23  Jesus Returns  to Nazareth  (Luke 4:14–30)

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised 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 book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book 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.” 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. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 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?” 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.’” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 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; 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. 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.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 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. But passing through their midst, He went His way. (4:14–30)

Through the first thirty years of His life, Jesus had lived in obscurity in Nazareth. The only recorded incident from those silent years is His visit to Jerusalem and dialogue with the teachers in the temple when He was twelve. Apart from that, nothing is known about His childhood years except for the general statement that He “kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (2:52). The next recorded event in Jesus’ life was His appearance at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. After His baptism Jesus, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.

All that happened in His life up to this point in Luke’s gospel—the testimony of Gabriel, the angels who appeared to the shepherds, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, John the Baptist, Jesus’ affirmation at age twelve that He was the Son of God, and His public attestation by the Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism—had established His messianic credentials. The time had now come for Jesus to step onto the stage of His full public ministry.

This introductory scene in Luke’s account of Jesus’ public ministry takes place in His hometown of Nazareth. It may be divided into three sections: the setting, the message, and the reaction.

THE SETTING

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. (4:14–15)

Like a small door that leads into a vast art gallery, verses 14 and 15 are the entrance to a new section of portraits of Jesus in Luke’s gospel. They introduce Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, the northern part of Israel, which the Lord would be engaged in for about a year and a half. During that time Jesus went in the power of the Spirit (cf. Acts 10:38 and the discussion of 3:22 in chapter 20 and 4:1 in chapter 22 of this volume) “from one city and village [there were 240 cities and villages in Galilee according to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus (Life, 45)] to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God” (8:1). Jesus’ powerful preaching and the miracles He performed created a huge sensation, so that news about Him spread through all the surrounding district (cf. 5:15), and even south into Judea (7:17). At this early stage in His ministry Jesus was praised by all. Galilee was not a large region, and Jesus would have thoroughly blanketed it in the year and a half of His ministry there. Perhaps that is why, as some have speculated, the Lord’s commission of the apostles in Acts 1:8 refers to Judea and Samaria, but not to Galilee. The Galilean ministry will be the focus of Luke’s gospel from verse 14 through verse 50 of chapter 9 (cf. Matt. 4:13–18:35; Mark 1:14–9:50).

It might appear from reading Luke’s account, as well as the parallel histories of Matthew (4:12) and Mark (1:14), that the Lord’s ministry in Galilee began immediately after His baptism. That was not the case, however. There was an interval of about a year between Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of His Galilean ministry. While the Synoptic Gospels are silent about that year, which Jesus spent ministering in Judea, the gospel of John describes it in detail (chapters 1–4).

In keeping with John’s purpose in writing his gospel (John 20:31), his account of Jesus’ Judean ministry focuses on revelations that Jesus is God. After His baptism and temptation, Jesus returned to the vicinity of the Jordan where John was continuing his baptizing ministry. When he saw Jesus, John exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). On the following day John pointed out Jesus to two of his disciples (Andrew and John) and repeated his declaration, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (v. 36). “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (v. 37). Later in that same section Philip introduced Nathanael to Jesus. Nathanael was startled by His greeting, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (v. 47). To Nathanael’s question, “How do You know me?” Jesus gave an even more astonishing reply, one that revealed His omniscience: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (v. 48). Overwhelmed by Jesus’ supernatural knowledge of him, “Nathanael answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel’” (v. 49).

The Lord’s reply to Nathanael displayed another attribute of God, transcendence: “‘Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ And He said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’” (vv. 50–51). Jesus’ divine transcendence provides access to heaven for those who believe in Him.

Before leaving for Judea, Jesus made a brief detour back into Galilee to attend a wedding (2:1–11). The site was the village of Cana, not far from His hometown of Nazareth. During the celebration the wine ran out, an egregious breach of etiquette that could have stigmatized the couple for the rest of their lives. After His mother came and asked Him to help, Jesus miraculously created wine, thus displaying another attribute of deity, omnipotence.

After a brief stay in Capernaum (2:12), Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover (2:13). This marked the start of His ministry in Judea. The first recorded event of that ministry, the cleansing of the temple (2:14–17), introduced yet another of Christ’s divine attributes, His holiness. His supernatural insight into those who expressed a shallow, false, nonsaving faith in Him once again revealed Jesus’ omniscience (2:23–25).

