Bibles and turn for our Old Testament reading to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53 will be our Old Testament reading. Isaiah chapter 53. And let’s give careful attention to this. Because this is the very Word of God. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of a dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised. And rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit found in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.
When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. And he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.
Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. And now our New Testament reading is found in gospel according to Luke chapter four, And we’ll read verses 22 to 30. 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 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. 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. Thus far the reading of God’s word. Once more, let’s ask his blessing upon it.
Our Father, as we come to this passage of Scripture in Luke’s Gospel, we pray that you would instruct us and we pray that you’d make the word effectual to all of us. And we pray that most of all, our Savior Jesus would be exalted and we pray this for his sake and in his name. Amen. So last time and the immediately preceding verse of this passage from Luke that we just read was verse 21, where Jesus had read from the book of the prophecy of Isaiah. And then he announced in verse 21, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And when anytime something that’s spoken in scripture so tangibly intersects our lives. It’s a big thing. It’s a powerful thing, an impressive one.
As I was reflecting on this, even driving to church this morning, I was thinking of the woman who came and anointed Jesus with oil, expensive oil. And the disciples complained, some of them, that that expensive ointment had been wasted. And he rebuked, Jesus rebuked his disciples. And he made the comment that wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she’s done for me will be declared in memory of her.
And every time anyone reads or teaches or preaches on that very passage, that scripture is fulfilled afresh in the ears of whoever’s hearing. Um, And actually… The one that Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth is also fulfilled afresh every time his word is preached because he was the one who was anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. And anytime a teacher or preacher stands in front of a people, a group of people and preaches good news, that passage that Jesus read in the synagogue is being fulfilled again, not as directly, not as specifically or immediately as when Jesus read it and said this scripture is fulfilled today in your hearing. But nevertheless, that word of God is fulfilled again and again and again when the gospel goes forth.
But here’s the thing. The things that Jesus spoke in today’s passage. Are also fulfilled again and again and again, aren’t they? This is the passage. Where Jesus own hometown? Despises him and rejects him. Obviously, I’m borrowing from the language of Isaiah. But for much of Jesus teaching ministry, he was immensely popular. He always had opponents, he always had detractors, you would expect that. But also he, for most of his ministry, he had crowds of followers, even to the Passion Week.
And yet he was prophesied as a man of sorrows, a man who is despised, a man who is rejected. And what we can take from this passage is basically this, Nazareth’s rejection of Christ is a precursor to his suffering and death in our behalf as our Redeemer. Nazareth’s rejection of Christ is a precursor, a harbinger of his suffering and death on our behalf as our Redeemer.
I think the outline, my outline is in your bulletins, but three points we’ll consider this morning is first of all, the unwelcome prophet. Secondly, the inclusion of the Gentiles. And finally, the beginnings of rejection. So, first of all the unwelcome prophet.
This encounter in Nazareth chronologically occurred after Jesus had done some ministry in other towns. If you just glance back in Luke chapter 4 to verse 15, well 14 and 15 really. It says he went throughout the surrounding country, he was preaching in their synagogues, he was teaching in their synagogues, and being glorified by all. So that’s the background to what happened in Nazareth. His earthly ministry, his preaching ministry didn’t begin there. It’s the first account that Luke gives us. But he had been traveling throughout Galilee, preaching, teaching, and then he comes to the place where he grew up. And verse 22, the beginning of verse 22, refers to the response, the initial response of the people in Nazareth.
All spoke well of him. And they marveled. They marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. where it says they spoke well of him. What that literally says in the Greek is that they bore witness to him or bore witness of him. And contextually, we assume that they’re bearing witness in a good sense. Some have made the argument that they were bearing witness already against him. But no, I think their initial response, and it’s pretty clear from other gospel accounts too, as he began to preach the word in Nazareth.
The people received the word with joy. And they marveled at his teaching, just as so many people did. So the initial response in Nazareth was positive. But the turning of the tide comes pretty quickly, especially in Luke’s account. So in the second half of verse 22, you see the beginnings of it. They were marveling. They spoke well of him. And then they start to say, is not this Joseph’s son?
And if you keep your finger in Luke, if you want to, let’s just quickly visit the parallel passages in two of the other two synoptic gospels. We find this in Matthew 13, starting in verse 55. He’d gone to Nazareth, he’s teaching there, they were astonished it says in verse 54, but then in verse 55 the tide turns. Is this not the carpenter’s son? And is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?
