The Jesus No One Expected
An Orderly Account: Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 4:13-30
Grab Their Attention
When was the last time you were let down? For me it was Father’s Day last year. No, it wasn’t anything that my family did. We were in Florida and for my Father’s Day gift I had booked a tee time at the hottest new golf course in America, which will remain unnamed. This course had been promoted on social media as the most fun you could possibly have, a friendly, light atmosphere the most striking photography. Long rolling fairways routed through sandy wasteland and dotted with palms and moss covered oaks. It was supposed to be the, and I quote, “ultimate golf adventure.”
Well, it was an adventure. I had to drive 90 minutes from where my family was staying, and sadly, when I arrived, the new staff were rather sour, the fairways were rough and the greens were browns.
I had expected the experience of a lifetime. What I got was a day I wish I could forget. Thankfully, in the grand scheme of things, a disappointing golf course is a trivial matter, but it is a reminder how important our expectations are, and what its like when our expectations are not met.
Raise the Need, State the Destination, Signposts
You see, so much of my life and your life is about managing expectations. How many of us have gone into a romantic relationship believing that this person could be the one for us, only to realize they aren’t. How many parents have planned a birthday party or Christmas morning with the high hopes of happy children only to end the day with the sinking feeling that it didn’t live up to the hype.
As we turn to the fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel, we find a time when everyone had the wrong expectations about Jesus. They came into an encounter with Jesus excitedly expecting one thing, but they left dismayed and enraged. Jesus did not meet their expectations. In fact, if you want to know why Jesus is such a polarizing person… people are either falling down to worship him or they’re trying to throw him off a cliff… the reason for that all comes down to one word: expectations. What do you expect Jesus to do? Who do you understand him to be?
- What They Expected from Jesus
- What They Misunderstood About Jesus
- How to Manage Our Own Expectations
The Text
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and 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 spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and 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 the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
This is the Word of the Lord
- What They Expected from Jesus
Jesus is back in his hometown, Nazareth. It’s up in the hill country. It’s a backwoods kind of town. And, like a faithful Jew, he goes to synagogue on Saturday. If you look up in verse 14, you see that he’s already been travelling around Galilee teaching and ministering. Word has begun to spread about him, and now he’s come home.
At a typical sabbath service, there would be several prayers and blessings given, followed by the reading of Scripture. A portion of the Mosaic Law would be read followed by a reading from the Prophets. The reads would often link several passages together and follow their reading with commentary.
So, the time comes for the reading from the prophets and Jesus is handed the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolls the scroll and reads a famous passage from Isaiah 61. It’s the prophecy of “The Year of the Lord’s Favor.” What does that mean?
Leviticus 25 declared that every 50 years there was to be a year of jubilee in Israel. All debts would be cancelled. Every parcel of land would be returned to the original family that owned it. Everyone who had fallen on hard times and sold themselves into servitude would be freed. Once every 50 years everything would be returned to its original state as much as was humanly possible.
Centuries later, the prophets wrote of a coming day when God wouldn’t just reinstitute the jubilee year… he would send the ultimate jubilee; a jubilee to end all others. His servant would come, the Messiah, and he deliver his people from their captors, he would bring physical healing to the sick, he would bring good news to the poor.
This all sounds good doesn’t it. This is what they wanted. These were their expectations. And when Jesus finishes reading the scroll, he hands it back to the attendant. He takes his seat. And everyone stares. Why are they staring at Jesus? Why is the room so quiet?
Because the report of his ministry has already begun to spread from Galilee. They’ve heard the good news he preached there… that the kingdom is at hand. They’ve heard stories of the miracles he performed there… the healings.
And he’s the hometown hero. He’s one of them. He’s come home. If that’s what he did in Galilee… what will he do here with his own friends and family?
The room is so silent, you can hear a pin drop. Jesus takes a breath and his commentary on Isaiah 61 is one sentence:
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Gasps burst out as they can hold their breath no longer. Smiles stretch across faces. Town leaders look across the room and nod in approval at Jesus’ family. This is what is happening:
And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
This is what they expected. God has sent his Messiah. Rome is going to be over thrown and booted from Canaan. Liberty for the oppressed. Sight for the blind. The jubilee to end all jubilees.
And in a few minutes… in a few words, all their excitement will be popped like a cheap balloon. And Jesus is the one holding the needle.
- What They Misunderstood About Jesus
The Town Leaders continue to congratulate Jesus’ family on raising such a fine young man. Several clerks are sent to get the town records. Everyone wants to know the original boundaries of the land that Jesus is going to reinstate. Who has the largest debts that’s about to be cancelled.? The women are lining up blind and the sick to begin receiving their healing. The text doesn’t tell us but I imagine there some prioritization going on. “Ok, Jimmy, I realize you have a fever, but uncle Bob hasn’t walked in a decade.”
How does Jesus stop the celebration? What does he do to change their excitement to incitement? Verse 23:
23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”
He understands what’s going on. It isn’t enough for him to read the promised blessings. They want proof. In the ancient world, if you were a travelling doctor who promised all kinds of remedies and cures but you yourself were coughing, wheezing, always in pain, and blind… no one took you serious. You can’t promise healing and be sick yourself.
So Jesus quotes the famous proverb to them. And before anyone can respond, he quotes another:
24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
All of a sudden, the room has gone silent again, and it’s beginning to feel a bit warm.. Throughout Israel’s history they ran from God and then they rejected and killed the prophets God sent to call them back. And the hardest people for a prophet to address were his own. They were the least likely to receive him listen to him, and do what he said.
