Carey's Bible Study Notes
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sermon at nazareth
life of christ: john 4.16-30
galilean ministry: first sermon in Nazareth
introduction
Between the time of the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus� sermon in Nazareth, Jesus has already begun His public ministry in Galilee, especially in the city of Capernaum. After some time has passed, Jesus returns to his childhood home of Nazareth to preach to the people there. Luke informs us that on the Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue which was His custom. In other words, on Saturday a person could find Jesus by looking for Him in the synagogue.
There is a great lesson for all of us here. My generation has tended to be overly critical of attending worship services on a regular basis. The church is lucky if it sees my generation more than twice a month on Sunday mornings (don�t even bring up Sunday or Wednesday nights). One reason my generation gives for this is that it claims it was forced to attend as a child. Another reason is that it claims church is a waste of its time since neither pastors nor Sunday School leaders are really prepared to guide us in worship and Bible study. I don�t want to get into the argument about whether such accusations are true; however, they fall to the ground when viewed in light of Jesus� own particular situation. Jesus was forced to attend worship as a child. No good Jewish parent would have ever thought of allowing his/her children to remain at home while the Sabbath was in progress. Second, if we think that we know more than the preacher or SS teachers, how much more did Jesus know? Honestly, He wrote the Book. Can�t you just hear Him listening to the sermons and Bible lessons during which the rabbis mangled the proper interpretations of the different OT books? Nevertheless He honored the Sabbath because (1) God commands that we honor it and (2) because on the Sabbath God�s people come together.
I will always appreciate how my mom responded to God�s moving in her life. When she was a young mother with 4 little children with little spiritual support from my dad, God convicted her of her need to be in SS and church on a consistent basis. She promised God that if He would help her, she would raise us in His church. I can remember very few Sundays during which we were not in church. Later when just my younger brother and sister were at home with my mom and dad, Mom went in to get up my brother and sister for church. She was so sad though because none of her older four children including me were involved in any church. She asked herself, "Why am I going to all this trouble? Look at the other 4; these 2 will do the same." The Lord was with her though, and today all of the children are involved in their local churches growing in their relationships with the Lord. God has promised to communicate His presence to us in a special way when God�s people come together because of their relationship with Him (Matt. 18:20). If Jesus, God�s Son, overcame these obstacles, how much more should we.
jesus claims to be the messiah who ushers in the kingdom of god (luke 4.16-22)
When Jesus entered the synagogue, the attendant of the synagogue asked Jesus if He would deliver the message or sermon for the day. The attendant of the synagogue had a function much different from the function our pastors exercise. He was in charge of cleaning and maintaining the synagogue. He had the right to ask any of the members of the synagogue to deliver to message for the day, or as in Jesus� case, to ask a visiting rabbi if he wished the deliver the message. On the other hand, our worship services are somewhat similar to the worship services in the synagogue. The main elements of the synagogue worship were the singing of hymns and psalms, reading from both the Law of Moses and the books of the Prophets, and then the preaching/teaching which followed each reading. Whereas the Jews followed a 3-year cycle in reading the Law of Moses, they appeared to be more flexible in the reading of the prophets.
After the hymns had been sung, the Law read and expounded upon, the attendant turns to Jesus to read the selection from the prophets and to expound upon it. Jesus chooses the passage which we call Isaiah 61:1-2 (the Jews did not have chapter and verse divisions in their Bibles). Why this passage? When we read Matthew�s and Mark�s summary description of the preaching of Jesus, we see that the major theme of that preaching was "Repent, for the kingdom of God (heaven) is at hand" (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). Jesus, in accordance with Jewish expectations, taught that God was about to establish His kingdom upon the world and He was going to use the Messiah to establish that kingdom. (Just like Czar was the Russian word for king and Caesar the Roman word for king, so Messiah or Christ was the Jewish name for their king). On this much the Jews and Jesus agreed. From this point on, they sharply differed because whereas the Jews believed the Messiah would be a military figure who would drive out their political enemies and establish them as the rulers of a world-wide empire, Jesus taught that He would be a suffering servant who frees God�s people from their real enemies, that is, themselves, Satan, and death.
The Isaiah 61 passage can be divided into 3 parts. The first part deals with the Messiah Himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." According to Isaiah and the prophets who succeeded him, the dominant feature about the Messiah and His kingdom would be the presence of the Holy Spirit. According to Isaiah, the Messiah would be filled with the Holy Spirit. The prophet Joel describes the coming of the kingdom of God as being the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world. When that day came, God would fill His people with His Spirit so that the young men would dream dreams, the old men would see visions, all would speak in tongues, and the young men and women would prophesy (Joel 2:28-32). Ezekiel claimed that the coming of the Spirit would resurrect God�s people. Ezekiel sees a valley of dry, dead bones. Even though by his word, the bones are able to be reconnected and the skeletons to be enveloped with flesh, only the Spirit Himself is able to breathe life into these bodies and restore them to life (Ez. 37:1-10 which becomes the basis for the biblical belief in the resurrection of the body). If you have noticed, starting with the announcements of John the Baptist�s and Jesus� births, Luke emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit plays an important role in the birth of Jesus, the baptism of Jesus, His temptation in the wilderness, and now in His first sermon at Nazareth. Jesus� declaration here and Luke�s repeated emphasis on the Holy Spirit imply that not only is the King here but that He has begun to establish His kingdom.
