Luke 4:14-30

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Visitation of the Son of Man in Time (Luke 4:14-30)

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

19to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

20And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. 22And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23And he said to them, Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, -Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.-' 24And he said, Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow, 27And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. 30But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Luke 4:14-20 Text: The victory Jesus won over the flesh and the devil gave Him great spiritual power. He left Judea and returned to Galilee where He went from village to village teaching in the synagogues. His wisdom and holiness were recognized by all who heard and observed Him and He became increasingly famous throughout Galilee. His name was on the lips of people wherever they gathered.

The Jewish Synagogue probably originated during the Babylonian Exile (606-536 B.C.). It was never really intended as a substitute for their Temple, but it did provide every Jewish community in exile a place to meet, hear their scriptures read, and pray. The Synagogue remains today as the strongest factor in the preservation of Jewish culture and religion. Synagogues could be found in Jesus-' day in every city of the world where there were enough Jews to support them. The chief purpose of the synagogue was not public worship but instruction in the scriptures and the regulation of Jewish social and civil life (insofar as the country in which they lived might allow civil control by the synagogue). In Jesus-' day the Temple in Jerusalem was the chief place of worship. The Pharisees and the Scribes controlled the synagogues in the first century A.D. Each synagogue was ruled by the elders of the community but they usually appointed a president or chief ruler in each one who was responsible for its properties and services, and presided at its meetings. A minister or attendant was also appointed to carry out the rulings of the president and acted as his subordinate. The attendant handled the scrolls, instructed the children, administered the scourgings, sounded the trumpet on Sabbath, etc.

Services were held every Sabbath. The congregation filed in and the men seated themselves on one side of the building while the women took seats on the other side. Prominent members of the community, especially the elders, took seats at the front of the building facing the audience. Jesus characterized the Pharisees as hypocrites who competed with one another for the best seats in the synagogues in order to be seen of men (Matthew 23:6). The best historical information available indicates the synagogue service probably went as follows:

a.

Service began with a congregational recitation of the Shema (shema means, hear or obey) which was the Jewish confession of faith quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

b.

This was followed by a congregational prayer called the Tefillah.

c.

A scripture lesson from the Law (the Pentateuch) was read. (Any member or visitor could be called upon, even a lad of 12 or more, to read the Law.)

d.

Next a scripture lesson from the Prophets was read (again any Jewish male could be asked to do so). The lesson from the Prophets was always restricted to less verses than the one from the Law.

e.

A sermon was preached on the scriptures read. Again any adult Jewish male could give the sermon although that was usually reserved for the elders, rabbis or rulers of the synagogue. Visiting rabbis were often invited to preach.

f.

A blessing was pronounced or a prayer was recited and the service was concluded.

g.

The congregation gave alms for the poor as they filed out of the meeting house.

Attendance at synagogue was not legislated in the Law of Moses. It was custom and tradition. It was a good custom and Jesus made it His custom to attend synagogue on the Sabbath. It afforded Jesus (and later the apostles) ready audiences assembled for the very purpose of religious pursuits. Jesus observed the customary ritual of the synagogue in standing to read and sitting down to preach.

Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah from the attendant and began to read. His text was Isaiah 61:1-2. He rolled up the scroll and returned it to the attendant and sat down. To understand why there was such expectation and anticipation by the audience as they stared at Jesus, one should read the entire 61st chapter of Isaiah. Undoubtedly most of the adult men present knew the whole context from which Jesus had read only two verses. The whole 61st chapter of Isaiah is gloriously messianic. It predicts the messianic era as one of freedom, fortune and fame for the messianic people (cf. comments in Isaiah, Vol, III, by Butler, College Press). The intent of Isaiah 61:1-11 is spiritual, as Jesus plainly indicates, but it is replete with highly figurative language describing the victorious vengeance, superfluity of wealth, subjugation of aliens, and national renown God's messianic people are to have. For centuries Jewish rabbis in their apocryphal writings and traditions had been interpreting the messianic prophecies literally and physically. This Sabbath-day audience anticipated some such literal and materialistic rendering from Jesus, the widely acclaimed hometown boy.