Where then did this man get all these things? Verse 57, and they took offense at him. So they started out being amazed, but then they thought about it and said, hey, wait a minute. We know this kid. Who does he think he is? You get a slightly different and a little bit different perspective from Mark.
Mark gives an account of the same event in chapter six of his gospel. He says Jesus came to his hometown and verse two says on the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished saying, where did this man get these things? What is this wisdom that is given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?
And then they sort of Mark’s account then parallels Matthew’s pretty closely. We know him. We know his family. We know his brothers and sisters. He’s just the carpenter. They took offense at him, he says, and in verse 5 of Mark 6, it says, he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. Oh, how I wish I could do just a few of those things here among us.
And for that to be a bad day, you know, an off day. But it was because of their unbelief. Jesus’ own townspeople turned on him. And perhaps it brings to your minds that truism, that familiarity breeds contempt. The things that we know and that are familiar to us don’t tend to impress us very much. Maybe when one of our own makes good, we think, hey, we knew him back when.
And that’s how Nazareth is treating the Son of God. And so they demand signs. For 30 years, he dwelt among them and worked as a carpenter. Now he thinks he’s a prophet. Okay, prove it. Do a mighty work. We’ve heard you’ve done stuff like that in Capernaum. Do it here. We’ve heard all about you healing the sick. Show us.
And that’s their disposition toward the Lord Jesus. So Jesus responds with this phrase, prophets aren’t acceptable in their own hometown. The word could be understood as they’re not welcome. See, initially the Nazarenes were touched Initially, they were moved by the teaching of Jesus. They they were convicted, perhaps to an extent by his words, but then they stifled those motions of the Holy Spirit.
Out of pride. And here’s here’s an early point of application to take from that then. Thinking of the people of Nazareth, their proneness Their proneness to suppress the beginnings of conviction in themselves is a warning to each and every one of us. Because we’re prone to do the same thing when we’re convicted in our hearts about something. But if we if we try to just keep that down, press it down, then we’re being like the people in Nazareth. And the result could tragically be similar.
Now, when the Holy Spirit comes to us and begins to convict us or to teach us or to persuade us of things, we should seek to cultivate those things. So I urge you to be sensitive to the influence of the Holy Spirit in your lives. Be sensitive to the voice of Christ as he speaks to you through his word. Don’t quench those things. But make good use of them. respond to them.
If you’ve read much of the Puritans, when they talk about how we ought to treat and what we ought to do with the preaching of the word, to do with a sermon, they use the expression, we need to improve it. And grant you lots of sermons, lots of my sermons need lots of improvement. But that’s not what they mean. They mean take what you’ve heard preached and make use of it. Build on it. respond in faith. So that’s the unwelcome prophet.
Now we go on to the inclusion of the Gentiles because Jesus makes these statements about how Jesus himself, even during his ministry on earth, well not here, but Jesus did minister to Gentiles to some extent, but he makes reference to how Old Testament prophets ministered to Gentiles.
And it’s noteworthy that Luke himself was a Gentile. Possibly, depending on who you think wrote the book of Hebrews, he may be the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. So obviously, he had a particular sense of kinship with his fellow Gentiles to some extent. He wrote especially for the Gentiles in his gospel. I mean, his gospel was written for all believers, but it was particularly aimed at people coming from that Gentile background. And in his gospel, Luke emphasized the inclusion of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of Christ, into the church.
And I say to you, God’s redemptive plan has always included the nations. That was Jesus’ point here. He gives two proofs that long before he ever came onto the scene preaching good news and proclaiming the kingdom of God, God’s kingdom and his plan of redemption had always included Gentiles. It always included the nations.
And the first example he gives is Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. And Jesus said, hey, don’t think that there weren’t any widows in Israel during those days. There were many. But Jesus wasn’t sent to any of them. God and His sovereignty ordained that Jesus would go and minister to this woman in Zarephath. We just looked at that passage in our evening worship a week or two ago, and we saw how that woman responded in faith. She became a worshiper of the true and living God. Although She was a Gentile. And then Elisha and Naaman. I love the story of Elisha and Naaman. So many really human dynamics in that story.
