Luke 04.14-30
What we will study today in The Mission of the Mashiach
…01. The First Year of Ministry; 02. Teaching in the Synagogue (Luke 04.14-21); and 03. The Unwelcomed Prophet (Luke 04.22-30).
01. The First Year of Ministry
Reading Dr. Luke’s account here, as well as similar accounts
in Matthew
04.12 and Mark 01.14 it looks like the ministry of our
Saviour in the Galilee began immediately after His baptism and temptation. But
there was a period of about one year after The
Temptation of the Messiah (Luke 04.03-13) and our text here in Luke 04.14-30.
The Gospel of John records for us some of what happened in
this period of one year that the Synoptic Gospels skipped over. After The
Temptation of the Messiah (Luke 04.03-13), Jesus returned to the area
around the Jordan River where John the Baptist was ministering. This is when
John the Baptist declared to Andrew and John about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 01.36) and they
left John and started following Jesus (John 01.37). Later on, Jesus met Philip, who then brought Nathanael
to Jesus (John 01.43-51). After this, Jesus came into the Galilee where He performed
His first miracle at the wedding in Cana (John 02.01-11) when they ran out of wine, which was a major social faux
pas! After staying in Capernaum for a few days (John 02.12), Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for Passover (John 02.13) where He cleansed the Temple for the first time (John 02.14-17). After cleansing the
Temple, the Jewish leaders asked Him by what authority He had to cleanse the
Temple, and Jesus answered them by saying: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up.” (John 02.19).
John tells us that at this time many people started
to follow Him, but Jesus knew their hearts (John 02.23-25). Jesus then met with Nicodemus (John 03.01-21), a Pharisee and ruler among the Jews. Jesus then went up
to Samaria and showed her that He came to be “the Savior of the world” (John 04.42), and not
just for the Jews.
02. Teaching in the Synagogue (Luke 04.14-21)
Luke 04.14-15 Just
as we saw in The
Temptation of the Messiah (Luke 04.01), we see Dr. Luke again mentioning
for us that Jesus was led and directed by the Holy Spirit in perfect submission
to the will of the Father (Luke 04.14).
During His time in Judea, there
were people from the Galilee region who heard Him speak and saw His miracles (Matthew
04.23-25; Mark 01.28; John 04.45). So they were all excited that He came into their region
because many had heard all that He did during the Passover (John 02.13-22). Matthew and Mark also record for us that Jesus
was teaching in the synagogues in Matthew 04.23-25; Mark 01.27; Mark 01.39 and Mark 01.45. The time that He spent in the Galilee (Matthew
04.12-16) was in fulfillment of Isaiah 09.01-02.
Luke 04.16 Nazareth
was of course the town where Jesus grew up (Matthew 02.23; Luke 01.26-27;
Luke 02.39;
Luke 02.51).
Joseph and Mary being descendants of David and from Nazareth was fulfillment of
Isaiah 11.01.
Isaiah 11.01 “1
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch (H5342. run netser nay’-tser) from his roots will bear fruit.”
The
Hebrew word for Nazareth is “netser”,
meaning branch or shoot. The city of Nazareth was given this name because of
its insignificance (John 01.46).
Jesus made it a habit to be in the local synagogue every
Sabbath, much like how we are exhorted to not forsake the assembling of the
saints in Hebrews
10.25.
The Jewish synagogue is never
mentioned in the Old Testament and most likely began during Israel’s Babylonian
captivity after the Babylonian destroyed the Jewish Temple in 586b.c. The exiles began meeting together in small groups to hear
the teaching of God’s Word (Ezekiel 08.01; Ezekiel 14.01; Ezekiel 20.01; Ezekiel 33.31). When in captivity, they wanted to still assemble (hence
the name synagogue) as well as to keep the feasts and holy days. When they came
back to Israel, they built synagogues in the land.
The lowest of the officials in the Synagogue was the
Chazzan, or minister. They often act as the conductor of the service, which
meant that there was great care taken to select a Chazzan. The Chazzan had to
be humble, modest, and have a good working knowledge of the Scriptures. These
were all the same qualities that Paul wrote about for church leaders in 1Timothy
03.01-13. In the church today they would be what we would call a
deacon.
