In The Word
Read: Luke 4:14-30
Jesus’ Public Ministry
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16 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. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “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,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
After His encounter with satan in the wilderness, Jesus enters His own hometown of Nazareth walks in the synagogue, and preaches from the book of Isaiah concerning the coming of Messiah. As everyone stares at Him it becomes clear that they are staring at one of their own, Jesus, the son of the carpenter, whose family is among them. At this moment Jesus begins to confront them of His knowledge, His miracles that He has performed in other areas, and His own affirmation that He is the Christ. At first we are taken back at how quickly Jesus attacks their attitude as we read in verse 4:22 that they were “speaking well of Him”, and “is this not Joseph’s son?” But if we read Mark’s gospel of this same event we see in verse 6:3 “and they took offense of Him.” Jesus knew their hearts and was not surprised by their attitude. Prophets before Him were treated the same way.
You may have noticed the same thing in your walk. You seem to have great influence with others concerning the gospel. People want to know what’s different about you, why do you seem joyful all the time. Except with your family and childhood friends! To them you’re that same kid, who got in trouble all the time, probably wouldn’t end up accomplishing anything. To them there’s no way you could hold the keys to them receiving the good news? It’s even more amusing when they come to us and tell us they’ve been saved by talking with someone else after you’ve been witnessing to them for years! Be encouraged; don’t think your walk and words didn’t have an impact on that decision. Your testimony speaks more than you could imagine!