Luke 4:14-30 - Jesus is rejected because of His teaching

Have you ever gotten something for Christmas that you really didn't want? Something, you know, that you couldn’t imagine yourself ever using? It just wasn’t you. There’s that split second of awkwardness where you’ve opened the gift and the person who gave you the gift is watching your expression, and you put a smile on your face and you politely, maybe a little TOO politely, saying, "Oh...well...thanks. Wow. I don’t know what to say. Wow...um. Wow.

Now, sometimes, this is because of the gift. The giver just didn’t know. They gave out of good intentions, but they just didn’t know your tastes. But sometimes, we have this reaction when WE don’t know. When we don’t know the value of the gift. We didn’t know that it was a priceless antique, because we don’t know antiques. We didn’t know the uses of the gift, because we haven’t had experience with this kind of object. We hemmed and hawed with the gift because we were ignorant.

And the same thing happens with the gift that Jesus comes bringing. It’s value is beyond understanding. The gift is priceless. It’s the most effective gift for our lives. It’s the one gift that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If we could only see its value. If we could see it’s effectiveness. If we could just see how precious this gift really is.

Jesus came at Christmas, but so many missed Him. And for the past couple of weeks, we’ve been seeing how people, including us sometimes, look right on past Him. The light came into the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it. He came to cleanse us, to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and to give us a brand new life. But we didn’t want a brand new life. We were happy with the life we had, thank you.

And today, in Luke 4, the greatest gift, the gift of freedom and recovery and release is offered, and the Giver of this greatest gift is run out of town. The recipients of this gift attempt to murder the giver. Why? Because they didn’t recognize the value. They didn’t know how to receive the gift.

Jesus had arrived, and He went out to distribute His gift. And for a moment, people liked Him. Verse 14:

There was something about Him, and I don’t know if you could put your finger on it, that revealed the power of the Spirit that was in Him and around Him and flowing through Him. You could hear it in the words that He said and the way that He said them. You could hear it in His sermons but also in His silence. People noticed, and when He came and taught in their synagogues, people came to listen.

Especially as He came to Nazareth. Especially as He came home. Verse 16:

Jesus is a celebrity, and the people of Nazareth are feeling pretty good about this son of the church, this son of the town coming home. I mean, everybody knows Jesus, and He’s THEIR Jesus, which kind of makes them a little famous, too. Small town boy makes it to the big time.

So, there they all are, just proud to be in the synagogue with this celebrity. They’re just sure that He’s going to say something nice about them. This is the pick-me-up that this small town was needing. So, everyone’s comfortable, they’re all in their seats, leaning back ready for the nice words to start. And he stood up to read. The regular pastor has of coursed stepped back to let Jesus speak, and he hands Jesus the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

And Jesus turns to Isaiah 61. And He reads:

That’s a good start to the sermon. The people are all right with Jesus here. Yes, this is what I came to hear. Finally, freedom for their town, their nation. Finally, they would be on top of the pile, and all the other nations would be under their control. Israel would finally be a world power. This was the year of the Lord’s favor, and they all knew who the Lord’s favorite was: Israel! Preach it, Jesus. Tell us this good news.

Verse 20:

In this culture, it was the custom to stand when reading the word of God, and then sit down to preach. Not a bad idea! So, when Jesus sits down, everyone gets ready to hear Jesus explain this wonderful passage. And they are ready to hear more. Verse 20:

What’s He going to say? How is He going to make us feel good? How is He going to stroke our egos? What is He going to say nice about us?

Well, He starts off a little confusing. Verse 21:

Interesting. Okay. Sure. We’ll take this. Sounds good. Today is when we have freedom and release and the Lord’s favor. You can hear the cheers to Jesus’ words. Verse 22:

They’re feeling good. Now, at the same time, there is a little concern expressed here. I mean, it’s great that Jesus is getting a lot of attention, but you wouldn’t want to see this go to Jesus head, would you? I mean, it’s one thing for everyone to like Jesus, but when Jesus starts enjoying His fame a little too much, well, that kind of sours the words a little. Under the good feelings is the question, in verse 22:

And Jesus picks up on the resentment. And this is more than just rumbling. Remember who this is. This is the Lord of lords and the King of kings and the people are both proud of this and resentful. And neither of these attitudes could be called worship. Jesus knows that His Lordship is not being accepted, and He says, in verse 23:

Jesus is looking for surrender on the part of the people, not arrogance. He’s looking for obedience, not pride. He’s expecting them to drop to their knees in worship and then get back up and follow Him, rather than simply sit in their pews.