Alfred Edersheim goes into greater detail the order of the
service in the synagogue in his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
(Book 3 Chapter 10 p304-312 [1.439-1.450]).
The chief ruler of the synagogue’s responsibility was to
choose who read from the Law and the Prophets, who would lead in the prayers
and to give a short teaching based off of the reading from the Prophets (Acts 13.15;
Acts 13.27).
Upon entering the synagogue, the chief ruler would appoint those who were
selected to take part in that morning’s service. After the opening prayers, they
would recite the Shema (Deuteronomy 06.04-09; Deuteronomy 11.13-21; Numbers
15.37-41) “Hear, O Israel! YHWH is our God, YHWH is one!”
After the Shema was recited there was a prayer or Benedictions or Eulogies said
out loud. If there were any visiting priests, they would speak the blessing (Numbers
06.23-26) by lifting their hands above their shoulders (1Timothy 02.08).
The priestly blessing was to be spoken in three sections and the people at the
end of each section would respond by saying “Amen”, the Hebrew word for “so be
it”.
After the last Eulogy, the Chazzan would go to the Torah Ark
(Holy Ark or Aron Kodesh in Hebrew), which is essentially an ornamental closet
that housed the Torah scrolls (Sifrei Torah in Hebrew), and if possible the
Torah Ark was located on the wall of the synagogue that was closest to
Jerusalem. The Chazzan would hand the scroll to the man chosen to read the Parashah
(meaning: portion), which is a portion of text taken from the Torah (the Law, also
known as the Pentateuch which is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy). After the reading from the Parashah (the Law),
there would be a reading from the Prophets known as the Haftorah (meaning:
parting, taking leave). According to the Mishnah (Megillah 5.5), the person who
read the Parashah was also expected to do the Shema and the short teaching on
the Parashah. This was then followed by a brief sermon or word of exhortation,
often by a popular visiting rabbi (Acts 13.14-16). Whenever a reading was done,
the reader would ascend to the lectern or bema and read, and then he would sit
to give the sermon.
There are many aspects to the service in the synagogue that
have been incorporated and adapted into what we now know as church.
In his book The Life and Times of Jesus the
Messiah, Alfred Edersheim says “…the Synagogue became the cradle of the
Church.” (Book 2 Chapter 10 p299 [1.431])
Luke 04.17 The
Greek word for “opened”
here is (G380) anaptussw and it means to unroll a
scroll, to open.
“and found the place where it was written,”
Isaiah 61.01-02 The
Jews at this time taught that Isaiah 61.01-02 was one of three passages (the
other two being Isaiah
32.15; Lamentations 03.50) about the Messiah being
empowered by the Holy Spirit.
If you look at Isaiah 61.01-02 and compare it to what Dr.
Luke records for us what Jesus had read, you will notice that He didn’t finish the
verse of what we now know as Isaiah 61.02, but stopped part way through. Why did He stop
reading here at this point? The rest of the verse is “And the day of
vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61.02).
Notice from Luke
04.20, Dr. Luke tells us that Jesus stopped part way through what we
know as Isaiah
61.02, then He closed the scroll, handed it to the chazzan and sat
down! He then proclaimed: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
(Luke 04.21)
The First Coming of Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy up to
where Jesus stopped reading. Isaiah, like most of the prophets never made a
distinction between the First and the Second Comings of the Messiah, but our
Saviour made the distinction between the two comings. In the prophecy of Isaiah 61.01-02,
there is one little word that separates the First and Second Comings of the
Messiah, the little word “and” (Isaiah 61.02). We are now living in that
period of “and”
(Isaiah
61.02)! When the prophets wrote about the two comings of the
Messiah, they had no idea of the amount of time in between the comings. Peter
verifies this when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “As to this
salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to
know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He
predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” (1Peter 01.10-11)
Peter is saying that the prophets foretold of the sufferings of the Messiah as
well as the glory of the Messiah, which is what we see expounded upon
throughout the Book of Isaiah.
The way that the prophets viewed the two comings of the
Messiah can be illustrated by the Spanish Peaks that we
have here in Southern Colorado, which can be seen from as far as Colorado
Springs to the North. The West Peak is about 1,000 feet higher in elevation
than the East Peak, but when you are traveling south from Colorado Springs you
can’t really discern the difference. But the further south you travel, you can
see that the West Peak is definitely higher in elevation than the East Peak. The
prophets could not “see” the time between the two comings of the Messiah, but
it is very obvious to us today as we live in the “and” (Isaiah 61.02) period between the
two comings of the Messiah.
