Hometown Honor (Luke 4:14–22) | The Gospel of Luke (Part 32)

Transcript

JRNT 83
05/04/2025
Hometown Honor (Luke 4:14-22) The Gospel of Luke (Part 32)
Luke 4:14-22
Jesse Randolph

Well, we’re continuing on in our study of the Gospel of Luke this morning. The text we’re going to get into today, really marks a distinct shift in the narrative. Much of what we’ve been going through in Luke so far has been preliminary. It’s been preparatory for 13 months. Whether it be the angelic visitations. Or the faithful examples: Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary, the prophetic statements, the words of praise, the birth of Jesus, the childhood of Jesus, the presentation of Jesus, the human development of Jesus, the preaching of John the Baptist, John’s baptism, Jesus’ baptism, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the affirmation of words of praise from God the Father, the genealogy, the temptation in the wilderness. All of it has been pointing forward, with anticipation . . . to the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we’re here. We’re finally here. We’ve officially reached that point in Luke’s Gospel where Luke is going to take us into his account of the Lord’s earthly ministry. Specifically, Jesus’s ministry in the district of Galilee, today and even more specifically, to His hometown of Nazareth.

Now, Luke’s account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry runs from the passage we’ll be in today, Luke 4:14 all the way to Luke 9:51 . . . and that’s the verse which tells us that Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. But everything between is known as the Galilean ministry. Everything in-between is His ministry to His homeland, His native Galilee. And again, today He’ll be in His hometown of Nazareth. But as we’re going to be seeing today, and really next week, which is part 2 of the message that starts today . . . the Lord’s hometown honeymoon, if you want to call it that, was short . . . like, really really short. Like in the span of a single day’s preaching, He goes from preaching in His synagogue to a favorable crowd in the hometown of Nazareth, receiving hometown honor . . . to eventually receiving hometown hatred, where they’re looking to drive Him off a cliff outside His hometown.
So, in that span of a single sermon He goes from being accepted and praised . . . to being reviled and rejected and run out. Well, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Today, we’re only going to the first half of Jesus’ hometown visit. Where He initially receives a warm welcome from His fellow Galileans. As He begins His public ministry there.

The title of this morning’s sermon is “Hometown Honor.” I’d invite you to open up your Bibles to Luke 4:14, we’re going to read all the way down to verse 22, that’s our passage for today: Luke 4:14-22 – God’s Word reads:
“And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding districts. And He was teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me, because He anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And He closed the scroll, 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 were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words which were coming forth from His lips, and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Now, in terms of the preaching outline for this morning’s message. Here’s how I’ve outlined it. First, we’re actually going to look at a section of Jeus’ early ministry which Luke leaves out of his Gospel. Which chronologically fits between Jesus’ temptation which we covered last week and the beginning of His public ministry in Galilee, which we’ll talk about this week. Luke leaves out a section of Jesus’ ministry to a region of Judea. A section that John will cover in his Gospel. So, for our first point this morning, we’ll actually be in John’s Gospel. And our heading is: The Initial Responsibilities. That will be our first point. After that, we’re going to look at what Luke says about the scope and the impact of Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee. That’s our second point, and that will be: The Impactful Return. Then, we’ll get into what Jesus taught on one specific occasion in the synagogue in Nazareth. That third point will be: The Isaiah Reference. And then last, we’ll get into the immediate reaction of the crowd there in Nazareth. As they initially receive Jesus warmly, before they sought to throw Him off a cliff. So that fourth point will be: The Immediate Reception.

Let’s start off with: The Initial Responsibilities

Now, again, we are in the middle of the series in the Gospel of Luke. But we remember there are four Gospel accounts . . . Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As we’ve already seen in our study of Luke . . . there are times when the four different Gospel authors, each directed by the Holy Spirit, will come at the same truths about Jesus’ life, but from a different angle.

Here, as we embark upon what Luke teaches about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry . . . we find ourselves walking into one of those areas where there are differences between how the different Gospel authors report on the facts. Now, for time’s sake . . . I’m not going to turn us there, but in both Matthew’s Gospel and Mark’s Gospel, those two authors have followed a similar pattern of what we see here in Luke’s Gospel. Meaning, they go straight from the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, to His Galilean ministry. That’s Matthew, Mark and Luke. They all do the same thing. John though, does something different. I’m going to invite you now to turn over to John 6. You know, as you’re turning there, John’s Gospel is well-knowns, it’s unique. It’s unique from the other three Gospel’s. The other three are called the Synoptic Gospels. John’s is kind of out there on its own . . . hiding a lot of unique materials at different times. Of course, it’s perfectly consistent with the other Gospels. But he’s got a unique angle.
One of the ways that John is unique from the other three Gospels is that before getting into Jesus’ Galilean ministry, but we’re going to study today in Luke, John puts the spotlight on an earlier period of Jesus’ ministry in Judea. Matthew, Mark, and Luke take us right to Galilee after the temptation. John takes us to Judea. Look at John 6:1, it reads this way:
“After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).” So, John has Jesus’ Galilean ministry, what we’re going to study today in Luke 4, starting here, in John 6. But John has a lot more material that he covers in John 1-5. In fact, if you go back with me, you’re going to see in John 1:29, it says in a pretty famous statement from John the Baptist, where he says of Jesus, and he says this in Bethany of Judea:
“Behold, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) who takes away the sin of the world!” That happened in Judea. Then, after that we know that Jesus gets called to this event, this special event back in Galilee, in the city known as Cana. Where this wedding is taking place. That’s in John 2.