John’s account of the Judean ministry also focused on the message Jesus proclaimed. That message had two essential elements. First, He taught the necessity of regeneration, or the new birth. In His conversation with the prominent Jewish teacher Nicodemus, Jesus declared, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). Then in verses 11–21, Jesus taught that regeneration is appropriated through believing in Him. The familiar words of verses 16–18 summarize that truth:

Finally, John reveals Christ’s mission. His encounter with a Samaritan woman showed that Jesus came to be “the Savior of the world” (4:42; cf. 1 John 4:14), not merely of the Jews. After staying “two days [in the Samaritan village Jesus] went forth from there into Galilee” (v. 43).

Because of His extended ministry in Judea, “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” (v. 45). They had been exposed to Jesus’ teaching and the miraculous signs He performed when they went to Jerusalem for Passover. They were ready for more.

Luke’s note that He began teaching in their synagogues introduces the pattern and the priority of the Lord’s ministry. The priority for Jesus was teaching God’s Word (cf. Mark 1:38), and throughout Luke’s gospel He is constantly portrayed as a teacher of God’s truth (cf. 4:31; 5:3, 17; 6:6; 11:1; 13:10, 22; 19:47; 20:1; 21:37; 23:5). He is also frequently referred to as the Teacher (7:40; 8:49; 9:38; 10:25; 11:45; 12:13; 18:18; 19:39; 20:21, 28, 39; 21:7; 22:11).

The numerous synagogues that existed in Galilee provided the perfect venue for Jesus’ teaching. Since the minimum number of Jewish men required to form a synagogue was ten, most, if not all, of the 240 cities and villages in Galilee would have had at least one. Some of the larger cities may have had dozens of them (according to the Jerusalem Talmud there were 480 in Jerusalem, though that number is disputed). Synagogues were usually built out of stone, and typically faced Jerusalem. They existed primarily for instruction in the Scriptures. In a synagogue Sabbath service, a passage from the Old Testament would be read, followed by a teacher explaining its meaning to the congregation.

The synagogues were by no means considered a replacement for the Jerusalem temple, which was the heart and soul of Judaism. Only at the temple could the sacrifices prescribed in the law of Moses be offered and the feasts and ceremonies celebrated, not in the synagogues (there are no Old Testament references to synagogues). But after the Babylonians destroyed the temple when they sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the Jewish exiles began gathering in small groups to hear the teaching of God’s Word (cf. Ezek. 8:1; 14:1; 20:1; 33:31). Those informal gatherings eventually developed into the synagogues of Jesus’ time. The Jews of the Diaspora (those who lived outside of Palestine) lacked ready access to the rebuilt Jerusalem temple. Thus they too built synagogues, as the book of Acts indicates (9:2, 20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1, 10, 17; 18:4, 19). The apostle Paul, like Jesus, frequently preached the gospel in those synagogues (Acts 17:17; 18:4, 19; 19:8).

The synagogues had no full-time pastors or teachers; the policy known as the “freedom of the synagogue” allowed for anyone approved by the ruler of the synagogue to teach. Thus, if a noted teacher was available, he would likely be invited to preach, as was Paul (cf. Acts 13:14–15). In the absence of a guest teacher, any of the men in attendance who were approved to do so might teach. The synagogues were ruled by elders (cf. Mark 5:22), the chief of which was the archisunagōgos, or ruler of the synagogue (Luke 13:14; Acts 18:8). It was his responsibility to conduct the worship service and approve the teachers. There was another officer besides the ruler of the synagogue and the elders, the chazzan. He was the keeper of the scrolls on which the Scriptures were written (cf. v. 20) and was responsible for getting the proper scrolls out for each day’s reading and returning them to the chest where they were stored. In addition to serving as places of worship, the synagogues also provided instruction for children, much like today’s elementary schools, and served as local courts (cf. 12:11; Matt. 10:17).

The order of worship in a typical synagogue of Jesus’ day may be reconstructed as follows:

1. Thanksgivings or “blessings” spoken in connection with (before and after), the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

2. Prayer, with response of “Amen” by the congregation

3. Reading of a passage from the Pentateuch (in Hebrew, followed by translation into Aramaic)

4. Reading of a passage from the Prophets (similarly translated)

5. Sermon or word of exhortation

6. The Benediction pronounced by a priest, to which the congregation responded with “Amen.” When no priest was present a Closing Prayer was substituted for the Benediction. (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Mark [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975], 75–76)

Luke’s account of Jesus’ visit to the synagogue in Nazareth began with Him reading a passage from the prophets (in this case from Isaiah), and then giving the exposition.

THE MESSAGE

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 book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book 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.” 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. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (4:16–21)

Of the many events that Luke could have chosen to begin his account of Christ’s ministry, he picked His visit to Nazareth. He did so because what Jesus said on this occasion identifies Him as the Messiah and perfectly defines His ministry. This first of two recorded visits by Jesus to the city where He grew up took place near the beginning of His Galilean ministry; the other visit, recorded by Matthew (13:54–58) and Mark (6:1–6), took place near its end.