When the Messiah came the first time, He came to “TO PROCLAIM THE
FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” (Luke 04.19), preaching the Gospel to the poor,
release to the captives, sight for the blind and to set free those who are
oppressed (Luke
04.18) through His work on the cross and in the grave (1Corinthians
15.03-04). “And the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61.02)
will be fulfilled when the Messiah returns the Second time to establish His
kingdom here on earth, which will not be ushered in by the Dominionist (Kingdom
Now) who believe that they can bring Heaven down to Earth. We studied this last
time when we looked at The
Temptation of Messiah in Luke 04.03-13, as well as John tells us that
God has purposed that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign
forever and ever.” (Revelation 11.15). See also Psalm 02.08-09.
Luke 04.18 “THE SPIRIT OF
THE LORD IS UPON ME,”
Isaiah 11.02-05; Isaiah 42.01-04
Luke 04.18 “BECAUSE HE ANOINTED
ME”
The Messiah or Christ John 01.41; Acts 10.38
The rest of Luke 04.18 sums up the ministry of the Messiah.
The four descriptions used by Isaiah to describe the hopeless condition of
sinners whom God seeks to save from hell. The religious in this world like to
envision themselves as spiritually rich, closer to God because they tithe on a
regular basis and do good works, but inside they “…are like whitewashed tombs which on the
outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all
uncleanness.” (Matthew 23.27)
In truth they are poor, held captive, blind, and oppressed.
01. “TO PREACH THE
GOSPEL TO THE POOR.” (Luke 04.18)
The Greek word for “POOR” (Luke 04.18) that Dr. Luke used is (G4434) ptwcov, which means one who is like a beggar, poor,
destitute, those in extreme poverty. It describes someone who is thoroughly
afraid and hides by shrinking back in the shadows in shame. The beggar Lazarus
that Jesus talks about in Luke 16.20 would be an example of (G4434) ptwcov. The Greek word (G4434) ptwcov is the same word for poor that is used in the Greek
Septuagint of Isaiah
61.01.
Dr. Luke could have used another Greek word for “POOR” in
Luke 04.18,
which is the Greek word (G3993) penhv, and it describes one who works for his daily provision
but still is poor, and is used in 2Corinthians 09.09. The Greek Lexicon by
Joseph Thayer describes the difference between the two: “The penhv may
be so poor that he earns his bread by daily labor, the ptwcov that
he only obtains his living by begging.”
In spiritual terms the poor are those who understand that
they have nothing that qualifies them before God. They recognize their need for
a Saviour. Those who think that they are rich don’t see their need for a
Saviour (Matthew
05.03; Luke 06.20). The spiritual poor understand that
their righteous deeds are but a filthy garment or a menstrual rag (Isaiah 64.06).
Jesus didn’t say that He came to make the poor physically
rich, but “TO
PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.” (Luke 04.18) This is what is missing
from Tim
Keller, Shane
Claiborne, Rick
Warren and other proponents of the Social Gospel,
who want to focus on feeding the poor but not giving them the Gospel, or giving
them a watered down version of the Gospel.
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is that Jesus came
as a man, died for our sins, was buried and rose on the third day (1Corinthians
15.03-04). Often it is the physically poor in this world who are
more open to the Gospel because they see their destitute situation and
recognize their need for a Saviour more readily than the physically rich person
who has all that they need and lives with no want (1Corinthians 01.26-29). In 1Corinthians
01.27 the Greek word that is translated as “foolish” is (G3474) mwrov. It speaks of someone who is imprudent,
without forethought or wisdom, producing no moral fruit. It is where we get the
word for “moron”. James wrote “…did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 02.05) Jesus
rebuked the Laodicean church for thinking that they were “…rich, and have become wealthy, and have need
of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked,” (Revelation 03.17)
All of mankind is born spiritually
poor; those who are spiritually rich are those who have recognized their need
for a Saviour.