Then in John 2:13, there’s this report of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem. So, He is back in Judea for that scene. Then in John 2:23, I’m just doing a kind of survey here . . . it says He was in Jerusalem, John 2:23. Jerusalem was in Judea, “at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He was doing.” In John 3, as we keep moving on . . . this is still in Judea where Jesus encounters a Jewish teacher named Nicodemus a “man of the Pharisees.”
John 4, Jesus now departs Judea where He’s based, where He’s stationed, for another trip to Galilee. This time this trip takes Him through Samaria. Where He encounters a woman at the well . . . who asks Him questions about where she can receive eternal life.

Then in John 5, we’re told of Jesus’ healing a man who had been sick for 38 years, near the pool of Bethesda. That was near Jerusalem in Judea. It’s there that Jesus ran into opposition with the Jewish rulers of the day. He got in trouble with the Jewish rulers, both for healing this sick man on the Sabbath, and for acquitting Himself for calling God, the God of Israel, His Father. John 5:18 reports the outcome, it says:
“For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” So, John, putting a finer summary point on this, John is describing, in those first five chapters of his Gospel . . . what was happening in what we think was a year to a year and a half period of ministry where Jesus was ministering in Judea.

Luke skips all of that . . . for that matter, so does Matthew and Mark. Luke skips John the Baptist’s declaration. He skips the jaunt into Galilee for the wedding at Cana. He skips the cleansing of the temple. He skips the encounter with Nicodemus. He skips the account of the woman at the well. He skips, really, upwards of year of the Lord’s ministry, and goes right from the temptation of Jesus to the start of the Galilean ministry.
I bring all that up . . . all of that was introduction to tell you that between Luke 4:13, back to Luke, and Luke 4:14, where we’ll start today . . . about a year has passed by, maybe a little more. So, Luke 4:14 where it says that Satan left Him until an opportune time, a year then passes, which John fills the gaps, in John 1-5, and then we get to our passage today. So, that’s it for: The Initial Responsibilities. Meaning, the initial responsibilities Jesus had in Judea as recorded by John.

Now, let’s get back to our text, to Luke 4:14, and this will be our second point for this morning. This is: The Impactful Return, Luke 4:14-15 says:
“And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding districts. And He was teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

So, it is with those words that Luke begins his account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, which again, is going to take us all the way through Luke 9:50.
What we have in these two verses, verses 14 & 15 is more of a generic description of how Jesus’ Galilean ministry began. Then, as we get into verse 16 and following, we’ll get into a very specific account involved in Jesus’ early Galilean ministry. Now, because I can’t help myself, I’m going to literate within the alliteration. And under this second point, we’re going to see four aspects of the early part of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. First, we’re going to see the Power behind His ministry. Then, we’ll see the Popularity of His ministry. Then, we’ll see the Purpose of His ministry. Then we’ll see Praise of His ministry. That’s all in verses 14 and 15.

First, let’s look at the Power behind our Lord’s Galilean ministry. Again, verse 14 says:
“And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.” Meaning, He returned from the region of Judea, where He had been ministering “in the power of the Spirit.”

Over and over, we’re going to see in our study of Luke’s Gospel, I’ve alluded to it before, you’re going to get sick of me saying it, if you aren’t already . . . that the Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus’ life, is a central theme in the Gospel of Luke. He was conceived by the Spirit, we know, in the womb of His mother. And that being conceived by the Spirit is what protected Him from inheriting a sin nature. And pointed to His person and His purpose in being the fully human, fully divine God-Man. Then at His baptism in the Jordan River, we know that the Spirit descended upon Jesus, Luke 3:22. Last week, in Luke 4:1, we saw that He was “full of the Holy Spirit.” In context there, that meant He was filled to the brim with the Word of God . . . which was the instrument He used to wield and fight back against the enemies attempts to tempt him. Also in Luke 4:1, we saw that He was being “led around by the Spirit in the wilderness” for forty days as He was being tempted by the Devil. And then here, in our passage, verse 14 . . . as He returned to Galilee to begin His ministry, we’re told that He came back to His homeland “in the power of the Spirit.” Meaning, the Spirit was on Him at all times without limitation. As God, of course, Jesus never surrendered any aspect of any of His divine attributes . . . even for a single moment. But in His perfect human nature, He was conducting His ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we see here. So, that’s a little bit about the power of our Lord’s ministry.

Next, let’s look at the Popularity of His ministry. Reading on in verse 14, we’re told that in the power of the Holy Spirit:
“. . . news about Him spread through all the surrounding districts.” Now, how and why? What news was being spread about Him? How was He already having the sense of popularity, and we haven’t even really begun the account of His ministry?

Well, we’ve just spent a few moments talking about the early Judean ministry of Jesus that proceeded His Galilean ministry. As we’ve already seen, there were these incidences where Jesus, though He was focused in Judea, would pop over into Galilee. It wasn’t that far to get from one place to the other. For instance, the wedding at Cana in John 2. The scene where Jesus turns water into wine. That took place in Galilee. So, His focus at that time was on Judea, but He popped over into Galilee and turns some water into wine. And don’t you think that a year or so later, as Jesus now “returned [] in the power of the Spirit” to Galilee to focus His ministry there, that the people in Galilee still remembered that event? Or still remembered hearing about that event where this man named Jesus had attended this wedding and had miraculously caused water to turn into wine . . . completely bypassing that fermentation process that ordinarily takes a few years to accomplish? That certainly would have been in the forefront of people’s minds even a year later. It was a miraculous event.