Nazareth was located in a hollow in the Galilean hills, just north of the plain of Esdraelon, about half way between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. It was an insignificant village in Jesus’ day (it was not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, or by Josephus), overshadowed by the larger city of Sepphoris just to the north. It was in this insignificant, off the beaten path village that Jesus had been brought up (cf. the exposition of 1:26 in chapter 4 of this volume). Although He was born in Bethlehem and later made Capernaum His hometown (Matt. 4:13), Jesus remained associated with Nazareth throughout His ministry (4:34; 18:37; Matt. 21:11; 26:71; Mark 1:24; John 1:45; Acts 10:38; 26:9), being scornfully called, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

As was His custom, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. Wherever He was during His ministry, the Lord attended a synagogue on the Sabbath (cf. 6:6; 13:10; Mark 1:21; 3:1–2; 6:2). On this Sabbath, He was chosen to read from the Old Testament Scriptures. Out of respect for the Scriptures Jesus, as was customary, stood up to read. Alfred Edersheim captures the drama of the moment:

As stood up to read, the book (scroll) of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him by the chazzan. It evidently was not unrolled to any text, so Jesus opened the book 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.” He read from two passages in Isaiah, 61:1–2 and 58:6. What Jesus read was, as His hearers were well aware, messianic prophecy. The phrase the Spirit of the Lord is upon me reflects the reality again that Messiah would be empowered by the Holy Spirit (cf. the expositions of 3:22; 4:1, 14 earlier in this volume). He would be anointed by the Spirit, set apart, and empowered for special service, as Isaiah 11:2 reveals: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him [Messiah; cf. v. 1], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (cf. 48:16).

Verse 18 succinctly summarizes the Messiah’s ministry. Four metaphors depict the desperate condition of needy sinners whom God seeks to rescue from hell. Though the religious in this world may imagine themselves to be rich, free, healthy, and unhindered, until receiving the salvation that Christ brings, they are in reality poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed. Those metaphors graphically depict their utter lack of any spiritual resources to extricate themselves from their deadly dilemma. Only through the Messiah’s work of salvation can they be rescued from eternal punishment in hell.

First, Messiah would preach the gospel to the poor. The good news of the gospel is that the spiritually impoverished can find salvation. Ptōchos (poor) derives from a verb that means, “to cringe,” “to shrink back,” or “to cower.” It conveys the idea of a beggar cringing in the shadows, cowering in shame. In contrast to another Greek word, penēs, which describes the working poor, ptōchos describes those in extreme deprivation who are reduced to begging, such as the beggar Lazarus (16:20). In spiritual terms, the poor are those who recognize that they have nothing by which to commend themselves to God (cf. 6:20; Matt. 5:3). They acknowledge their moral bankruptcy, that all their righteous deeds are nothing but a filthy garment (Isa. 64:6). Messiah can only bring salvation to those who acknowledge that they are spiritually destitute and that only God can supply their needs.

Spiritual poverty is not an act; it is not false piety or humility, but genuine. The spiritually poor are “humble and contrite of spirit” (Isa. 66:2); they are “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18). Possessing a “broken spirit” and a “broken and a contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17), they are like the repentant tax collector, who was “unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’” (Luke 18:13). It is such people, Jesus declared, whom God justifies (v. 14). In contrast the Lord rebuked the members of the Laodicean church for thinking that they were “rich, and [had] become wealthy, and [had] need of nothing,” while in reality they were “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

While the economically poor are not in view here, such people are often fertile soil for the gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26–29). Their desperate circumstances drive them to a level of despair that those who are well off do not always experience. For that reason Jesus declared that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25). James wrote, “Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5). Those whose circumstances in life offer them little hope are often more open to receiving the good news of the gospel.

Second, Messiah will proclaim spiritual release to the captives. Lost sinners imagine that they are free, and see Christianity as infringing on their right to be and do what they want to. But that is a tragic deception; sinners are not free. All sinners owe God an unpayable debt for violating His law (James 2:10; cf. Matt. 18:23–35), and are in bondage to “Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). The lost are also in bondage to Satan (Eph. 2:1–2), “held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26). Satan uses their fear of death to enslave them (Heb. 2:14–15). They are also slaves of sin (Rom. 6:6, 16–20), since “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).