Although this may be somewhat difficult to understand, we need to think of Jesus� kingdom as being here and yet not fully here. It�s like Jesus has only inaugurated His kingdom and not much more. The presidential inauguration is the event during which the president has been sworn into office as president and festivities honoring that oath of office take place. Within a few days, the president will send to the Congress his legislative agenda; however, the agenda has not been voted on and it has not yet been fully implemented. It will take years before people feel the full effects of the president�s administration. The same is true with Jesus. He has begun to reign, and we do experience right now the benefits of His reign; however, we will not fully benefit from His reign until He returns and completely implements His agenda.
Another image which might help is that of the dawn. Some people who have actually seen the dawn tell me that at dawn there is both night and day. If you look towards the east, you see the first rays of day; however, if you look to the west, you still see the dark night. Darkness will not be fully dispelled for a little while longer. The same holds true with the establishment of Jesus� kingdom. The kingdom is here, and we do see its light; however, Satan is still present and we still see death, sin, hurt, anger, etc. One day the noon will be here when the sun stands in the zenith of the heavens; however, that will occur only when Jesus returns. On that day only will darkness be totally dispelled.
The word "Messiah" itself literally means "the Anointed One." What was he anointed with? The Holy Spirit. (The word "Christ" is nothing more than the Greek word for Messiah. Every time you read the word Christ in the NT, you should remember that it is referring to the Messiah, the king who brings in the kingdom of God.) We see Jesus being anointed with the Holy Spirit at the time of His baptism. During that event, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and remained upon Him in order to equip Him for the task of bringing in the kingdom of God.
The second part of the passage describes the message of the Messiah, good news. (The Greek word is euangellion, euanggelion, pronounced "you-on-gel-ee-on," from which we get the English word "Gospel.") Whatever else Jesus� message is, it is good news. That gospel does have to inform us of the dark side of our natures; it does have to tell us about the existence of Satan and the fate which awaits him and all who follow him. That may seem negative to some. Although it may be, it nevertheless is the truth. The good news is that we don�t have to experience the same fate which awaits Satan. We don�t have to live a defeated life. We can experience God�s life to a real degree right now and fully when Christ returns. It just all depends on how we want to respond to the Messiah.
The third part deals with the activities of the Messiah. According to the Jews, the Messiah was going to be filled with the Spirit of God so that He might be able to deliver them from their political enemies. Jesus corrects that misconception and informs them of the spiritual aspect of His deliverance. He has come (1) to preach the gospel to the poor, (2) to proclaim release to the captives, (3) to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, (4) to set free those downtrodden, and (5) to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Although recovery of sight to the blind might be taken literally, the fact that the other 4 are meant figuratively probably means that this element is supposed to be taken figuratively.
First, notice that the gospel is preached to the poor. Matthew will understand "poor" in a spiritual sense, that is, "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3), whereas Luke seems to understand it in a physical sense, poor financially. The 2 though go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, the rich financially are generally though not necessarily arrogant in spirit, which will prevent them from acknowledging their true spiritual status and prevent them from entering the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, the poor financially most often but not necessarily will understand their being poor in spirit and therefore be ready to accept the salvation Christ offers to them.
Release to the captives probably refers to release from the captivity of sin, death, depression, or anything which prevents a person from experiencing God�s life. Recovery of sight to the blind probably refers to the removal of spiritual darkness, the darkness which prevents a person from seeing the truth about God in Jesus Christ. The downtrodden are those beaten down in life, either by society, family, physical handicaps, etc. The acceptable year of the Lord refers to this period right now in human history. It is at this time that Jesus is declaring that God�s arms are open wide to accept any and all who would come to Him through Jesus Christ. That period of time is not eternal. It is noteworthy that Jesus leaves out a clause from Isaiah 61:2 "the year of vengeance." The implication is that whereas now is not the time of vengeance, that time though is coming, the day of judgment at the end of human history. Moreover, as incidents in the Bible show us, even in an individual�s life the year of acceptance is not forever. When God moves in our hearts to draw us to Him, we need to respond positively because a time may come when He quits moving and then we have no chance at all to come to Him.
