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4/21 - Luke 4:16-30
Stand for reading of Gods Word
REFRESHER:
Birth
~30 years, lived in Nazareth with his family, working in the family business as a carpenter
Aware of his calling since ~12 years old, nothing significant other than being a good kid
What specific event marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry?
John the Baptizer PDF
John’s baptism. The Father put his public stamp of approval on Christ the sonAfter, does Jesus go immediately to preaching and making disciples? No, Spirit thrusts him into the wilderness to fast and be tempted for 40 days.
But after this, the story probably gets fuzzy for a lot of people
What did Jesus do next?
Apparently John the baptist’s ministry didn’t stop right after Jesus got baptized. It continued for some time.
Would seem that, after the temptation, Jesus continued to hang out down where John was baptizing
Apparently, Peter and Andrew were around the area and Jesus called them to be his first
Then makes his way up to Cana for the wedding (picked up a couple more disciples along the way, Nathanael and Philip)
Jesus is probably in Cana for a couple of weeks, turns water into wine.
From Cana to Capernaum
John 2:12
12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
But didn’t stay there very long because they needed to get down to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast
Jesus comes down to Jerusalem during the Passover
Cleanses the temple
Talks with Nicodemus
and then apparently he stays in that region until a couple of things happen. First, he is getting super popular, to the point where it is starting to cause trouble amongst the religious leaders
Second, John is imprisoned, and then is finally beheaded by King Herod
And so, these two major things contribute to Jesus deciding to head back north to continue his ministry.
Jesus heads up to Galilee, but before getting to Galilee, he makes a stop in Samaria
He spends a couple of days in Samaria, and then heads up to Galilee
And the first place he goes back to is where he first started
So, just that you guys might have an idea of the timeline here… From the time that Jesus first left his hometown in Nazareth to meet John the Baptist, to the time that he returns back to his home town in Nazareth, it has probably been somewhere around a year
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.
So get this, Jesus lives in this tiny little town for 30 years, takes off for a whole year, and comes back completely different.
This is a big deal
Now before we look at how Jesus is going to rock the boat in his hometown, I want to share a little bit about Nazareth with you.
We can’t be certain about how many people actually lived in Nazareth in the time of Jesus, but it would seem that it was somewhere around 500 people.
It certainly was not an important place in the time of Christ.
Maybe you remember when Jesus first called Nathanael and he said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Nowhere in the Old Testament is there a reference to Nazareth.
If I was a Jew in the first century living in Jerusalem, and I asked someone where they thought the Messiah would come from, maybe the last place on the planet would have been Nazareth.
And yet Nazareth was the place God chose for the Messiah to be raised up in.
Nazareth comes from the Hebrew word “nezer” which means shoot or branch
Can’t help but be reminded of Isaiah 11:1 - There ashall come forth a 1Rod from the 2stem of bJesse,
And ca Branch shall 3grow out of his roots.
It was a small town
Everybody knew each other.
Everybody knew Jesus.
Jesus grew up there as like the village handyman.
Does anyone know what Jesus’ profession was when he was growing up?
A carpenter, but he was actually more than that.
The word that’s used for carpenter in the Bible (tekton) actually describes someone who works with wood, stone, or metal.
So surely he had a reputation in the community, probably did work on a lot of people’s homes and all.
He built stuff, fixed stuff. (Manly man). Probably hit his thumb with a hammer a few times.
I think we can get so caught up in the fact that Jesus was God that we forget he was also a human too. He lived a regular life just like anyone else.
Played games with the neighborhood kids, Probably skinned his knees as a kid just like any of us did
That’s because even though he is God, he willingly allowed himself to have the fullest human experience possible, even if that means he had to suffer and go through all the problems you and I go through
Today Jesus stands as our High Priest in heaven, but he stands there as a human who can fully sympathize with our every weakness, because he went through them too.
So, it’s easy to get caught up in the awesome things Jesus did during his ministry; but I think it would do us some good just to remember that Jesus grew up in a little village, and did life just like any of us, and all that went into preparing him for what the Father wanted Him to do
Nazareth:
And as His custom was , tHe went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
- tells us a little about what Jesus was doing when he went from place to place
- as he picked up fame, he would be invited by the local rabbis to read and teach at synagogue
- synagogues were very similar to modern day churches
- they were a gathering place for the Jews to come together, have community, learn about the scriptures, sing songs and dance.
- Synagogues probably began to get more popular after Solomon’s temple was destroyed and the Jews were taken into captivity.
- With the temple being destroyed, it was necessary for the Jews to have a common place to meet and learn about God.
- And thus the Synagogues became more popular until it became a normal occurrence in every city, village and town that had Jews.
