"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 2
Yesterday:
The Scripture that Jesus read on that first Sabbath back in His hometown synagogue was a surprise to those who heard Him.
Today:
“And all bare Him witness.”
No doubt, the people of Nazareth have heard stories of Jesus’ teaching, healing, and other miracles that He had accomplished since He had left them.
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all” (Luke 4:14-15).
The townspeople heard the reports about Jesus, and now they could “bare witness” for themselves that all they had heard was true. They were seeing Him and hearing Him for themselves.
“All were witnesses of the power and truth of what he said. Their reason and conscience approved of it, and they were constrained to admit the force and propriety of it, and on this account they wondered”[1] (Barnes).
“And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.”
They were filled with wonder at what He said. This was a common reaction of the people in the Gospels who listened to Jesus speak. They were struck with awe as they marveled at His words.
His “gracious words — ‘the words of grace,’ referring both to the richness of His matter and the sweetness of His manner…” (JFB).
The psalmist was correct when he wrote of the Christ,
“Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee forever” (Psalm 45:2).
Every genuine believer today is in awe of, and hungers for Jesus’ words,
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:2-3).
Everywhere Jesus taught, His words made a difference, and His teaching was vastly different from the scribes. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we read,
“And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29).
Wonderful words, divine truth, and yet something was missing. It is a sad reality that even though the people were awed by Jesus’ words, there was no faith in them to bring about their salvation.
Come back tomorrow as we look at the results of Jesus’ sermon.
Quote: “When a man is filled with the Word of God you cannot keep him still. If a man has got the Word, he must speak or die”[2] (Dwight L. Moody).
[1] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Moody’s quote Downloaded: Monday, August 17, 2020. From: https://www.christianquotes.info/top-quotes/17-amazing-quotes-power-words/.