After Jesus reads the passage standing up, He delivers the scroll to the attendant who puts it back in the cart which held the OT scrolls. Jesus then sits down, which is the normal posture for the person about to teach. The eyes of all in the synagogue are fixed in wrapped attention upon Jesus. The hometown boy has done good and has come home. Everybody is excited to hear how He explains this passage in Isaiah.
Jesus begins by declaring that this passage today has been fulfilled in their midst. By claiming that the passage has been fulfilled means that the Messiah has come and has ushered in the kingdom of God. That much they like. By claiming that the passage has been fulfilled in their midst can only mean that Jesus the One in their midst is the Messiah who has ushered in the kingdom of God. This much they do not appreciate. How dare He claim that He has come to heal them? He�s one of their own and no better than any of the rest of them. If they need healing, then He needs it as much as they.
god's people continue to reject him (luke 4.23-30)
Jesus first informs them that He knows what they are thinking. He claims that their attitude harmonizes with a proverb well-known throughout the world: "Physician, heal yourself," or "A prophet is not welcome in His own country." Their attitude is this: why would a person with a cold ever go to a doctor who likewise has a cold? Well, in their eyes, Jesus is just like one of them and is no better off than they to heal them. (Notice that in the statement "No prophet is welcome," the word translated "welcome" is the exact same word used in v. 19 for "acceptable year of the Lord." In other words, the problem is not with God; He is with open arms accepting His people. The problem is that God�s people have not accepted Him.)
Jesus though claims that their problem with Him is not that He grew up in Nazareth and that it is difficult to accept that one of their own has done well. The truth is that they are following in the footsteps of their forefathers. Many fundamentalist Christians have a skewered view of the OT. Someone was astonished recently when I claimed that the Judaism in the OT was not sufficient for a person in their relationship with God (the story of the empty bottles of water used for the Jewish custom of purification). We read about a few good people in the OT and think that they are great representatives of the Jewish people as a whole. Well, this story, the story about Stephen�s sermon, and the story of the vineyard and the tenants show us the true attitude of the Jews towards God. They rejected and killed God�s representatives, and when face to face with God Himself in the person of His Son, they killed Him too. The people in Nazareth are not adopting a new attitude towards God; they are carrying on in the tradition of their spiritual forefathers, whom Jesus claimed were children of the devil (John 8:44).
To illustrate this, Jesus refers to 2 episodes in the OT: (1) the story of Elijah and the Gentile widow at Zarephath and (2) the story of Elisha healing the Gentile Namaan, a general in the Syrian army. In the first story, Elijah has fled God�s people in Samaria because the evil queen Jezebel had led Samaria into idolatry and had killed all the priests of God. Elijah through his prayers had brought upon Samaria 31/2 years of drought and famine. He had fled to the northern Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon where he lived with a widow and her son at Zarephath. In the second episode, the Syrian general named Namaan was a leper who received healing only after he had obeyed God�s word through Elisha to wash 7 times in the Jordan River. Whereas Namaan had experienced a great miracle, God�s people, the Samaritans, did not get to experience the greatness of God�s miraculous might because of their unbelief and lapse into idolatry. The implication of these stories is that because God�s people rejected God by rejecting His prophets, His prophets in turn went to the Gentiles. Well, just like God turned away from His people in the OT and turned to the Gentiles to give them salvation, so now if God�s people in Jesus� day follow in their forefathers� footsteps, then once more God will turn from them and offer salvation to the Gentiles. This time though, the consequences will be much severer. Whereas in the past the people had rejected God�s representatives, those representatives were just mere men; if now they reject God�s representative Jesus, they will not just be rejecting a man but God Himself. The issue before them is a matter of life and death.
Their response? Kill Jesus. That same attitude exists in the Jews of Israel today. On my last trip to Israel, we had a tremendous guide who also happened to be a Jew. Every now and then she would make some anti-Christian remark which I don�t think most of the group picked up on. I let them slip by in order to maintain harmony and also because most did not really understand what she was getting at. I let the remarks slip by UNTIL we came to the last day of the tour and walked the road from the place of Jesus� trial to Calvary. During that part of the tour, she really let her anti-Christian feelings come out. When I tried to respond gently yet firmly to what she was saying, she flew into a rage and said, "I knew I should have never brought it up!" I felt horrible about the whole ordeal but felt like when you�re standing on the holiest of grounds as far as Christians are concerned, a Christian should never let Christ be re-crucified. The hostile attitude against God in the OT and in Jesus� day still exists in modern Israel. They dragged Him to the edge of the cliff or else to the top of the hill on which Nazareth is located and attempt to throw Him off so that they could proceed to stone Him. I promise you that they would do the same today if they had half the chance. This does not mean that we should persecute Jews. It just means that we need to stand firm in our convictions and pray for them. They could not kill Jesus though because Jesus� hour had not yet come. Jesus will not die until the time appointed by the Father. As a result, Jesus miraculously passes through their midst.