Luke 4:21-30 Teaching: They heard more than they expected. Rather than give the usual rabbinical interpretation of this passage, Jesus made a startling claim, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The Greek text makes it emphaticthis day, this scripture. The Greek word peplerotai, translated fulfilled, is in the perfect tense. Greek perfect tense denotes an action accomplished with a continuing result. A good translation would be, This day this scripture stands fulfilled in your presence.

Jesus was the Servant of Jehovah (Isaiah 61:1-11) anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those bound, The Hebrew word used in Isaiah 61:1-11 for liberty is deror and is also used in connection with the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10; Ezekiel 46:17) when bond slaves were set free and land taken in payment for debts was returned to its original owners. The Mosaic Year of Jubilee was intended to typify the messianic liberation. Christ came to bind our jailor (the devil) and free us (cf. Matthew 12:25-30; Hebrews 2:14-15;1 John 3:8-9; Revelation 20:1-6).

Jesus was also anointed to bring recovery of sight to the blind. He did physically heal a few blind people, but that was not the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah. He came to give all who believe in Him the recovery of spiritual sight! (cf. John 9:39-41).

He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. In Isaiah 61:1-11, the Hebrew word ratzah is translated favorable or acceptable. It means literally, delightful, pleasurable, gracious. The Servant (Jesus) came to announce the precise time God chose in His divine schedule of redemption to accomplish His graciousness toward man. God, through Jesus Christ, summoned all men to His pleasurable, conciliating time. The messianic age is the age of God's grace. Now is the acceptable time, today is the day of salvation (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2). (See our comments, Isaiah, Vol. III, College Press, pgs. 409-413).

The Jews in this synagogue at Nazareth expected Jesus to interpret Isaiah 61:1-11 physically and materially. When Jesus talked of food the Jews wanted bread and fish; when He talked of wholeness (peace) they wanted limbs restored; when He talked of freedom they wanted foreign rulers driven from their land. But physical circumstances are not what constitute the kingdom of Godit is character which does (Romans 13:14; Romans 14:17). Jesus intended the prophecy to be understood as having a spiritual fulfillment. His audience was momentarily caught up in dreams and reveries of a physical fulfillment. They all complimented Jesus on His masterful exposition of the prophet Isaiah. He aroused the feelings of national pride and eagerness for the messianic age in their hearts. Emotion welled up inside the listeners. Suddenly someone said, Is not this Joseph's son? Abruptly it dawned on them they had known this young man for thirty years as he grew up in Nazareth and he had not done one great thing there.

Jesus anticipated their reasoning. He knew they wanted to shout at him the proverbial, Physician, heal yourself. They were reasoning, If this son of Joseph is the Messiah, charity begins at home! He speaks eloquently to us, they thought, but he does his great beneficent miracles in other places; his own home town folks should come first. Their reaction graphically exposes the unbelief of their hearts. Jesus was offering them Himself; they clamored for things! They also betray themselves as greedy, jealous and prejudiced. They should have rejoiced that Jesus had done miracles and helped needy people in other places, but they were envious.

The Lord had a proverb of His own, It is a truth proven by history that one generation persecutes and slays its prophets, and the next builds monuments to them. Their forefathers killed the prophets of old and these people of Nazareth adorned their tombs (cf. Matthew 23:29-36). It is the tragedy of one generation after another that so many wilfully reject opportunities to know God through His messengers. Now these faithless people are rejecting the One of whom all the other prophets spoke. They do not see and would not see even if a miracle were worked in their midst.

Thank God, there are those who will receive God's messengers and trust their word in spite of unpleasant circumstances. Jesus cites two cases from the sacred history of Israel itself to bring the people of Nazareth to their senses. Israel rejected Elijah, but a woman of Sidon who suffered through the same three and one-half years of drought, and was about to starve, believed the prophet, took him in and fed him and received a great blessing (cf. 1 Kings 17:9 ff). The lepers of Israel did not believe Elisha, but a Syrian army captain named Naaman did and was cleansed (cf. 2 Kings 5:1 ff).