Well, there’s another episode back in John’s Gospel that I didn’t really stress earlier, but I’m going to now. Turn with me to John 4, this also highlights why it was that when Jesus began His Galilean ministry, He already had a certain amount of notoriety and popularity, and acclaim. John 4, of course, is really all about this encounter that Jesus had with this woman of Samaria, the woman at the well. I won’t go through the whole account here, but if you drop down to John 4:39, we’re going to see the impact that Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well had. John 4:39 says:
“From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who bore witness, ‘He told me all the things that I have done.’ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His Word; and they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.’”
Look what comes next, verse 43:
“And after the two days He went from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself bore witness that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.”
Now, I have to drill down on what’s being referred to here in verse 45, when it talks about “all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast.” What’s the feast? The “feast” there, is referring to the feast of Passover mentioned back in John 2. That is the scene where Jesus famously drove out the merchants and the money changers from the temple. He calls them out in John 2:16 for turning His “Father’s house into a place of business.”

What John is alluding to here in John 4:43-45, is that there were Jews from Galilee who would have been there, at that incident back in John 2. In other words, Jews from Galilee had made their pilgrimage from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Passover. While there in Jerusalem, they would have witnessed Jesus’ famous turning-over-the-tables scene. Then what would have happened is those Galilean Jews would have returned to Galilee . . . and guess what they would have been talking about in their villages? Our native son was turning over tables. Our native son was pouring out coins. Our native son was driving people out with a whip of cords. That would have been the talk of the town, or the talk of the region. In other words, Jesus even before He began His Galilean ministry, which we’re going to study today in Luke 4 . . . already had some degree of notoriety in His hometown, in His home region. That’s the popularity of the ministry that we see here in Luke 4:14.

So, back to Luke. I took you to John for a moment, but back to Luke. We’ve seen a bit about the Power of the Ministry of our Lord. We’ve just looked at the Popularity of His ministry. Moving on to verse 15, we’re going to see the Purpose of His ministry. Look what it says there:
“And He was teaching in their synagogues.” We’ll stop there. See, teaching was at the heart of our Lord’s Galilean ministry. That was His focus. I mean, surely, He did other things during His ministry, and His ministry was marked by other dimensions or aspects. We think of His miracle working. We think of His confrontation of the religious leaders of the day. But the core of His ministry was His message. And the core of His ministry was His teaching. Jesus was a teacher. Jesus was a preacher. That was His primary responsibility – to preach and proclaim the Word of God. In fact, as we see Luke’s Gospel unfold, I’ll give you just a few examples here, the primacy of the teaching of the Word of God in Jesus’ ministry. Look down the page at Luke 4:31, we’ll get her in a couple of weeks . . . where it says:
“And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath.”

Or Luke 5:3 says: “And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat.”

Or Luke 5:17 – “And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. . .”

Or look at Luke 6:6 – “Now it happened that on another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.”

We could go through example after example after example, but Jesus was a Teacher. That’s why His disciples called Him: “Rabbi.” Meaning, “Teacher.”
Back to our text, verse 15 of chapter 4 . . . as Jesus launched His Galilean ministry, He did so by teaching. He did so “in the power of the Spirit.” He did so, it says here in verse 15: “in their synagogues.”

Now, we have to spend a little time on explaining what the synagogue was, and what its function was. There was only one temple . . . that was back in Jerusalem. That’s where all the sacrifices, for instance, took place. But synagogues were all over the place. There were synagogues all throughout the district of Galilee. In fact, according to one early historian Josephus, the district of Galilee though, was relatively small, had over 240 towns and villages within its boundaries. And in everyone of those towns, assuming there were at least 10 Jewish families in that town, there would have been a synagogue there. So, you might have had upwards of 100, 150, maybe even 200 synagogues in the district of Galilee alone. And those synagogues were not only gathering places, but they were known as houses of instruction. That was the purpose of the synagogue. You went to the synagogue to hear the Word of God taught and explained. Jesus, being a teacher, naturally found Himself in synagogues all throughout His Galilean ministry. He often found Himself blanketing the region, going from synagogue to synagogue, as He went from city to city. In fact, I mentioned Galilee being a little bit smaller, being not that large. You study how large ancient Galilee was, it was only about 750 square miles. To put that in context, Lancaster County has about 850 square miles. So, it was an area where you could, on foot, over the course of a year or so, really get to all of it . . . and teach in all the different locations as Jesus did.