But Jesus says there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, we know that’s true because we read about some of them. There were four that had been dwelling outside of the city and it was under siege by the Assyrians. And then God’s slaughter, He ran off the Assyrians and these lepers wander into their camp and see tents full of stuff. And they eat and they drink and they collect spoil, and then they realize they get convicted and they say, we shouldn’t be keeping this good news from the rest of the people. So, they go to the city. four lepers wandering up to the gates of the city, and it’s closed up tight because they’re under siege. And they say, Hey, there’s no more Assyrians out there. Come to the spoil. So, those were four lepers, but Elisha wasn’t sent to any of them. He didn’t heal any of them, though they were Israelites. No, he was sent to, he was commanded by God to heal this this commander of the army of a foreign nation, Naaman.
Now, as we go through Luke’s gospel, you’re going to see that more so than the other gospel writers, Luke shows a particular interest in widows, in their plight and how Jesus ministered to them. He shows a particular interest in the sick. which may have had something to do with the fact that he was a physician, but still he gives particular attention. It’s not that the other gospel writers don’t say anything about the sick or widows, but Luke especially is drawn to their condition and how Jesus ministered to them in their condition. Because what Luke was showing is that Jesus cared very deeply about widows. and the sick and the disadvantaged. Luke is called the beloved physician, we call the Lord Jesus the great physician, and physicians don’t come for those who aren’t sick. The Savior didn’t come for those who don’t think they really need him. And the Nazarenes in this passage are examples of people who don’t really think they need Jesus.
They’re examples of people who are self-satisfied, people who are self-assured, and they really have no use. Or some kid who grew up in their town and now thinks he’s a prophet. And would presume, after so many years of being an inferior to them, now that he’s their superior. They don’t like that.
The Nazarenes turned up their noses at Jesus, and in response, he asserted that Israelites in the past had treated the prophets similarly, the same way the Nazarenes were treating Jesus. And God is well able to dispense his blessings to the Gentiles instead. The gospel blessings which the people of Nazareth disdained would be offered to and would be accepted by the Gentiles. That’s what Jesus is getting at in his observations regarding Elijah and Elisha, and that infuriated the people. How dare you say that our covenant God holds out some kindness for the nations? We’re his people. That was their attitude. But Jesus taught so clearly, so powerfully, that the message of grace includes the Gentiles. And that brings us to our third and final point, the beginnings of rejection. That’s what we’re seeing here.
Nazareth took offense at Jesus’ words and the way that That word doesn’t appear in Luke, but in our passages that we looked at in Matthew and Mark, both of whom say they were offended at him. That’s the word where we get the term scandalized from. It comes right into English from Greek. Somebody’s scandalized by something. The people of Nazareth were scandalized by Jesus.
And in a very short time, they went from marveling at his words to this murderous rage, whereby they were willing to try to cast him off the cliff. Now, does that seem far-fetched to you, that the tide would turn so drastically and so rapidly, or the people’s opinions would shift in such a 180-degree way in seemingly no time at all? Well, consider this.
In Jerusalem, in the week of his passion, they were crying out, Hosanna. And five days later, they’re crying out, crucify. The apostles had experiences like this. When they were in the city of Lystra, they performed a healing sign. And the people were so amazed, they were convinced that Paul and Barnabas were gods. And very, very shortly thereafter, Paul was stoned by the people in that very same city. Think of Paul’s experience on the island of Malta.
It’s a change in the other direction. It’s a little bit more happy and positive. But still, the conflicting opinions, these polar opposite views of someone are illustrated by the fact that when Saul was helping out with the fire and putting wood on it, and a serpent latched onto his hand, and everybody says, whoa, this guy got to be a murderer. And even though he escaped the sea, justice hasn’t allowed him to survive. And then they waited and they waited and he didn’t swell up. He didn’t get sick. He just shook the thing off into the fire. And then he decided, Oh, he must be a god.
I think of the thief on the cross. Most people seem to think that after those two thieves had been crucified on either side of Jesus, they’re both reviling him for a while. But then one changed his mind and repented and said, Lord, please remember me when you come into your kingdom. I think it’s possible that when the scripture says the thieves reviled him, it can simply refer to the fact that one of them was but either way, and especially if we assume that both of the thieves at first We’re saying, save us and yourself and kind of mocking Jesus in that way. For that thief then to go from reviling to repentance. That’s a pretty drastic change to Jesus on townspeople wanted to throw him over a cliff. That’s what they attempted to do, apparently. Kind of fulfilling those words that John wrote in his gospel, chapter one, verse 11.
He came to his own. And the people of Nazareth, in a very special sense, were his own. All people are his own, because he’s our maker. But the people of Nazareth, that was his community, his hometown. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. And their irrational anger, forecasts those shouts that Jesus would hear just a few years later. Crucify, crucify.
