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Suggested Texts for Sunday, January 26th - Epiphany 3

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Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.

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.' "

24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."

28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.


Overview and Insights

The larger section (4:14–9:50) summarizes the Savior’s Galilean ministry. In 4:14-30, Jesus begins his saving ministry of preaching the kingdom of God, healing diseases, casting out demons, and calling disciples in Galilee. While he is rejected in his own hometown, he reaches beyond the confines of typical Jews to a leper, a paralytic, a tax collector, and a gentile soldier, among others. He is judged by a Pharisee but supported by a group of faithful women disciples and anointed by a sinful woman. He conveys kingdom truths in parables for those willing to listen, and performs miracles to demonstrate his power over all other powers. The repeated question, “Who is this?” is finally answered by Peter who confesses Jesus as “the Christ.” But Jesus makes it clear that he came to be a suffering Savior. Although rejected by the world, the Son’s glory is previewed at the transfiguration.

4:14–30 is a summary of Jesus' ministry in Galilee: Luke emphasizes that Jesus returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit,” ministers in Galilee, and everyone praises him. Jesus then returns to his hometown, Nazareth, and teaches in the synagogue. When asked to read from the prophets, Jesus chooses passages from Isaiah 61:1–2 and 58:6 that reveal his Spirit-anointed role as Savior and Messiah (4:18–19). As was customary, Jesus then sits down to begin his exposition of the passage. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” he says, and everyone is amazed at his gracious words (4:20–22). Then Jesus challenges their intentions by predicting they will demand even more miracles (4:23). “No prophet is accepted in his hometown,” Jesus concludes (4:24), and he gives two examples from their history. Both Elijah and Elisha were sent to and welcomed by those outside the nation of Israel while they were rejected by Israel (4:25–27). Now the hometown crowd reacts with anger and rage as they drag him out of town to throw him down the cliff. But his time of suffering has not yet arrived, so he walks away unharmed (cf. Luke 22:53; John 7:30). This is the first, but not the last, time that Jesus will face rejection from the people of Israel in Luke’s Gospel.

The Baker Bible Handbook by , Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Baker Commentary

Jesus’s public ministry in Luke begins at 4:14–15. Luke emphasizes that Jesus is controlled by the Spirit, for he returns from his temptation “in the power of the Spirit” (4:14). The scene is being set for Jesus’s homecoming that follows. Evidently his teaching in the synagogues was wildly admired, and thus his popularity was spreading.

In 4:16–30 Luke has probably changed the chronology of Jesus’s rejection at Nazareth and moved it up to the beginning of his Gospel because of its programmatic character (cf. Mark 6:1–6; Matt. 13:53–58). Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and participates in a synagogue service. This is the oldest extant account of a synagogue service. Usually such a service included hymns, prayers, a reading from the Torah, a reading from the Prophets, and a sermon. The readings from the Torah may have been prescribed by a lectionary, but the prophetic readings were not set at this time, and so Jesus himself probably chose the passage from Isaiah. The quotation in verses 18–19 from Isaiah 61:1–2 also includes a phrase from Isaiah 58:6. Jesus draws attention to several things by using this passage from Isaiah. (1) The prophecy of Isaiah has now (“today”) been fulfilled (4:21). (2) The fulfillment is Jesus himself; he is the one whom the Spirit has anointed. The reference to Isaiah 61 and the use of the word “anointed” suggest that Jesus is referring to himself as the Messiah and servant of Yahweh. (3) Jesus’s ministry is directed to those in need—the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed (4:18–19). In Luke these terms refer primarily to spiritual need, although a literal meaning is not excluded.

Significantly, Jesus does not continue reading Isaiah, for it also speaks of the day of God’s vengeance. The point is that Jesus’s ministry is one of good news and grace (4:18–19). Initially Jesus’s gracious words impress the crowd, but they take offense when they reflect on Jesus’s heritage; he is merely Joseph’s son (4:22). Jesus responds with the principle that “no prophet is accepted in his hometown” (4:24). He then gives two examples from the Old Testament to illustrate his point (1 Kings 17:8–16; 2 Kings 5:1–14). Both Elijah and Elisha, who were also prophets, did not aid people from Israel—they aided Gentiles. Jesus implies, of course, that the Gentiles were more open to their prophetic ministry than the Jews. This incenses the people, and they try to kill Jesus, but Jesus walks “right through the crowd” (4:30). In this account Jesus reveals his messianic mission of grace and mercy. Nevertheless, the Jews reject him, and Jesus implies that the good news will then be proclaimed to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 13:44–48; 28:23–28).

The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by Gary M. Burge, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Dictionary Terms

Direct Matches

Blinded Blind
Blindness
Eliseus
Good News
Gospel
Holy Spirit
Land of Israel
Liberty
Naaman
Parable
Preach
Preaching
Prophetic
Prophets
Roll
Sarepta
Scroll
Son of God
Sons of the Prophets
Synagogue
Widow
Zarephath

Secondary Matches

The following suggestions occured because Luke 4:14-30 is mentioned in the definition.
Architecture
Binding and Loosing
Capital Punishment
Clean
Cleaned
Cleanliness
Cleanness
Evangelism
Exhortation
Famine and Drought
Feast of Ingathering
Feasts
Festivals
Gangs
Impurity
Jesus Christ
Jesus' Brothers and Sisters
Jubilee
Justice
Liberation
Mercy
Midrash
Mission
Nativity of Christ
Preacher
Priesthood of Believers
Priesthood of all Believers
Promise
Propecy
Prophecy
Redeem
Redeemed
Redeemer
Redemption
Roof
Roof Chamber
Ruler of the Synagogue
Solemn Assembly
Suffering
Unclean Animals
Unclean Meat
Undefiled
Volunteers
Year of Jubilee