On the Road with Jesus: They Knew Him When
Starting today, we are embarking on a journey with Jesus. We’ll look at some of the scenes from Luke’s gospel, highlighting times that Jesus is said to be travelling. We’re going to start with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, after His baptism and temptation.
They Knew Him When
And Jesus returned [from being tempted in the wilderness] in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And 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 in your hometown as well.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:14-30)
This isn’t the way many would have imagined their Messiah to begin His ministry. Instead of going immediately to Israel’s leaders and announcing His kingdom, He embarks on a mission of teaching and helping. Notice the first thing He does after returning from the wilderness is enter the synagogues to teach. And when He does this, He proclaims His mission:
- To proclaim good news to the poor
- To proclaim liberty to the captives
- To proclaim recovering of sight to the blind
- To set at liberty those who are oppressed
- To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
Jesus is saying, “The time has come. This is the time of the Lord’s favor. It’s time to set the children of God free.” Notice that all of those things have to do with freedom and liberty. And He began to do just that. He set people free from all sorts of oppression–blindness, deafness, mute, epilepsy, leprosy, demon oppression, and more. He just didn’t do what everyone in Israel wanted done: to kick the Romans out.
This is why we see the leaders and the people reject Jesus. They were really rejecting His portrait of what Messiah was and would do. They forgot that their own writings told of a Messiah who would do the very works that Jesus did. This is also a clue as to why their attitude changed toward Him. They were “marveling” at the gracious words coming out of His mouth, but then when He brought up the subject of Elijah and Elisha being sent to Gentiles instead of Israel, they were “filled with wrath” and tried to throw Him off the cliff!
Two things happened here. First, they saw Jesus as someone they knew. He was, after all, preaching in His hometown of Nazareth. He rightly pointed out that “no prophet is accepted in his own town.” They said among themselves, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Translation? “We know this guy!! He’s just an ordinary carpenter. Who does He think He is?” Second, the Jews clung so tightly to their status of “God’s people,” that they had forgotten that they were supposed to be a light to the nations. Now, not only were they blind, not being that light, they hated anyone who would show God’s light to the Gentiles.
What is the lesson here? There are at least three. First, God wants people of all the nations to be given this message of freedom and liberty. As the Jews were called to be a light to the nations, so we are called to be the light and engage with those who are different from us. We might be tempted to see ourselves the same way the Jews saw themselves, as God’s people and hunker down in that identity. But God calls us to be the light to the nations.
Second, when we are called by God and embrace His priorities, often the strongest opposition comes from within our circle of people who know us. Our family, friends, or church can often be where we see that resistance the most. This is why Jesus made it clear that we must place Him above all over earthly relationships. Being on mission with Jesus will cost us, but He is worth it.
Third, we still live in the “year” of the Lord’s favor. Jesus stopped His reading before the next part of Isaiah 61, which continues: “the day of vengeance of our God.” And as we see time and time throughout the Gospels, His first response to those in bondage to sin and oppression is compassion. He reserved His judgment for those who thought they were well. And what did that compassion look like? We see great examples of the heart of compassion in Luke 10:25-37 and Luke 15:11-24.
We are walking with Jesus, who has great compassion for us, showing us the heart of the Father. Likewise, we can show compassion for those around us.