Well, the passage ends with verse 30, just this brief statement, kind of cryptic in a way, and there’s no explanation really, but it says, but passing through their midst, he went on their way. He went away. It’s vague, there’s no explanation. How did that work? I tend to envision it Remember how the angels blinded the men of Sodom when they were trying to beat down the door of Lot’s house and they couldn’t find the door and they just wearied themselves trying to find it. I’m wondering if maybe the Holy Spirit didn’t blind the people so that as they were rushing towards the cliff to push Jesus off, he just sort of, there was a break in the crowd and he just calmly walked away. I don’t know.
The point was that his time had not yet come. They wanted to kill him and he came to die. But the time and the manner and the place even of his death had been foreordained from eternity past by God, foreordained for the good of Christ’s people. And that day in Nazareth was not the day. Falling over the cliff was not the manner. Jesus had a very popular ministry, but his ministry was also strongly opposed throughout his brief career of preaching and teaching. From early on, he was the object of the religious leaders, Bayer in particular.
Already in Chapter 3 of Mark, we read that the Pharisees went out immediately and held counsel with the Herodians against him, against Jesus, how to destroy him. It’s pretty bad when you’ve got Pharisees taking counsel with Herodians. Religiously and politically, they were opposite ends of the spectrum. Pharisees were the red and Herodians were blue. Think of it in terms of US politics, opposite ends of the political spectrum and that they are working together. So great was their hatred of Jesus. And that rejection of Christ would continue and it would increase and it would culminate at the cross. Nazareth’s rejection of Christ is a precursor then to his suffering and death on our behalf as our Redeemer.
Let me close with a few points of application. The principle of verse 24 has application to the Christian faith in general. When Jesus said, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. There’s that principle of familiarity breeding contempt, and it applies to the faith as well. People tend toward a natural disdain for what’s familiar. And there’s a very strong carnal appeal oftentimes to things that are exotic or different, which is why So often, at least for a time, covenant children who’ve grown up in the church and been taught the faith, they walk away, hopefully temporarily.
They just decide, you know, this this stuff I’ve been hearing all my life, it can’t be can’t be the real thing. I know my parents believe it. I know the preacher preached it all the time, all the people in the church seem to. But I just don’t. I just don’t accept it anymore.
And a lot of times people reach that conclusion, young people reach that conclusion, because it’s so familiar. They think there’s got to be something better out there, something more exciting. Something more practical. So they try Buddhism or something or Eastern religion or Islam, or anything else.
We need to be aware of that. We need to pray against it and we need to seek in preaching and in teaching and in fellowship and in discipling to continue to bring before each other and especially our young people the relevance and the truth of the gospel and of these scriptures. Second point of application, brief but to the point.
If the world rejected Jesus, it will reject us also. He said so himself. So when you read about how the people of Nazareth treated him, when you read of what the people did to him in the end, just remember, Jesus said a student is not above his master. If they persecuted me, which they did. They’ll persecute you as well.
Thirdly, I start with a question. I think for almost every one of us, the answer will be yes. But let me ask you, have you ever experienced the pain of rejection? Have you ever been rejected by someone you love? Christ understands. He understands. He knows what it’s like. Let that comfort your heart. Your Savior, who loves you, gave His life for you, knows what it means to be rejected. He’s felt it. He knows the pain of it in His human heart and His human soul.
We sang about it in that him we sang a little bit ago because not only did Jesus experience rejection in Nazareth, not only was He rejected by the religious leaders, not only did the mob on the morning He was tried before Pilate turn on Him and reject Him and demand that He be crucified, but when He went to the cross in His humanity He was rejected even by His own Heavenly Father. to the extent that he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because when that moment came, he was doing what we sang about a minute ago, he not only was he rejected, but he bore the dreadful curse for our souls. And finally, a point of application that’s doctrinal and practical in terms of our witness and our endeavors to proclaim the gospel.
God extends grace to the people of every nation, every nation. He sent his son so that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for Jesus. Our hearts break to read of how he was rejected. And yet our hearts also know that apart from your grace, we would have rejected him too. And many of us for a long time did. We thank you for your grace that was not only to the biological descendants of Abraham, it was for all the nations. and we embrace it and we thank you for it and pray that you would multiply it to us for the honor and the glory of our great Savior who bore the curse for us, Jesus Christ. Amen.