The good news of the gospel is that God has sent His Son to free those who are in spiritual bondage. In Isaiah 42:5–7 God said to the Messiah,

Aphesis (release) means “forgiveness” (it is so translated in 1:77; 3:3; 24:47; Matt. 26:28; Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:22; 10:18). Messiah will set the prisoners free by paying the penalty for their violation of God’s law. Through His sacrificial death God has “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). As Charles Wesley expressed it in his magnificent hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues,”

Third, Messiah’s mission was to provide recovery of spiritual sight to the blind. Spiritual blindness is the natural condition of fallen man. “They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness” (Ps. 82:5); they “have eyes but do not see” (Jer. 5:21). “This is the judgment,” Jesus declared, “that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19–20). In addition to their natural blindness, God judicially blinds the minds of unrepentant sinners. The apostle John wrote, “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them” (John 12:40; cf. Rom. 11:8). Satan also “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” (2 Cor. 4:4).

But the Messiah came “to open blind eyes” (Isa. 42:7). He is the “Sunrise from on high” (1:78) who will “shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death” (v. 79). Since He is “the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5; cf. 3:19; 12:46) those who follow Him “will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). Paul reminded the Corinthians that “God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). “You were formerly darkness,” Ephesians 5:8 says, “but now you are light in the Lord” (cf. Col. 1:13). Paul was sent to the Gentiles “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in [Jesus]” (Acts 26:18).

Finally, Messiah came to set free those who are spiritually oppressed. These are people overwhelmed by life’s painful circumstances, especially the wearying burden of sin and the inability to keep God’s law (cf. 11:46; Matt. 23:4; Acts 15:10). Jesus promises such people, “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” (Matt. 11:28–30). “For this is the love of God,” John wrote, “that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

Because Jesus had already been ministering for many months (as noted above in the discussion of His Judean ministry), these things were already happening. For the spiritually bankrupt, imprisoned by their sin and awaiting sentence by the Judge of all the earth (Gen.18:25), blind to the truth, and oppressed by the heavy burden of their sins, the favorable year of the Lord had come. The “day of salvation” (Isa. 49:8) and the “year of redemption” (Isa. 63:4) had arrived.

Stopping His reading of Isaiah 61:2 in the middle of the verse, Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. It was a dramatic moment, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him wondering what His message would be. What He said was shocking, unexpected, and unprecedented: He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Other teachers had spoken of a future fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, but Jesus told them that they were witnessing its fulfillment before their eyes. Salvation had come; the messianic era had begun; the Messiah was present that day in the synagogue in the person of Jesus, a man from that very village.

THE REACTION

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?” 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.’” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 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; 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. 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.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 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. But passing through their midst, He went His way. (4:28–30)

At first, the reaction of the people to Jesus’ message was positive, as all were speaking well of Him. They were especially wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips. The audience was in awe of His unmatched speaking ability, as those who heard the Sermon on the Mount were (Matt. 7:28–29) and those sent to arrest Him (John 7:46) later would be.

Yet shockingly, that positive reaction would quickly be reversed, and the people would attempt to kill the familiar Jesus. No Sabbath had ever begun so wondrously, and no Sabbath ever ended so tragically. What went wrong? What changed their assessment of Jesus so radically?

Some, no doubt, were wondering why Jesus stopped His reading of Isaiah 61:1–2 in the middle of verse 2, omitting the reference to “the day of vengeance of our God.” The Jewish people expected that when Messiah came, He would take vengeance on their enemies. John the Baptist had spoken of the unquenchable fire of Messiah’s judgment (3:17), and even he became perplexed when Jesus showed no signs of executing vengeance on the wicked (7:19–20).

Others could not reconcile the stunning power of Jesus’ oratory with the reality that this was Joseph’s son. Familiarity breeds contempt, and all experts are from out of town. They resented His claim to be the Messiah, especially since according to popular belief Messiah would be unknown until He suddenly appeared to redeem Israel (John 7:27). How then could this man, whom they had known since He was a child, possibly be the Messiah?

But most of all, the people resented Jesus’ assertion that salvation is available only to those who acknowledge themselves to be the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed. They were not about to accept such labels, since they viewed themselves as righteous. After all, they kept the law (at least outwardly); they honored the Sabbath, paid their tithes, observed the ceremonies, and performed the rituals. Besides, as the Jewish leaders proudly reminded Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone” (John 8:33). Rather than acknowledge their spiritual poverty, sinful bondage, blindness, oppression, and need of a Savior, they questioned whether Jesus was really the Messiah. How could He be if He could not even distinguish the righteous from the wicked?

Reading their minds, Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’” In other words, prove your claims to us. He knew they were thinking He should reveal His power, and were ready to challenge Him to verify His messiahship miraculously. They thought, “Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” If He wanted them to accept His claim to be the Messiah, then let Him perform the same signs that had reportedly been done in nearby Capernaum.