- at the time of Christ, any place that had 10 or more Jewish men would have a synagogue.
- if there weren’t 10 Jewish men, the women and the few men would typically meet at a river or local body of water.
- if you have read through Acts, maybe you remember when Paul went to Philippi, he went down to the river and saw a group of women meeting for prayer on the Sabbath. A women named Lydia was saved as a result of Paul preaching to them, and the church of Philippi began in her home.
- Since Paul was in a Gentile city, the chances of having 10 Jewish men were small and so he went to the river where he knew any Jews would be meeting.
- and so, back to the story, Jesus now finds himself in the synagogue of his home town Nazareth.
- he is invited to come and perform the reading and sermon for the Sabbath service.
- so on this particular day, let’s see what Jesus decides to read.
17 And He was handed the book (scroll) of the prophet Isaiah.
And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18“The uSpirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me 9to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To vset at liberty those who are 1oppressed;
19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
Acts 17:2
And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
- that must have been an intense moment
- all of these people you grew up with. All of these familiar faces, hanging upon what you are about to say.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is wfulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and xmarveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, y“Is this not Joseph’s son?”
- they were astonished, but didn’t admire or appreciate
- they were impressed by his attractive way of speaking (his gracious words)
- they recognized his power and authority, but were still unable to accept him for who he was
- he was much more than Joseph’s son... he was God’s son
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in zCapernaum, 2do also here in aYour country.’ ”
- The idea of the proverb is that, you spend so much time healing other people, why don’t you take care of those closest to you?
- Did Jesus want to heal them like he had been doing for others? Yes. But more importantly, he wanted them to believe in Him as the Son of God. He wanted them to receive his message.
24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no bprophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, cmany widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to 3Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 dAnd many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
- reveals the racism that the Nazarenes had in their hearts towards the Gentiles
- Galilee
Galilee was encircled by non-Jewish populations with Greek cities along the coastal plain to the west, several Greek cities of the Decapolis to the east/southeast (Scythopolis, Hippos, Gadara, and Pella), and the tetrarchy of Philip to the northeast. Samaria and the royal Herodian estates of the Jezreel Valley bordered Galilee on the south.
Galilee supported a predominately Jewish population estimated at between 150,000 and 300,000. Josephus mentions 240 villages scattered about the hills and valleys of the region, suggesting the strong rural character of the population. The area was fertile and blessed with a good climate favorable to crops. Agriculture always was the chief base of the local economy. Grapes, olives, figs, and grains (wheat and barley) grew in abundance on the small family farms that dotted the area. Larger estates owned by wealthier landowners who might live away from Galilee also were found.
Jesus referred to such absentee landowners in His parables (Luke 20:9–18), but His stories more often portrayed the family-owned farms that predominated in Galilee (Matt. 21:28–32). Tenant farmers leased the land and sharecropped with the owner, while poorer people hired out as day laborers. Jesus’ sayings and parables are filled with the images drawn from agriculture as practiced in His native land. On one occasion He observed that the “harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37).
Along with its heavy agricultural basis, Galilee supported some industries. The Sea of Galilee produced an abundance of fish, especially along the lake’s northern end. Fresh fish was consumed locally, but much of the catch was salted for export. Magdala, also known as Taricheae (a name suggesting a place where fish were salted), was the center of a salted-fish industry. The pottery industry also prospered, although exports of pottery were limited in the first century. Customs and taxes were collected on goods that flowed across Galilee at stations placed near borders. Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple from one such station located in the vicinity of Capernaum.
28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were efilled with 4wrath, 29 fand rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then gpassing through the midst of them, He went His way.
Jesus may have done a miracle by passing through the mob but not the kind of miracle they wanted
The biblical scholar Sir George Adam Smith vividly described the scene from the hilltop. The history of Israel stretched out before the watcher’s eye. There was the plain of Esdraelon where Deborah and Barak had fought; where Gideon had won his victories; where Saul had crashed to disaster and Josiah had been killed in battle; there was Naboth’s vineyard and the place where Jehu slaughtered Jezebel; there was Shunem where Elisha had lived; there was Carmel where Elijah had fought his epic battle with the prophets of Baal, and, blue in the distance, there was the Mediterranean and the isles of the sea.
Not only the history of Israel was there; the world unfolded itself from the hilltop above Nazareth. Three great roads skirted it. There was the road from the south carrying pilgrims to Jerusalem. There was the great Way of the Sea which led from Egypt to Damascus with laden caravans moving along it. There was the great road to the east bearing caravans from Arabia and Roman legions marching out to the eastern frontiers of the Empire. It is wrong to think of Jesus as being brought up in a backwater; he was brought up in a town in sight of history and with the traffic of the world almost at its doors.
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