16
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. 17
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18
“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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20
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. 21
And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22
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?” 23
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.’” 24
And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25
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, 26
and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27
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.” 28
When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29
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.30
But passing through their midst, he went away.
Our text this morning has a number of “firsts”: This is the first sermon that Jesus preached and it is the first or rather, earliest accounting we have of the liturgy,
or part of one, of a synagogue service. This is also the first time that Jesus makes clear that the Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, was all about Him! (21)
Everyone was fascinated by His teaching. We don’t know exactly what it was that held them spell-bound though we have some testimony later that He taught with authority
and yet graciously. Don’t forget, He is in Nazareth. This is His hometown…He grew up there and so folks would have known Him since he was a boy. Jesus knows they are unbelieving and that He would not receive a warm welcome for very long as verses 24-30 make
clear!
The passage Jesus quotes from Isaiah and then His following comments are in one sense an outline of the Lord’s message that He will proclaim throughout Galilee and
Judea until the time of His death. It is the message from God that the Prophets said the Messiah would announce, that is why Jesus makes it clear that Isaiah’s words come to fruition in Him. In other words, Jesus says, “I am the one Isaiah was talking about!”
This message has two parts:
First, there is grace and mercy from God through Jesus to those who are deeply troubled. The passage from Isaiah mentions some of them: The poor; This does not just
mean those who are economically lower but those who stand outside of God’s favor. In the gospel the poor, although at times including being monetarily poor, refers to those who are in great need of God coming to them in mercy and who know that they are in
such a state!
This is an important point to Christ’s ministry. There are many people who are objectively poor in this world but who will not admit that their true problem is poverty
of spirit and will not seek help from the One who can give it. There are many rich people by this world’s standards, who also will not see their poverty. As Jesus will later put it, it is not those who are well who need a doctor but those who are sick and
He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
But, in each case, as the context will make perfectly clear, the “well” and the “righteous” are not people who actually have no need of God’s grace, but rather people who
don’t realize and who will not admit that they have any such need. The gospel is not for the healthy or the worthy, it is for the unworthy and the desperate!
It is the same with “the captives,” and “the blind” and “the oppressed.” The Lord will heal blind folks but there was also a spiritual blindness that the Lord encountered
and he opened the eyes of many more people who could see perfectly well in the physical sense but who had been blind to the salvation of God that is found only in Jesus. Another important aspect in this text and something you may want to write in the margin
of your Bible, is that the word translated “liberty” in the ESV twice in v. 18 is the ordinary word for “forgiveness.” Release from captivity is to be released from the sin that holds one in bondage. That is what Jesus was doing in the world, destroying the
bondage of sin!
To summarize this would be to say that what is true of all these conditions of life is the helplessness of those who are prisoners, blind and overwhelmed. In each
case, they are powerless to do anything about their situation. Jesus comes and proclaims that He is here to do for us, what we cannot do for ourselves! But sadly, man in his arrogance often doesn’t want to admit the state they are in. They don’t want to admit
they are blind, in bondage to sin and oppressed by the sorrows, and tragedies of this world. And even more, they definitely don’t want to come to the realization that they are helpless in the face of such things.
This was proven to be the case here in Nazareth when He gave the example of the widow and Naaman the leper receiving God’s mercy…two Gentiles! Those listening to Jesus
knew exactly what He was driving at. Just as there were none in Israel contrite and humbly in Elijah’s day, Jesus is telling these folks in His hometown that they too, were part of a community that were unready, unwilling, and too proud to confess their poverty,
their blindness and their captivity to sin. Jesus was telling them that they needed Him…desperately! And this infuriated them, to the point of wanting to take His life!
There are many today, and sadly many who sit in Christian churches who can’t bear to admit that they are poor, blind and captive. In fact, to suggest that they are
sinful and more so than they realize, to make the Biblical observation that they are bankrupt and captive to sin and death, hopeless and helpless is simply too much for them.
But what of us? Do we take time to be completely honest with ourselves about the depth of our own sin? Do we see just where we would be and what we are capable of,
apart from the love of God and the freedom that is ours in the forgiveness of our sins? Sometimes people make light of their sin…they don’t deny it, only lessen it. But remember, to lessen our sin is to lessen the depth of God’s mercy and sacrifice of His
Son FOR our sins. If our sins, are not all that bad, then why did God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit go to such great lengths, such ultimate sacrifice and suffering to save us from them?
As we go through Luke’s gospel we are going to find two kinds of people. There will be those who think they don’t need Jesus, they are just fine without Him and are
offended that He would suggest otherwise. And there will be those who see themselves quite clearly and are desperate…desperate for hope, for love, for rescue. The first group will be angry, thinking that if Jesus is Messiah, then He is saving all the wrong
people. The second group, will give their lives, hook, line and sinker to the One who has set them free. Which group are we in?
Prayer: Father, I was poor and you have made me rich in Christ Jesus. I was a captive to sin and death and my Savior has set me free. I was blind but now I see,
I was oppressed by my own brokenness but now, I rejoice in hope. Thank you Father, for a love that cannot be measured and new life that will never end, through Jesus Christ my Redeemer and Friend, Amen.
Hymn: And Can it Be