Nazareth is Jesus’ hometown. This isn’t an invitation to receive miracles and sermons, it’s a prediction of their rejection of Christ. And before anyone can respond, he begins recalling the history of Israel.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
It’s a story from 1 Kings 17 & 18. He then tells a familiar story about Elijah’s protégé, Elisha from 2 Kings 5:
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
What’s going on? Jesus mentions these two stories and the crowd goes ballistic.
Luke scholar, James Edwards explains: “Most Jews of Jesus’ day identified themselves—not Gentiles—as the poor and oppressed to whom God shows favor. The widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian emphatically indicate that the divine mercy announced in the Isaiah quotation is extended to Gentiles as well as Jews. If the Jewish people in Nazareth cannot affirm the Isaiah text for Gentiles, then they cannot claim it for themselves.”
Jesus shows all the wonderful promises of the Messianic age, all the things they want, and then, in essence, says, “And you’ll get none of them. Because you are unable, in your hardness of heart, to welcome outsiders into these covenant promises you neither understand God’s grace nor will you receive it. Because you only want the kingdom, and not the king who desires to bring all manner of people under his rule, you will be left outside.”
In other words, Jesus is saying that he comes for all people. The extension of God’s kingdom to the Gentiles is not incidental or accidental. It wasn’t an afterthought; it was the result of divine election of Gentiles, which was already operative in the days of Elijah, even in the days of Abraham, who when he was called was a Gentile.
Well, the people of Nazareth cannot have a God so gracious.
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
From the oldest to the youngest, everyone in the room is offended to their core. Their joy turns to hatred. Their admiration turns to rage. How dare he use the sabbath as a time to be so ungracious. What disrespect he must have for the Law and the Prophets. This man is a blasphemer. This is when, instead of examining their own heart, the guilt begin coming up with righteous excuses for their sin.
29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.
Imagine our service becoming so heated, so violently angry, that the deacons rush the stage, grab me by the arms and walk me down to the bridge to throw me off.
What are they doing? When it says they “drove him out of the town” it’s the same language used for ridding a city of the plague in Leviticus 14. It’s the same language used of cleansing a town of idols in 2 Chronicles 33.
They are getting rid of Jesus the way you would get rid of a cockroach.
Moments ago, they were receptive. Now they are homicidal. They aren’t just rejecting him… they are ready to put him to death. They are going to make sure this is the last sermon he ever preaches.
I do wonder, if this was the first opportune time the Devil was waiting for. Remember last week?
We aren’t told how, but Jesus passes through the crowd, escapes their attempted murder and leaves Nazareth. And, as far as we know, he never ever returns. From this point on, he’s a homeless man. Jesus preached all over Israel. He performed miracles even in Gentile cities, but Nazareth never received a single healing. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
- How to Manage Our Own Expectations
Though none of us are members of the Mosaic Covenant community. None of us are Jews held captive by Rome, we aren’t altogether different from the people in Nazareth.
Sure, there are pieces of this story that shock us. Modern Westerners tend to be more reserved in our emotions. We may read their actions and think, “We’d never do anything like that.” But while we may never try to throw the preacher off a cliff after a bad sermon, we are just as capable of rejecting Jesus as they did.
In fact, rather than throw Jesus out of the one synagogue in town, we may decide to just find another church that preaches the way we like, that suits our preferences. Or, we may just bow out of church entirely. And because we live in a city of millions, with thousands of churches, and sports leagues, and careers, and jobs, we can reject Jesus silently, but just as firmly as the Nazarenes.
How can we manage our own expectations? How can we have a better response to Jesus than they?
- Understand the Timing of His Promises
Many people come to Jesus because he promises to heal, he promises to bless, he promises that the last shall be first. And all of that is true. If you are in Christ, there is not a single sickness that he will not, ultimately take from you. There is not a single blessing that, in the end, you will be exempt from.
But understand the timing. Jesus Christ came first to deal with our sin, our faithlessness, our rejection of God. He will come again to restore and renew all things.
The gospel is not: “Trust in God and you will be healed today.” The gospel is not that if you obey God he will fix your marriage. That’s a false gospel that elevates temporal gifts above the giver. It’s a false gospel that says your financial or marital problems are way bigger than your sin problem.
Friend, understand the timing of his promises. In this life, what has Jesus promised to do for you? He has promised himself to you. You can have him. All of him. He has promised pardon from all your sins. Today. You can have that. He has promised the approval and the acceptance of the Father.
All of that can be yours because 2,000 years ago Jesus received all your guilt and condemnation at the cross. You can be welcomed by God because at the cross Jesus was forsaken.
He has promised to be with you. To never leave you nor forsake you. He has promised to be with you even to the end of the age. And in the age to come, he has promised to heal every disease, to restore every broken relationship in him, to bring you a new heaven and a new earth.
Understand the timing of his promises.
- Soften Your Heart to Outsiders
Think back to the rage of the Nazarenes: the thought that God would purpose to welcome unclean Gentiles prevented them from receiving Christ and his message. They cared about their own religious and ethnic pedigree more than anything else in the world.
The Nazarenes’ response to Jesus is a microcosm of the chronic issues of heart hardness… not just in Isael… but in the world.
- Receive the Word with Humility, While You Can