Luke 4:16-22
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all the people bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" Luke 4:16-22.
Jesus Christ had been preaching, teaching, performing miracles, and boldly standing against the corrupt religious system of His day. For a time He was popular with the people. His name had become a household name. He was being glorified of all which means the people were ascribing glory or honour to Christ. They would praise or celebrate Him. These people would travel many miles to hear Christ teach. They would bring their sick loved ones at great expense and hardships. This is what is going on, then Christ returns to Nazareth. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, taken into Egypt to escape the madness of Herod the Great, and then His family returned from Egypt and dwelt at Nazareth. Nazareth is where Christ grew up. Everyone in Nazareth knew Him as Joseph's son. They viewed Jesus different than most other people. While others were ascribing honour and glory to Christ, the people in Nazareth were critical of Christ.
The people around you the most can be the most critical of you. Some of the hardest people to reach with the gospel are those of your own family, or old friends that you grew up with. They remember the old you, and they do not understand the saving and transforming power of the gospel. They hear what you are saying, but they are comparing your words with the old you. They tend to get angry and say things like, "who are you to judge; I remember when you did this or that." They do not realize that you are not who you used to be since Jesus Christ has saved your soul. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new," II Corinthians 5:17. Also turn to I Corinthians 6:9-11. Those who know you the most should recognize how much you have changed, but if they are still lost they are blinded because they are still dead in trespasses and sins. Turn to Luke 12:49-53. Christ said in verse 51 that He is come to give division. This means disunion (of opinion and conduct):- division. This is not something that we look forward to, and it is very heart breaking, but, we know it is also a reality. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," II Timothy 3:12.
Even though we do not like it, we can understand how people can be critical of us. Afterall, they know how we used to live. They know some of our failures and sins, but when the people of Nazareth looked at Jesus Christ they were looking at He who is sinless. They could not bring up any past failures or sins against Christ, because He did not have any. What did Jesus say or do that would cause the people of His hometown to hate Him? Let us look at these verses in Luke 4.
It was Christ's custom to enter the synagogue in whatever town or region He went in and read the Scriptures, and then give the explanation of those Scriptures. There was a certain order this would be done as seen in verses 17 and 20. The "minister" was the attendant in a synagogue who handed the volume to the reader and returned it to its place. As we mentioned last week, this was done three times a week, on the Sabbath, on the second day of the week, and on the fifth day of the week. This was so the people would not go more than three days without hearing the Scriptures read and explained.
As Jesus stood up to read, the minister brought to Him the book of Isaiah. This book is not like our books, but was a scroll that would be rolled up. Jesus unrolled the scroll until He came to Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD," Isaiah 61:1-2a. I know the critics are quick to point out that Jesus did not read all of Isaiah 61:1-2. This is because the bible did not have chapter and verse until the mid 1500's. Jesus read what He was supposed to read.
Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit without measure. Christ was anointed to preach the gospel. This means to announce, publish, as glad tidings. Christ continually preached this message. This was a refreshing message; a freeing message; a desirable message. All that the people had been hearing from the religious system of that day is that they were bound to the temple system. Bring your money, give your money, next. Christ did not come to make people wealthy, nor to steal their money. Jesus Christ was consecrated by the Holy Spirit and was fully furnished to fulfill the Messianic office. He preached what the Father gave Him to preach and He did what the Father would have Him do. Christ preached to gospel to the poor. "means such as are poor in spirit, and are sensible of their spiritual poverty; have low and humble thoughts of themselves, and of their own righteousness; and seek to Christ for durable riches and true righteousness, and frankly acknowledge that all they have and are, is owing to the grace of God; and generally speaking, these are the poor of this world, and poor in their intellectuals, who have but a small degree of natural wisdom and knowledge; to these the Gospel, or glad tidings of the love, grace, and mercy of God in Christ, of peace, pardon, righteousness, life and salvation by Christ, were preached by him; and that in so clear a manner, and with such power and authority, as never was before, or since," John Gill.
This message was great news to the poor in spirit back then, and still is today. This is great news to those who are in bondage to sin, satan, and the law. The Law condemns, the letter of the law killeth, but truth, grace, mercy, and forgiveness is found in Jesus Christ. Those who see themselves as spiritually bankrupt are looking for the One Who will pay their debt. Those who see themselves as deserving of God's wrath in hell for eternity are looking for the One Who will save them. O what a Saviour! Look to Jesus Christ alone, and be ye saved.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