And reaction to His teaching, getting to our fourth “P’ here, under our second heading . . . is that there was Praise for His ministry. Verse 15 says: He was teaching in their synagogues . . . and then look what it says next: “being glorified by all.” That’s the Praise of our Lord’s ministry. That word could also be translated – He was being praised by all. He was receiving approval and applause, as He initially began His teaching tour through Galilee. That word “glorified” is in the present tense. Meaning, it was continually happening. He was receiving continual acclaim and praise from the people who were hearing Him, at least initially.
So, there we go, there’s our four “P’s” under our second heading. We’ve just looked at the Impactful Return, from verses 14-15. Now, we’re going to move into our third point which is:

The Isaiah Reading
This is going to cover us from verse 16 all the way down to verse 19. It says:
“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Now, we’ll start with that language at the very beginning, verse 16 where he says: “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up . . .”
So, even though, as we’ve seen in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Even though, as we just looked at, at the beginning of the message that Jesus went through a season of ministering in Judea. And even though, as we’ll see in a couple of weeks, Jesus had a phase in which He was ministering in Capernaum. We never see Jesus referred to as “Jesus the Bethlehemite” or ‘Jesus of Capernaum” or “Jesus of Judea.” No. He was from Nazareth. He was from this small little indistinct town called Nazareth, which many have estimated had a population of maybe no more than 400 people. It was a really small town. That’s where He was from. He was a Nazarene. That’s where, as it says here in verse 16: “He had been brought up.”

And next, we’re told that: “. . . as was his custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” Now, a couple of things to note there, because Nazareth was such a small village, this non-descript little dot on the map . . . it almost certainly had only one synagogue. One synagogue for one town. In the larger cities in Galilee, they might have had more than one synagogue. But Nazareth, given how small it was, likely had just one.

And Jesus, let’s put thinking caps on here, Jesus would have been familiar with that specific synagogue in Nazareth. Putting all the pieces of the narrative together, we have seen over and over in three chapters so far of Luke’s Gospel . . . that He was raised in a home of some pious, godly Jews. He was raised by pious Mary, and godly Joseph. We think of Mary’s faith-filled response to hearing the announcement from the angel. We think of her Magnificat, and the words of praise which flowed from her mouth. We think of how meticulously this young couple sought to fulfill the “Law of the Lord” when it came to the circumcision and the dedication of their young child in the temple in Jerusalem. They were a godly young couple who raised their son, Jesus, in the ways of Yahweh. Certainly, in these days, that would have included regular attendance at the village synagogue there in Nazareth. Meaning, that when Jesus, now in His adulthood, having returned from Judea . . . now about to begin His public ministry in Galilee. Came back to His hometown of Nazareth and “entered the synagogue on the Sabbath” as it says. He was on familiar ground. He was in a familiar building. This would have been the same synagogue that He attended regularly as a child.

Then note this language, verse 16 that this was “His custom” Luke tells us. “. . . as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath.”
Meaning, not only did Jesus have this childhood link to this particular synagogue in Nazareth, but really, throughout His Galilean ministry. As He was going throughout the region, it was our Lord’s habit – it was His practice to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath, no matter where He was at that time. In fact, we know of Jesus’ commitment to the synagogue, as we survey the four Gospels. I’ll give you just a few passages that you can jot down, that show us that Jesus was committed to being in the synagogue as a devout follower of Yahweh in His humanity:
Matthew 4:23 says – “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom …”
Mark 1:21 says – “And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.”
Like 4:44 tells us that – “He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”
John 18:20, this is after His arrest, He says to the high priest: “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.”

In other words, His parents had taught Him and modeled for Him well. That on the Sabbath, He needed to be in the place where the teaching of the Word of God was going to be occurring. Here, that’s what we see in verse 16. Not only that Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, but as we keep on reading, we’re going to learn that He was asked to do something in the synagogue.

Look at the next part of verse 16: “He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.” This means He was given an invitation as certain distinguished guests were often called to do, to actually speak in a synagogue on this occasion. “He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.” Now, as I’m wanting to do, I need to take those few words, as He “stood up to read” – and go on a long rabbit trail to explain for you, some of the significance of even those words. Because what Luke is doing for us here, is he’s letting us in on ancient synagogue worship practices in first-century Galilee. It is important for us to get ourselves mentally engaged, so we understand what this would have even looked like. If you were to go into a synagogue in the first century in this part of the world . . . there was an order of service. Like we as a church have an order of service every Sunday morning and evening. They would have had something similar in their synagogue setting. The beginning of the service would have started with singing. In that context, it would have been the singing of Psalms. Sometimes they would sing the Hallel psalms of Psalms 113 to 118. Sometimes they would sing the praise psalms of Psalm 145 to 150, but they would start by singing. Then from there they would go into the reading of the Shema – Deuteronomy 6:4 – “Hear, O Israel! The Lord your God, the Lord is one!”

So, they’d go from singing songs of praise to God, to commending the singularity of God and the singularity of worship that’s owed that God. Then they would offer prayers. Then they would offer a recitation of these 18 traditional benedictions or blessings. I won’t go through the whole list, but these blessings had to do with repentance, and redemption, and healing, and justice, and prosperity. Then came the central feature of the synagogue service . . . which was the reading of Scripture and the exposition of scripture. There’d be a reading of a few verses of the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses. Then there’d be a reading of the section of the prophets. And then there’d be an exposition, a discourse, a “sermon” you could say . . . on whatever section of the Word of God had just been read. After the conclusion of that exposition, that sermon . . . there would be a closing benediction, where the man who had been called to read and teach the Word that day, would give a closing benediction, typically from Numbers 6:24 – 26:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” So, when Luke here tells us, in verse 16 that Jesus “entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read”, it’s against that whole backdrop of the synagogue order of service.

