deliverances. We don’t want to be challenged too much else we’ll become uncomfortable. If He can just restrict his operation to within the lives of people we choose, that would be very much appreciated.
But I’ve got some news for you. The Box that we make for Jesus will never be big enough to contain the plans that God has for His Son. Whatever box, I try to force Jesus into is limited to my viewpoint and my experience and the same is true for your box. We need to let Jesus out of our box and give Him freedom to challenge us as He sees fit. To work His perfect purposes as He desires. To reach those he wants to. To use us as he longs to.
Unfortunately, the Jews didn’t get it. They were so infuriated that Jesus dared to burst out from their box, that they sought to kill Him. They dragged Christ up to the top of a cliff and were about to throw Him off. But this was not in God’s plan. It was not time for Jesus to die and so he parted the angry crowd and went on his way, never to return to Nazareth His home town. How do you feel when Jesus bursts from the box you have nicely constructed for Him. Do you feel indignant, angry, frustrated. Why? Can’t we see that Jesus is bigger than any limitations we could impose on Him. Can’t we see that He wants to do amazing things – much bigger than we had ever hoped or dreamed. Do you have a box you are keeping Jesus in today? Are you willing to let Jesus out of the Box today? Allow Him to work freely without any restraints and conditions? I’m looking forward to the 40 Days of Purpose because I think that Jesus is going to burst out of many of our boxes and enlarge our minds and our faith. But I hope that we choose to willingly give permission for Jesus to work outside our Boxes, before he feels the need to rip them to shreds before our very eyes. Let’s not be indignant at what Jesus came to do, but see the enormity of his mission and ours in this town of Gladstone.