02. “HE HAS SENT ME TO
PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,” (Luke 04.18)
The Greek word that is used for “RELEASE” here in Luke 04.18
is (G859) afesiv and it means freedom;
pardon, deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, and remission. This word is most
commonly translated as “forgiveness” throughout the New Testament (Matthew 26.28; Mark 01.04; Mark 03.29; Luke 01.77; Luke 03.03; Luke 24.47; Acts 02.38; Acts 05.31; Acts 10.43; Acts 13.38; Acts 26.18; Ephesians 01.07; Colossians
01.14; Hebrews 09.22; Hebrews 10.18).
The Greek word that is used for “CAPTIVES” here in Luke 04.18
is (G164) aicmalwtov and it means one who is held captive, one who is taken by
a spear (from aicmh (a spear)) or a prisoner of war.
Those who are lost in sin like to think of themselves as being free, free to do
whatever they want whenever they want and however they want. Jesus said, “everyone who
commits sin is the slave of sin.” (John 08.34)
Yet what they often don’t realize is what Paul tells us that what you do shows
who your master really is (Romans 06.16-20; 2Peter 02.19). Whether you realize it or not, you’re either enslaved to
sin or a bondservant of Christ. A bondservant of Christ is one who has been forgiven
(Psalm
103.12; Colossians 02.14; 1John 01.09), released
or set free from the bondage of sin and death (Psalm 102.20; Psalm 107.10-16; Psalm 146.07; Isaiah 42.05-07; 2Corinthians
03.17; Galatians 05.01; Galatians 05.13; Colossians
01.13; 1Peter 02.16).
03. “AND RECOVERY OF
SIGHT TO THE BLIND,” (Luke 04.18)
Being spiritually blind is natural to the fallen man.
Paul tells us that Satan “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who
is the image of God.” (2Corinthians 04.04). Asaph the Psalmist says “They do not
know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations
of the earth are shaken.” (Psalm 82.05) Jesus declared that “This is the
judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness
rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil
hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be
exposed.” (John 03.19-20)
But the Mission of the Messiah is to “open the eyes of the blind” (Psalm 146.08;
Isaiah
29.18-19; Isaiah 32.03; Isaiah 35.05; Isaiah 42.07;
Isaiah
42.16-18; Acts 26.18; Ephesians 05.08-14; 1Peter 02.09)
because He came “as Light into the world, so that
everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” (John 12.46)
04. “TO SET FREE THOSE
WHO ARE OPPRESSED,” (Luke 04.18)
Ever since the time in the Garden of Eden when Satan
deceived the woman (Genesis 03.01-24), mankind has been
spiritually oppressed. Mankind has been oppressed and overwhelmed by life, sin
and the burden of trying to keep the Law of God (Matthew 23.04; Luke 11.46; Acts 15.10). But when Jesus
came, He promised mankind to “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and
My burden is light.” (Matthew 11.28-30) John wrote “For this is the love of God, that we keep
His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” (1John 05.03)
When the Messiah came, He came “TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” (Luke 04.19;
Isaiah 49.08;
Isaiah 61.02)
Luke 04.20 Jesus
then stopped part of the way through Isaiah 61.02 and then “He closed the book gave it back to the
attendant and sat down”. (Luke 04.20) By closing the scroll abruptly and
then sitting down, you could only imagine the commotion that followed. Dr. Luke
tells us “the
eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.” (Luke 04.20),
wondering what He would say next.
Luke 04.21 This
statement by Jesus the Messiah should be the guide of all preaching and teaching,
which is that the Scriptures are all about Jesus! By Jesus saying that “Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 04.21) and attaching the Messianic
passage from Isaiah
61.01-02 to Himself, He validated that the passage in Isaiah 61.01-02
was Messianic. Many of the Jews today will tell you that this passage in Isaiah 61.01-02
is the prophet Isaiah talking about himself. Other rabbis had previously told
the people that the Mashiach was coming as a future fulfillment of this
prophecy. But
now Jesus had read this passage and applied to Himself, thus saying very
clearly that He was the Mashiach, the Messiah.
03. The Unwelcomed Prophet (Luke 04.22-30)
Luke 04.22 They
all seemed to be in agreement with Jesus stating that this passage is about the
Messiah, but couldn’t wrap their minds around the fact that Jesus was the
Messiah. But
the positive reaction to Jesus being the Messiah was quickly turned, as “they were saying,
“Is this not Joseph’s son?” (Luke 04.22) They couldn’t understand how the son of a
carpenter could be the Mashiach.