Then we’re told, verse 17: that “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.” So, among the officials in the synagogue would have been an attendant. This attendant’s responsibility would have been to handle the Word of God. Don’t think Word of God like we’ve got it bound like this in our Bibles . . . think scrolls. These were giant scrolls. That’s how the ancient scriptures were preserved . . . in scrolls. Now, there’s been all sorts of debate, by the way about verse 17 here over the years. About how this process would have worked, where it says: “the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.” Did Jesus, in this context, point to a bin of scrolls in the corner of the synagogue, and say ‘give me that one?’ Or just ‘give me anyone and I’ll do one of these things and pick a verse?’ Did the attendant drive the process and essentially assign the text to Jesus? The way that sometimes when you guest preach, a church will assign you a text to preach.

I think, given the context here, you’ve got this small little village, Nazareth. They likely have a single synagogue. It’s likely that they have limited resources. This is a small town, small synagogue, small budget. What I think likely happened is that this small synagogue with small resources, likely had just a few scrolls. It’s been shown, not every synagogue had the entire corpus of the Old Testament Cannan in their environment. Some only had a few scrolls. Some might have the Law of Moses. Some might have Isaiah. Some might have the minor prophets. Larger synagogues would have the whole collection. But I think in Nazareth, they likely only had a few. And Isaiah was a popular, familiar, anticipatory scroll. Because of the Messianic hope it contained. So, with this limited selection of scrolls to choose from, I think Jesus, as the speaker that day, was given the choice of which of the scrolls He wanted to put up on the lectern and read from. He selected the Isaiah scroll. Now, we’re told here in verse 17: “the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.” That makes it sound like it was passive. Like Jesus had no role here. That this was some random occurrence. Or if this synagogue attendant chose the text for Him. I actually don’t think that’s what happened at all. I think Jesus selected that scroll and it was handed to Him in response to Him dictating where He wanted to go in the text.

That actually is alluded to in the second part of verse 17, where it says:
“And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written . . .”
The meaning there is not – He’s fumbling around looking for a passage to deliver. Instead, He is going to where He wants to go, to bring the message to this people at this time in this synagogue. He deliberately sought out the passage He was going to read from. Then we see what He reads from in verses 18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable Year of the Lord.” That’s what those in the synagogue, in Nazareth, in the first century would have heard Jesus read to them.

Now, to give us context for what He reads there. Turn with me, back to Isaiah. This is the passage, Isaiah 61 specifically, that Jesus, in this context, in Nazareth, in the first century, was reading from.
Isaiah 61:1, keep a finger in Luke 4, we’ll be going back and forth a little bit here. But these are the words, in scroll format, that Jesus would have been reading to His countrymen there in the synagogue. Isiaha 61:1 says:
“The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh and the day of vengeance of our God . . .”
So, in the original context here, in Isaiah . . . you can see that what the prophet here is writing, this is some 700 years before Jesus lived, he’s speaking in the first person, Isaiah is. But by Jesus’ day, 700 years later, this passage was widely embraced as being Messianic. Meaning, it was widely regarded as referring to what Israel’s coming Messiah . . . this future royal, servant-like figure would do as He ushered in this entirely new age of blessing and prosperity for Israel. That was the interpretation of this passage by Jesus’ day.

Now, coming over to Luke 4, and this first century synagogue scene. Jesus is now standing before His fellow countrymen. He’s a Nazarene just like them. He begins by reading this language from Isaiah 61:1. Look at Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Now, again, in the original context . . . the Spirit of Yahweh is spoken of as resting upon Isaiah . . . as a prophet of God, 700 years before Jesus. But as a Messianic text . . . what was also being communicated there, is that the Spirit would come upon, or rest upon, the One that God would send in the future . . . His Messiah. We know that this was true of Jesus. That the Spirit rested and came upon Him. In fact, we know that from the baptism account that we studied a few weeks ago in Luke 3: where the “Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, [and that scene where God the Father says] . . . and a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” So, the Spirit of God indeed did come “upon” Jesus. At His baptism, He was anointed for service. At His baptism, that was His heavenly commission for the earthly mission He was about to complete. At His baptism, the Spirit anointed Him to be not just the deliverer of a salvation message . . . but the deliverer of salvation itself.

That is what He was now going to reveal to those who were going to hear the rest of His reading here from Isaiah 61:1-2. That He was coming to deliver a message of salvation for His people. Salvation is tied into every single one of these statements that He reads from in Luke 4:18-19. These are all salvific: “To preach the Gospel to the poor.” “To proclaim release to the captives.” “To recover sight for the blind.” “To set free those who are oppressed.” “To proclaim the favorable Year of the Lord.” E anointed Those are salvific statements that really proclaim what the Lord’s ministry would be all about, from Luke 4 all the way to the very end of this Gospel.

Let’s take them one by one.
First, comes this statement, in verse 18, it says: “. . . He anointed Me.” Meaning the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus at His baptism. He anointed me, it says: “To preach the Gospel to the poor.” Now, we don’t want to overthink that word “gospel” there. You know, we think “gospel” in our modern-day Christian church evangelistic context, and we think, we’ve got to preach that God is who He is . . . and man is who he is . . . and Christ did what He came to do . . . and sinners must repent and believe. And that’s all true, by the way. But here, “gospel” or “good news” simply means good news! And in context, it ties into this message going out, it says – to the poor. Christ came to deliver a “good news message” to the poor. And what was that good news message that He delivered to the poor? That they would no longer be impoverished, right? That their bank accounts would suddenly start to grow. That their cupboards would suddenly become filled. That their once-growling stomachs would now be satisfied. Is that His message? No. He came, not preaching a message of economic prosperity or material wealth. Or going from poverty to riches in physical terms. This speaks to the status of man’s spiritual condition in his lost estate.

