Last week, in the temptations of Jesus, we saw the defensive side of what it takes to be led by the Spirit, or walk with God. The believer must resist and stand strong against temptations. Today we will look at the offensive side, which focuses on what we need to do with all our heart, mind, and strength. Let’s go to Luke chapter 4 verse 14.
Most of the time that Jesus taught was in northern Israel around the Sea of Galilee. This was due to the fact that it was far enough away from the religious leaders in Jerusalem to furnish a relative amount of freedom.
One thing that sticks out in verse 14 is that Jesus came forth from the time of temptation in the “power of the Spirit.” This is clearly an additional comment that brings up the connection between temptation and spiritual power. To resist temptation is to embrace the power of listening to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not become any more powerful, but our yielding to Him allows the power of His guidance to flow through us. God wants us to be filled with the Spirit and to resist temptation so that we may be empowered by the Spirit. Whether we do miracles as Jesus did is immaterial. God gives His gifts in varying amounts and disperses them throughout the body. So that, no one person has all His gifts. However, we can all be a powerful witness of Jesus.
Jesus did teach and, though Luke doesn’t mention it at first, verse 23 shows that he was doing miracles as well. Luke focuses more on the fact that Jesus was initially received by everyone except those in His hometown of Nazareth. I will come back to this issue later, but recognize that even when God is operating for good, we can be envious of what He has done for others.
Now before we get into the nitty gritty of the rejection in this passage, we should recognize that Nazareth’s rejection of Jesus is only a small picture of the Jesus being rejected by Israel as a nation. Thus, at the beginning of His ministry we see his hometown rejecting Him and thus all the other cities in the area being blessed by Him. Similarly as Jesus is rejected by Israel as a nation, the gospel of Jesus goes out to the nations of the world and they are blessed instead. This pattern follows Jesus to this day. Do not be enamored when crowds and multitudes crowd to hear about and follow Jesus. For in time as they are challenged by the Truth of Jesus many will fall away. If the Truth of Jesus is taught it will eventually be resisted by the majority.
When Jesus comes to Nazareth, the stories of what he has been doing have preceded Him. Thus when he arrives he is given a seat of honor and asked to read the Scriptures at the Synagogue. Jesus turns to a specific passage, Isaiah 61, and reads several verses. Then He sits down and says, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” I’m sure that went over like a ton of bricks, but let’s analyze this.
Isaiah 61 is a prophecy that seems to be saying that God has anointed Isaiah to give Israel good news. The good news is that God is going to help them rebuild the ruins of Israel. Also, there is a promise that God will demonstrate His righteousness among the nations and Israel will be exalted. As in any prophecy, the question is who, when, where….etc. Jesus is saying that this passage was about what He was doing that very day. He is saying that He is that anointed one who will help Israel rebuild the ruins and exalt the righteousness of God among the Gentiles.
Now notice what the anointing or power of the Holy Spirit is for in this passage. Israel had become so spiritually damaged by sin that they were impoverished, brokenhearted, captive, blind, and oppressed. Jesus had come to deliver them from these things. We must recognize in this beautiful passage the ugliness of what sin does to a people. In fact the teaching in our own country that people are basically good is an extremely evil one. It tells us that we should basically follow our “good” inner inklings, which in the end lead us to a place of spiritual poverty.
Jesus had come to give good news to the poor. Now those who are materially poor are definitely in a position to be open to the gospel. The rich don’t need God and aren’t interested. But a poor person knows full well that they have great need. Yet, being materially poor is no guarantee that a person will truly hear and take to heart the “Good News” that Jesus is giving us. The gospel can only be received by those who are poor in spirit. They have tried clamoring after the things of the world and found them to be elusive. Some are opened by this to Jesus, but some refuse to be softened and broken in these times and only become harder. Sometimes our problem is not that we are materially poor, but that we are not “poor” enough. When we drop our pride, bitterness, anger, and the hunger for wealth, our spirit is able to receive the good news of the gospel. If you are lacking in wealth and material possessions today, then go all the way and become poor in spirit. God has great news for you in the person of Jesus.