The question, however, was not lack of evidence, but hardness of heart. There were never enough miracles to satisfy. No one in Israel, not even the leaders (John 11:47), ever questioned the reality of Jesus’ miracles, but neither would they accept what they proved. Rather, they continually demanded more signs as a condition of their belief (Matt. 12:38; 16:1–4), or even attributed His miraculous power to Satan (Matt. 12:24). No amount of miracles would convince those whose minds were hardened. “But though He had performed so many signs before them,” John wrote, “yet they were not believing in Him” (John 12:37).

Jesus understood that, humanly speaking, it was difficult for them to accept that someone they were so familiar with could really be the Messiah. Acknowledging that, He made the now proverbial truism, Truly (amen; a word used to introduce important statements) I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown (cf. Matt. 13:57; John 4:44).

Then Jesus made a brilliant transition. In effect He said to them, “Speaking of unwelcome prophets, what about Elijah and Elisha?” The phrase I say to you in truth reiterates the importance of what He was about to say. The Lord reminded them first that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. Elijah prophesied during the reign of Ahab, one of Israel’s most wicked kings, who “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). Influenced by his pagan Gentile wife Jezebel, Ahab was a worshiper of the Canaanite deity Baal, and under his influence Baal worship flourished in Israel.

As God’s judgment on the apostate nation, Elijah announced a drought, and the sky was shut up for three years and six months (cf. James 5:17), as a result of which a great famine came over all the land. The severe conditions were especially hard on widows, since the people who were responsible to care for them (cf. Ex. 22:22; Deut. 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17–21) were unable (or unwilling) to do so. Yet despite the proliferation of widows in Israel, Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. This was not a story that the Jewish people liked to be reminded of. Jesus’ hearers no doubt began to get uncomfortable, or even angry at Him for bringing it up. It was bad enough from their perspective that Elijah ministered to a Gentile widow instead of an Israelite. But the land of Sidon was the homeland of the wicked queen Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31). This particular widow, however, was a believer in the God of Israel (1 Kings 17:12, 24). Jesus’ point, which must have shocked and outraged the audience, was that God would save an outcast Gentile woman who admitted her poverty, bondage, blindness, and oppression (cf. 1 Kings 17:18), but not a Jew who would not. The implication was that if they refused to abandon their self-righteousness and admit their desperate spiritual need they could not be saved.

But Jesus was not through. To the rising anger of those gathered in the synagogue at such an indictment, He added another familiar and somewhat distasteful Old Testament story. This one involved Elijah’s protégé and successor, Elisha. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, Jesus reminded them, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. If anything, this was even more shocking than Elijah’s ministry to a Gentile widow. Naaman the Syrian was not only a Gentile, but also a leper, and hence doubly an outcast (cf. Num. 5:2; 2 Kings 7:3–4). As if that was not enough, he was also an enemy military commander, the “captain of the army of the king of Aram” through whom “the Lord had given victory to Aram” (2 Kings 5:1). When Elisha told him he would be cured of his leprosy if he bathed in the Jordan River, Naaman was at first unwilling (vv. 10–12). Later, however, he humbled himself, obeyed the prophet’s word, was cured, and acknowledged the God of Israel as the only true God (vv. 14–15).

Jesus’ point was clear and unmistakable. God has brought salvation by His arrival—but, as always, it is only for those who know they are spiritually poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed. Unless His hearers were willing to humble themselves like that outcast Gentile widow and that Syrian leper terrorist did and admit their spiritual need, they could not be saved. That was too much for their nationalistic pride and self-righteousness to bear, and consequently and suddenly all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 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. They were an out of control lynch mob, intent on killing the one whom they knew so well and who had taught them the truth of God’s Word. But Jesus’ time had not yet come (cf. John 7:30; 8:20), so passing through their midst, He went His way. At last, the mob got a miracle, if not the one they were looking for, as Jesus super-naturally escaped their attempt to murder Him (cf. John 7:30; 8:59; 10:39).

The proud people of Nazareth never did humble themselves, despite the Lord’s miraculous escape from their grasp. When Jesus returned some time later, “He wondered at their unbelief” (Mark 6:6; cf. Matt. 13:58). Their refusal to admit their spiritual destitution, bondage, blindness, and oppression stands in stark contrast to the repentant Gentile widow and leper. It is a striking illustration of the truth that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

By all considerations, our Lord’s approach in the synagogue was not “seeker friendly,” but bold, confrontive, denunciatory, and infuriating to the religious crowd—to the severest degree. They were so outraged they tried to kill Him. The truth about the sinner’s condition is always least acceptable to the religious hypocrite.