"And all 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 4:22
Part 1
A story from Jesus’ life shows us the importance of words and the fickleness of people. Still early in Jesus’ ministry, He had just finished teaching in Galilee. He returned home to Nazareth for the first time since leaving home to do His Father’s work. It was on a Saturday, in the synagogue where He grew up. Everyone from His hometown was there for the Sabbath. As the custom was, visiting rabbis were asked to read the Scriptures. Jesus read a familiar passage from Isaiah’s prophesy.
“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,[1] and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2).
“Note that our Lord here sounded forth the silver trumpet of jubilee. Seizing on the imagery of the gladdest festival of Hebrew life, He likened Himself to a priest proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord. Not yet the day of vengeance!… This is Christ’s program for the present age”[2] (Meyer).
His audience grew uneasy at hearing these words from Him, wondering why He would choose to read this passage. When Jesus finished His reading, instead of returning to His seat, He sat down where the teacher sits. Here He would preach His sermon in His hometown. Luke is the only Gospel writer to share a few of His words from that message (Luke 4:21-27). Everyone’s attention was fixed on Him. His next words were of vital importance!
Come back tomorrow as we watch how the hometown crowd responds to the Messiah.
Quote: “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself” (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
[1] “Where Jesus stopped reading from Isaiah helps show us the nature of prophecy and its relation to time. The passage goes on to describe what Jesus would do at His second coming (and the day of vengeance of our God); this is a 2,000 year old comma.” Guzik, David. David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] F.B. Meyer. Through the Bible Day by Day, the electronic version in eSword.