Jesus came to heal broken hearts. Now we use the picture of a broken heart to refer to being wounded by those we love. Our hearts are not just wounded, however. They also become dysfunctional. We refuse to embrace some things that are good and desire other things that are bad. Instead of a heart that is singularly fixed on God, ours becomes shattered into a thousand competing lusts and we are left without peace. The greatest healing of all is to have our dysfunctional hearts touched by the Truth of Jesus.
Jesus also came to free the captives. Though Israel was technically in their own land, they were under the tyranny of Rome. However, Jesus didn’t come to free them from Rome. Thus He did not see Rome as their captor or oppressor. Their true captor and oppressor was the devil. Through their sins he had bound them in bondage and kept their hearts captive to lusts. They were unable to break free from the hold of sins on their heart and the penalty of their sins.
Jesus came to give sight to the blind. They have not only become blind to their sin, but also to the Truth of God’s Word. They were unable to receive the insights and comfort that God had given them through the prophets who had come before. They couldn’t even see that they had become poor, captive and blind. This is similar to the words of Jesus to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3, “You say, ‘I am rich, and have need of nothing.’ You do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” How we need to stop finding hope in everything but God’s Word. If you are saying, “But I’ve tried God’s Word and it doesn’t help,” beware. This is only proof that you have become blind to what it is truly saying.
If you compare what Jesus read in Luke to the Isaiah 61 passage you will see that he stops in mid-sentence. Jesus had come to proclaim the year of God’s favor, but not the day of vengeance of our God. That would come later. In fact the “Day of the Lord” for this whole world looms on the horizon. Recognize that when Jesus comes back he will finish this sentence. But for them it was to be a time of God’s grace. Jesus had come to offer sinners a way to freedom.
Now in verses 23 through 30 we have the details of the rejection of Jesus. Now it is the lot of Jesus to be quickly received only to be later rejected. In one church service Jesus goes from the honored seat sharing the Holy Scriptures the whole lot of them trying to kill him. We must guard against this tendency of our flesh in our own hearts.
Jesus was rejected because he laid bare what was in their hearts. Jesus is not content to just be welcomed into your life. His job and mission is to show you the true condition of your heart and soul. Now, none of us are perfect and we get pretty testy when we think another impure person is trying to point out our sins, much less the hidden things deep in our hearts. But in Jesus we have one who has never sinned and knows those hidden things. This extreme vulnerability is a very scary place to be found. However, at the cross God proved His heart towards you. You can trust Him. If he exposes your heart, it is not in order to hurt you or take advantage of you. But, rather, it is so that he can heal you.
There is no one for Jesus to pat on the back in this picture. All of them, all of us, need saving from sin. Now the hearts of the people of Nazareth thought that they deserved some miracles. Do here what you are doing in other places. Jesus gives them the examples of Elijah and Elisha. Both of these prophets did powerful miracles. However, in two cases they did so not for Israelites, but for gentiles. Why? Jesus begins to poke and prod. It was because of unbelief in Israel. Thus Jesus did not do many miracles in Nazareth over the course of His 3 ½ year ministry because of the unbelief in the heart of the people there. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” They said to themselves. This hardness walled them off from the miracles of Jesus, but it couldn’t wall them off from His grace. Jesus comes and speaks the truth in love to His hometown. If they could only hear and see and believe.
This crowd did not need miracles. They needed faith in Jesus. They become so made that they want to kill him that day. They crowd around him and lead him out to a cliff to throw him off of it. Now, in light of the temptations, Jesus could have jumped off to prove that he is the messiah. But instead Luke says that he turned and walked right through the middle of them. They are paralyzed by the Spirit of God and impotent before the Son of God. This was their miracle. The miracle of watching God do what He will over the top of all the power and pomp of mankind.
May God give us all the ability to humble ourselves before Him and receive the grace of His Son Jesus.