Jesus got His point across. God is no respecter of persons, but men and women of every race, culture, generation or social level who trust God and receive His messengers will, in turn, receive His approval. But the people of Nazareth would have none of this doctrine! Jewish apocryphal traditions held that God had created the Gentiles to be fuel for the fires of hell. Here this son of Joseph, a local boy who does nothing for his own home town, spouting messianic promises and claiming their fulfillment in Him, has the audacity to infer that God might favor Gentiles above Jews. Their reaction simply proves the people did not believe the prophet Isaiah either. Isaiah predicts in many places in his writings that God is going to bless men of all nations in the messianic age. In addition to the doctrine of the cross, the doctrine of the universality of the gospel was a stumbling-block to the Jews.

The people became violent. They rose up as one mob and took Jesus bodily and put Him out of the town. Outside the village they took Him to the brow of a steep hill upon which Nazareth was built and there tried to push Him off a cliff to His death. Jesus escaped. We are not told exactly how this was accomplished. John records similar escapes in Jerusalem (cf. John 7:30; John 10:39). Some think He simply walked through the crowd by the very power of His righteous personality. Others think something miraculous happened to allow Him to escape. Whatever the case, it was not His hour to die. He had full control of His destiny. He would lay down His life at the precise time appointed by God and He would take it up againnone would take it from Him!

Applebury's Comments

Scripture

Luke 4:14-30 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a fame went out concerning him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

18

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,

19

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

20

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21

And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23 And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, hysican, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25 But of a truth I say unto you, There were man widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26 and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 28 And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things; 29 and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, and they might throw him down headlong, 30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

Comments

And Jesus returned.Up to this point Luke has been concerned with the evidence that presents Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man. Now he begins to tell about His ministry in which both His deity and His humanity will continue to be emphasized.

Luke told about the baptism and temptation without mentioning other details of Jesus early Judean ministry. See John 4:45.

Jesus returned to Galilee after He heard that John had been put in prison. Matthew 4:12.

in the power of the Spirit.When He returned to Galilee, He began His ministry of teaching and healing in that district. He performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit. These miracles were His credentials as Son of God. They were performed to help people believe His message. See John 20:30-31; Acts 10:38.

Peter said that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power and that He went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed of the devil. See Acts 10:38. His first miracle was at Cana of Galilee, but He also performed miracles when He was in Jerusalem at the passover (John 2:13; John 2:23).

a fame went out concerning him.It was only natural the distressed people should come to Him when they heard about all the things he was doing. See Luke 4:40-41. This gave Him the opportunity to tell them about the kingdom of God.

he taught in their synagogues.Everywhere the Jews had built their synagogues where they could gather for religious instruction. See Acts 15:21. Both Jesus and the apostles went to the synagogues where Jews were gathered on the sabbath day, and being Jews, they spoke, to those assembled, the gospel message that fulfilled the law of Moses and the prophets. Romans 3:21. Luke describes the order of service in Luke 4:16-21 and also in Acts 13:14-43. It consisted in reading from the law and the prophets and the explanation of them for the benefit of the people.

Nazareth, where he had been brought up.Nathanael had raised the question with Philip, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? John 1:46. But in this humble village Jesus had grown to manhood and was known to the neighbors as Joseph's son. In such a place, everyone would know just about everything about the rest of the people. Undoubtedly no one in the synagogue that day when they handed Him the book of Isaiah had the slightest notion that He was the Son of God and the Son of Man, the One who fulfilled what the prophet had written about the Messiah.

as his custom was.The synagogue was the center of the religious life of the community. Jesus had made it a habit to go to the synagogue on the sabbath day. He lived under the Old Covenant and kept the customs of the people who were under the Mosaic law. But Paul, whose ministry was of the New Covenant, went to the synagogue on the sabbath because there he found an audience that needed the gospel of Jesus the Savior.