See, in his natural-born condition, man is spiritually poor. He’s spiritually impoverished. He’s spiritually destitute. The word for “poor” here is the same word that Luke would use later in Luke 16, speaking of this man named Lazarus. This beggar was so poor that he was looking for anything, even crumbs to eat. Lazarus had that third-world sense of poverty that we think of today. The Messiah would come bringing “good news” to people who had that level of impoverishment. But He wasn’t’ coming, ultimately, to fill stomachs or bank accounts or gas tanks or pantries. No, He was coming for those who were poor in spirit.
Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Luke 6:20 – “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Meaning . . . blessed are those who are aware of their own spiritual bankruptcy. Blessed are those who realize how spiritually destitute they are. Blessed are those who recognize their own desperate need for divine mercy. Blessed are those who are humble and contrite and who tremble at God’s Word – Isaiah 66:2. Blessed are those who come with that broken-hearted and crushed spirit – from Psalm 34:18. Blessed are those who come with the broken spirit – of Psalm 51:17. Blessed are those who are like the tax collector of Luke 18, who says “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” Blessed are those who approach God not with pride or self-assurance . . . but instead, come to Him low and empty-handed . . . aware of their hopeless estate. Aware of their desperate need for deliverance.

The Messiah promised to Israel would come for those type of people. He didn’t come for the self-assured or religiously proud crowd who were trusting in their own riches or resources. No. When He came, He came bringing a message that would turn the world’s notions of riches and poverty on their head. He would help sinners see that . . . no matter how rich they were in the things of this world. Without a right relationship with God . . . they were desperately poor. He was going to come, not for those who thought of themselves something . . . but for those who realized they were nothing. That was the message He would come to proclaim when He preached the Gospel to the poor.

Next, still in verse 18, and He’s still reading from Isaiah 61:1 – “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives.” That word – “captives” – there literally means “prisoners.” Which of course, has a physical meaning. Like a prisoner of war. Or a person who’s been physically imprisoned for committing a crime. But here again, a reference in context is spiritual. See, everyone on planet earth, they believe that in their natural condition, they’re free, especially in the grand old US of A. We think we’re free. Think we’re free to move around where we want. And go where we want. And eat what we want. And drink what we want. And be romantically linked to whoever we want. And we’re free to think about what we want. The perception is out there that we are free to do everything that suits us. But the reality, what we think and what we believe and what we feel is ultimately a mirage. The truth and the reality is that in our natural state, we are in bondage. We are enslaved. We are prisoners. We are “dead in [our] transgressions and sins” says Ephesians 2:1. We are “children of wrath” says Ephesians 2:3. We are “subject to slavery” says Hebrews 2:15 – “all of [our] lives.” We are prisoners. We’re shackled. We’re cuffed with the shackles of sin . . . and we’re held captive to Satan. We’re facing, weather we acknowledge it or not, we’re facing the ultimate executioner – God Himself – who is the “Judge of all the earth.”

Well, when the Messiah came. He would “proclaim release” to the “captives” it says here in verse 18. He would “proclaim release.” He would give to His people, Luke 1:77 – “. . . knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.” He would offer, for those who had been held captive by their sin . . . a way to be released from their captivity through the forgiveness of their sin. We think of Jesus’ own words later in John 8:36, when He says, “Whom the Son sets free, will be free indeed.” Was He talking about physical captivity there? No. If He was, John the Baptist wouldn’t end up with his head on a platter. He’s talking about freedom from sin. Forgiveness of sin. Release from the imprisonment that sin brings.

Next, still in verse 18, Jesus is still in front of that congregation that assembly in the synagogue in Nazareth . . . and He reads this next one, that the Messiah would come to bring “Recovery of sight to the blind.”
Now, we do know that Jesus would . . . during His earthly ministry, give physical healing. He would provide, indeed, physical sight to those who had been afflicted with physical blindness. There’re many accounts of that. In fact, in Luke 7:21, we’re told that “He granted sight to many who were blind.” That’s a reference to physical blindness in that context.
But here in Isaiah, as Jesus is reading from this scroll, in this synagogue, in Nazareth . . . the reference is to spiritual blindness. Meaning, the sinner, the unregenerate one, in their natural condition . . . is not only spiritually bankrupt and spiritually destitute . . . they’re not only spiritually imprisoned and captive . . . but they’re spiritually blind. They’re spiritually in the dark. They are unable to see or grasp or understand the truth.
Psalm 82:5 says: “They do not know and do not understand; they walk about in darkness.”
Jeremiah, back in his day, as he is ministering to Judea, and sees all the spiritually dead people around him said: they “have eyes but do not see.”
In his natural condition, man is blind. And Satan doesn’t help his cause.
II Corinthians 4:3-4 says: “And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age [that’s Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
In other words, Satan is a wicked contributor to man’s blindness.