And then He drops the bomb on them. For the next couple of verses, Jesus reminds them of some times in Israelite history where God took His blessings, His miracles, His care, He took them away from the Israelites and He gave them to somebody else. He gave them to, gasp, Gentiles. When God provided oil and flour for the widow in Zarephath when there was a severe famine, and when God healed, out of all people, Naaman, an enemy general, instead of the lepers of Israel. Israel had not bowed their knees in worship, they had not followed their Lord, so the Lord took His care somewhere else.

And do you think the people in the synagogue got the message? Do you think Jesus got His point across? I’d say so. Verse 28:

Amazing how fast that turned. From sitting comfortably in the pew, basking in their friend’s fame, growing a little uncomfortable with Jesus’ attitude of being Lord, to now actually attempting murder. Verse 29:

Far from worshipping on their knees and rising and following Him, they try to take Him out. They try to kill the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the One who came with the gift of freedom and release and the Lord’s favor.

But even if they don’t recognize their Lord, Jesus is still in control. Verse 30:

We see His majesty, we see His power, we see His control over the situation, that nothing happens that is not in His control. But we see something more. We see something sad. We see Jesus walking away. He came bringing gifts, but He’s leaving again with those gifts. He’s leaving, because the people couldn’t, they wouldn’t see why He had come and who He had come for.

They didn’t understand that the blessings of the gospel were for other people, too. They were for people that they all considered lost, hopeless, nasty, undesirable people. They were in, those others were out, and it was just better left that way. They didn’t know that the Lord had come to bring freedom to nasty people, release for undesirables, and yes, even the Lord’s favor on them. This was unacceptable to them, and so they lost the gift.

They had categorized people by nationality. If you were a Jew, you deserved freedom and release and the Lord’s favor. If you were not a Jew, you certainly did not deserve freedom and release and the Lord’s favor. And we categorize people, too. Sometimes, we do categorize by nationality. We love our country, and we accept other countries that are like us. But is the freedom and release and the Lord’s favor for Palestinians and Iranians and Pakistanis too? How about illegal aliens coming in from Mexico? Is the Lord’s favor for them, too?

And maybe it’s not nationality. Maybe it’s political. All democrats support abortion. All republicans love rich people more than poor people. Our political opinions can keep us from sharing the Lord’s favor with others.

And then, we categorize by sin. Some sins are worse than others, we think, we say. We can get past someone eating too much, putting a false spin on a story, holding a grudge and refusing to forgive. Those are somewhat understandable. But there are other sins that we find revolting, repulsive. And we hammer on those sins and we wouldn’t ever consider God’s freedom and release and favor coming anywhere near those people. Those are people who must be beaten into submission, not loved back into the fold.

And if this is how we see the gospel, if this is how we see Jesus, then yes, He will go away, taking His gifts with Him. We won’t experience the freedom of being a Christian. We will live under the burden of expectations and the fears of punishment. We won’t enjoy the release of salvation, we will be bound with guilt and remorse and regret. We won’t bask in the Lord’s favor. While He still loves us, He will need to correct us, discipline us, and that doesn’t always feel so good.

Jesus came to bring gifts to all people, and all people can receive those gifts if they receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. It doesn’t matter what nationality or politics we come from, or what sin we are guilty of, those gifts are available to each of us. We’re all in the same boat, needing the same salvation and carrying the same guilt. All sins, any sins, required Jesus hanging on the cross. And all sins, any sins, were conquered when Jesus came out of the grave.

Will we accept the gifts, and allow others to accept them as well? Will we hoard them or will we share them? Will we wish for freedom and release and the Lord’s favor for everyone else, as much as we wish for them ourselves?