stood up to read.Jesus stood while reading the Scriptures and sat down to teach. Paul, at Antioch, sat down while the Scriptures were being read and stood up when he addressed the audience. Apparently there was no fixed rule in the matter. Matthew says that Jesus sat down when He delivered the Sermon on the Mount to the disciples and the multitudes, but Luke says that He stood on a level place when He spoke similar wordsperhaps, on another occasion at another place. All these little sidelights tend to mark the genuineness of the sacred records.

the book of the prophet Isaiah.Isaiah had prophesied about the ministry of John the Baptist. Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah is an outline of Jesus-' ministry.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.The ministry of Jesus was under the direction of God through the Spirit. The prophets and priests of the Old Testament were consecrated to their office by the ceremony of anointing with oil. Jesus, as Prophet, Priest and King, was anointed with the Holy Spirit as He began His ministry. That ministry consisted in preaching good tidings to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, giving sight to the blind, and liberty to those broken in heart and body. His ministry that fulfilled this prophecy marked Him as the Messiah. See Luke 7:22.

the acceptable year of the Lord.that is, the season during which God's approval is given to those who accept the deliverance which Christ brought.

the eyes of all the synagogue.Every eye was fixed on Him. He read the Scriptures with meaning that was genuine, for He was the fulfillment of the words He read. But they were not quite ready to accept it when He said, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

the words of grace.The words of Isaiah and the words of Jesus, as He explained that He was fulfilling them, were words about the grace of God that brought relief to the oppressed. Jesus spoke them with gracious concern for all who heard Him.

Is not this Joseph's son?They didn-'t know the facts about Jesus-' birth. What if Mary had tried to tell them? Who would have believed her then? But after the resurrection when God demonstrated that Jesus is His Son, the facts of His birth can be told as the only reasonable explanation of this One who is the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Physician heal thyself.Jesus recognized the problem and suggested this to them, for this is what they were thinking. They had probably heard of the miracle of healing the nobleman's son at Capernaum while Jesus was at Cana (John 4:46). Why not do in His own home town whataccording to reportshad been done elsewhere? But, of course, they didn-'t believe that He had performed such a cure. He answered, No prophet is acceptable in his own country. That's why He had come back to Galilee (John 4:44). In Judea there was a rising storm of opposition because they knew He was a prophet (John 3:2). But in Galilee, they thought He was just Joseph's son and were not too concerned about His activities, even though the crowds followed Him wherever He went. In the end, He was to journey back to Jerusalem, for it was there that He was to suffer for the sins of the people (Luke 9:51; Luke 13:33-35).

widows in Israel in the days of Elijah.See 1 Kings 17:8-24. The one miracle that Elijah performed was sufficient to convince this Gentile woman, for she said, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord that is in your mouth is true. The implied conclusion is that the one miracle Jesus had performed in Capernaum should have caused these who were Jews to believe Him.

lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha.See 2 Kings 5:1-27. This one miracle in Elisha's time was sufficient to establish the fact that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel and that Elisha was His prophet. Again the implied conclusion is that Jesus-' one miracle should have caused them to believe in Him instead of asking, Is not this Joseph's son?

they were filled with wrath.What made them so angry? They had been defeated in the debate by this One who had been reared in their midst whom they had been accustomed to call the carpenter's son. But more than that, He had drawn an unfavorable comparison between them and the two Gentiles who believed Elijah and Elisha. This was the unforgivable offense. Rather than consider the force of His argument, they determined to destroy Him.

led him to the brow of the bill.It was mob violence with intent to kill; no doubt about it. This nearby precipice met their need as a place of execution. It would be swift; and in their madness they no doubt thought it would be easy.

he passing through their midst.Instead of permitting them to cast Him headlong to His death, He simply passed through their midst and went on His way. Was it a miracle that delivered Him? Or was it the strength of this Person who, although He had grown up in their city, was beginning His ministry as the Lord's anointed? We cannot answer the question. I prefer to believe that, although He could have used divine power, He walked through that mob as a Man dedicated to His God. He was surely one of the most forceful persons every to walk on this earth.