When the Messiah came, He would provide “Recovery of sight to the blind.”
He would, Isaiah 42:7 – “open blind eyes.”
Jesus would call Himself “the Light of the world.”
He would help people, Colossians 1:13 – out of the “domain of darkness.”
He would cause those who were once spiritually blind sinners, to now be “light in the Lord”, as it says in Ephesians 5:8, and to “walk as children of light.”

Next, still in verse 18 – Jesus is still reading from the scroll in Isaiah, to this crowd of hometown people in Nazareth. And next, mentions this language – “To set free those who are oppressed”
Now, interestingly, for that quote, Jesus is drawing not from Isaiah 61 . . . but His quote is actually from Isaiah 58:6. And you can picture how that would happen if He’s got the whole scroll of Isaiah in front of Him. Isaiah 61:1 could have been over here, and because He’s God, He could have gone over here to Isaiah 58:6 and pulled that into what He was quoting. But Isaiah 58:6 speaks of “letting the oppressed go free.”
Now, right before Isaiah 58:6, there’s language about “loosen[ing] the bonds of wickedness.” and “release[ing] the bands of the yoke.” By incorporating that language from Isaiah into what He was reading in the synagogue, in Nazareth . . . Jesus was again, pulling in scripture that described mankind in his sinful, lost, hopeless condition. But He is not talking, in this context now, about a prison or a jail cell or a dungeon. Instead, He’s talking about the crushing, heavy yoke of sin that unbelievers wear all day long. That overwhelming weight of sin, and guilt, and regret. That unending cycle of “what-ifs” that they wear on their backs like a weighted backpack. That perpetual state of being distressed and overwhelmed and joyless . . . as the hamster wheel of life keeps turning and turning and never seems to go anywhere. He’s speaking about that condition.

The Messiah would come to lift those burdens from people’s backs . . . as they came into a relationship through Him to God the Father. That’s why Jesus, later in Matthew 11:28 would say: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In other words, the Messiah would come for those who were overwhelmed by their sin. For those who were overwhelmed by being under the weight of the Law that they could never keep. He would take away that burden of perpetually trying to be better or perpetually trying harder. He would offer true rest.

So, He came to His people in the synagogue, in Nazareth. He’s reading from this section of scripture which testified to a Messiah who would bring eternal riches to those who were spiritually poor. Who would bring a message of freedom to those who were spiritually being held captive. To bring sight to those who were spiritually blind. To lift the burden off those who were spiritually oppressed.

Nest, we see verse 19, that Jesus, in reading this Isaiah passage, was reading of One who would come: “To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Now, in the original context, that those words were written back in Isaiah . . . Isaiah could have been referring to the year of Jubilee that’s mentioned in Leviticus 25. It’s that year that happened every 50 years, where the land lay fallow and debts were extinguished. People who were enslaved were set free. But seeing that this is a prophetic, Messianic text . . . Isaiah 61. This passage had a future Messianic application . . . as it looked forward to that day of salvation that the Messiah would bring. That day where God would show His grace to hell-bound, hell-deserving sinners . . . when He sent His Son into this world to die a death that they should have died and deserved. But He would die in their place.
This is that era that Luke 2:14 talks about, that “on earth, peace among men . . .” would be brought “with whom [God] He is pleased.” That’s the “favorable year of the Lord.” Now, the favorable year of the Lord is not like some specific single year on the calendar. You know, 1974 was the favorable year of the Lord. No, that’s not what He’s saying. “The favorable year of the Lord” is talking about the entire era of salvation. That the Messiah would bring in. It would begin right here, with Him reading these words in the synagogue, in Nazareth, and continues to this day.

Now, interestingly, it’s at this point in His reading of the text in verse 19, that Jesus actually ends His reading on a comma. Because you might have heard me read it earlier, but in Isaiah 61:2, the prophet goes on. He says that this one would come “To proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh . . .”
and “. . . the day of vengeance of our God.”
Jesus left that part out. He only quoted the first part about this being the favorable year of the Lord. Why? Well, there’s no doubt that Jesus did, at the right times, at the appropriate times, speak of the vengeance that is coming to this earth. There’s no doubt that there is a time when bowls of judgment will be poured on this earth and trumpets of judgment will sound. There’s no doubt that a day is coming,
II Thessalonians 1:8 – when “vengeance” will be executed “on those who do not know God.” That day is coming. But that day hasn’t arrived yet. It hadn’t arrived in Jesus’ day. It hasn’t yet arrived in our day. It will come when God will pour out His perfect and fiery wrath on this planet that deserves to receive His fiery wrath. But Jesus was saying to His countrymen in this context, like Paul would say later in II Corinthians 6:2 “Now is ‘THE DAY OF SALVATION.’”

Do you get it? I’ve got to ask that question of anybody here this morning, who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. You might just be hearing a guy up here talking really fast about all this stuff that Jesus was doing through His Judean ministry and Galilean ministry and the like. I might be going right over your head. Maybe you don’t know Christ. Maybe you haven’t put your faith in Jesus Christ. And I’ve got to say to you that now is the day of salvation. Now is the day for you to understand what God did for you, in sending His Son into the world. Now is you day to understand what Jesus did in taking your sin on His shoulders on the cross at Calvary. Now is your day to understand that Jesus rose three days later, to secure the payment of the penalty for your sin that He has provided to you. The question is, will you receive it? Will you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Will you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? And will you be saved? Today is the day of salvation.