Luke 04.23 He
knew that they were thinking that if He really was the Mashiach, He should prove
it by doing something miraculous. They wanted Him to do some of the same
miracles that He did when He was previously in Capernaum (Matthew 04.23; Matthew 11.23-24). Of
course Jesus refused to do so because He knew the hardness of their hearts and
that miracles would never satisfy the people and the religious leaders (John 11.47-48). Later
on Jesus would be challenged to perform more miracles as a condition for belief
(Matthew
12.38; Matthew 16.01-04) and some of His miracles were
then credited to Satan (Matthew 12.24)! Despite all of the miracles that
Jesus did, it could never convince those whose hearts were hardened (John 12.37). Jesus
knew that it was difficult humanly speaking for many of them to come to grips
that the little boy they all knew as the son of Joseph the carpenter was the
Mashiach, the One foretold by Moses and the prophets.
Luke 04.24 see
also Matthew
13.57; Mark 06.04-05; John 04.44
Jesus then switched the conversation to talk about a couple
of prophets who were unwelcomed as well, Elijah and Elisha.
Luke 04.25 “But I say to
you in truth,” is a phrase that is used to repeat the importance of
what was just said. Elijah prophesied during the reign of one of Israel’s most
wicked and evil kings, King Ahab. It was said of King Ahab that he “did more to
provoke YHWH God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”
(1Kings
16.33) King Ahab was married to the wicked Gentile Jezebel, who
influenced King Ahab in worshipping the Canaanite god Baal and under their
reign the worship of Ball thrived. As part of God’s judgment on the unfaithful
nation, Elijah proclaimed that there would be a drought for three and one-half
years (1Kings
17.01; 1Kings 18.01-02; James 05.17). Only from what
Jesus said here (Luke 04.25) and James in James 05.17 are we told that the drought lasted
for three and one-half years. Of course as the years went by, things became
severe, especially for the widows. Yet despite the many widows in Israel “and yet Elijah was
sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.” (Luke 04.26;
see also 1Kings
17.09-24). This would’ve made some of them angry, because not only
was it bad enough that Elijah went and ministered to a Gentile widow and not a
Jewish one, but Sidon was also the homeland of the wicked queen Jezebel (1Kings 16.31)!
The point that Jesus was making
here was that God would go to great lengths to save an outcast Gentile widow
who admitted that she was poor, destitute and in need of a Saviour (1Kings 17.08-16), but not a Jew who would not admit their need. Jesus was
telling them that if they denied their need for a Saviour and forsake their
self-righteousness they could not be saved.
But Jesus was not done with them,
for He gave them another familiar example from the Old Testament.
Luke 04.27 Again
Jesus reminded them that there was a great need in Israel, but God had one of
His prophet’s to minister not only to a Gentile and not a Jew, but also to a
Gentile who was a leper! And to rub the salt in the wound even more, Naaman was
also the commander of an enemy of Israel, and YHWH gave Naaman the victory (2Kings 05.01-27)!
Elisha was the disciple of Elijah (1Kings 19.19-21). Elisha told Naaman to dip
himself seven times in the Jordan River and he would be cleansed. Naaman at
first refused, but then obeyed the word of the prophet and was cured, thus
causing Naaman to acknowledge that the God of Israel was the only true God (2Kings 05.01-27).
Jesus again was giving a real life example to the Jews that God has brought
salvation for all who were spiritually oppressed and held captive by sin. This
of course brought the people in the synagogue past their tipping point.
Luke 04.28-29 These
people were now out of control, a lynch mob if you will, who were caught up in
their anger and wanted to kill the One who told them the truth of God’s Word. But
because it was not time for Jesus to die (John 07.30; John 08.20), He passed “through their
midst, He went His way.” (Luke 04.30) So now this mob of people got their
miracle, yet they were so mad and it was definitely not the type of miracle
that they were expecting, they missed it. Jesus’s teaching method was never
seeker-friendly, out to bring as many people in and to sell books and collect
their tithes. He was bold, confrontational and straight to the point to the
people.
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