Well, that’s the scripture that Jesus read in the synagogue, on returning back to Nazareth. Parts of Isaiah 61. A little bit of Isaiah 58 was thrown in. The rest of the story, at least the first half of the story. Remember, we’re getting to part two next week . . . is given in verses 20-22, where it says:
“And He closed the scroll, 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 were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words which were coming forth from His lips, and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’”

Here’s our fourth point, if you’re a note taker:

The Immediate Reception.
Take a look again at verse 20, it says,
“And He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.”
I think I bypassed this earlier, but that was the proper protocol in the synagogue, at this time. You would stand to read the Word of God. But then when it came time to exposite, deliver, preach the Word of God, you would actually sit down. So, it’s the opposite of Christian church environment, where I stand up to preach. Back in these days, you would actually sit down to preach. Imagine me in a chair up there, just kind of having a fire-side chat with you. That’s the atmosphere. Well, Jesus here, rolls up the Isaiah scroll. He gives it back to the attendant. He sits down. And the people that would have understood what that means . . . they would have understood that by sitting down, He’s not saying ‘I’m done now.’ But rather, ‘Now I’m going to preach this text.’ ‘Now I’m going to explain to you what this is saying.’
That’s why, at the end of verse 20 it says: “. . . and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.” They were enraptured at this moment. They were hanging on every word that was going to come out of His mouth, at this point. Because they knew He was going to explain and interpret and teach this familiar Messianic text.

They get their answer in terms of His interpretation of the text in verse 21. It says:
“And He began to say to them . . .” That language alone means, this is a summary statement of the entire message that Jesus gave that day. “He began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’.” In other words: “I am the One that Isaiah was speaking of.” “I am the Messiah.” “I am here.” “The Scriptures that I just read to you from Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58; they speak of Me.” “I’m the One who’s standing in your midst, I’m you Savior.” “I’m the Messiah.” “I’m the fulfillment of each and every one of those prophecies.”

Then look at how they responded, verse 22:
“And all were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words which were coming forth from His lips, and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’”
We’ll take that piece by piece where it says: “And all were speaking well of Him.” Literally it says – “they were bearing witness of Him.” Meaning, they were affirming Him. They were speaking of Him in an affirming manner. Putting it in modern day context, they were giving Him a positive review . . . “Five stars for Jesus.” That’s what is being said here. They were also, it says: “marveling at the gracious words which were coming forth from His lips . . .” That word “marvel”, that’s another way of saying “they were astonished.” Those who were sitting in the synagogue, again, were hearing Him speaking, had this great sense of wonder. Apparently, Jesus had this very attractive way of speaking. He was easy to listen to. Those in the synagogue were saying: “Great sermon.” “Really nice piece of oratory.” “We appreciate your delivery methods, Jesus.” Not only that though, but they were also amazed that someone from their own town, a Nazarene just like them, could speak the way that Jesus had spoke. That’s what we see at the end of verse 22, “And they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s Son?’” It’s like: “Isn’t He one of us?” “Isn’t this the Son of a carpenter?” “Isn’t this One that we’ve seen running around since He was yay big?” That’s the setting here. That’s the sense here.

Well, we’re going to pick this up with part two. It’s kind of an awkward place to break. But that’s where the Spirit directed me to break this week. We’re going to break there.
But I just want to note something before we close.
This crowd was there. There’s no doubt that Jesus had people in front of Him as he was speaking this message. As He read these words from Isaiah. As He explained these words from Isaiah. There was a crowd there. They were there in attendance. But this crowd really wasn’t all there. Meaning, they weren’t connecting the dots as the Lord spoke of these matters. They heard Jesus speak. They heard the sound of His voice. They heard Him read Scripture. They heard Him explain Scripture. They heard Him explain that He was there in fulfillment of that Scripture. They heard Him speak of His saving role. They heard Him speak that the “FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD” was upon them.
But they missed the point. They were there for the whole thing, and they missed the point of the Messiah’s message. They were there within earshot of Him. They could probably see the whites of His eyes . . . as He’s giving His message. But what He shared with them flew right over their heads. They failed to take it to heart. They applauded His exposition . . . “Wow, His oratorical abilities are really great.” But they were totally internally unaffected by what He was saying. They were the ancient synagogue’s equivalent of the people I beat up on from this pulpit, from time to time, the pew potato in the church. The person who hears a lot. But ultimately misses the point. The person who ingests a whole lot of Biblical data . . . but they don’t do anything with it.

As we’re going to see next time, the true colors of this crowd would soon show. The tables were soon going to turn and quickly, as that initial streak of admiration for Jesus is going to turn into animosity for Jesus. Hometown Honor changes to hometown hatred. That’s next week. Hometown Hatred, a perfect Mother’s Day sermon.

Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for this morning. We thank You for the time in Your Word. And we thank You, as always, for giving us Your testimony of the perfect life of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know we’ve been going fast today. I know we’re covering a lot. But I do pray that we would take to heart Your perfect plans. Your perfect orchestration of all these details. Your perfect plan of putting this in the words that we could understand a little bit more, about the life of our perfect Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to honor Him this week with our lives, with our words, with our thoughts. Help us to bring You glory in all we do. In Christ’s name. Amen.