(This message may be used as an individual sermon or as part of the series.)
LUKE 4:14-30 – HOMETOWN HERO
LIFE OF CHRIST #14 of 61
You can imagine the surprise of the local folks in Nazareth when the “boy” they watched grow up now presented himself as a religious teacher and as the Messiah, when Jesus came back for a visit to his hometown.
I think that many people in America consider Jesus as “a hometown hero”. After all we’ve heard about him all our lives. We are familiar in many ways with his life, miracles, and teachings. And usually we are even glad to hear others mention Him in a favorable light.
However we need to be careful that we don’t end up treating the Lord Jesus in some of the same ways they did in His hometown. It is very easy to become like the hometown folk of Nazareth that ended up treating Jesus with unbelief, disrespect, and resentment.
It was at this time that Jesus decided to pay a visit to the old hometown. There are lessons to be learned from this visit, not the least of which is that we should not treat the Lord Jesus the way the hometown folks treated him.
JESUS’ CUSTOM – TO ATTEND CHURCH – Vs. 16
Vs. 16 – Let me ask you a question.
Was Jesus God when He came to earth?
Mark 1:1 – The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
John 1:1-2 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God.
Of course, Jesus was and is God!
This verse tells us that Jesus attended synagogue, which is the Jewish equivalent of church! Services were held in Jewish synagogues both in and out of Israel on the Sabbath Day.
How often did Jesus attend church? It was His custom! He went to synagogue whether He was preaching or not!
Now let’s get this straight.
Jesus is God!
God went to church regularly.
Some of you find it very easy to find something more important to do on a Sunday Morning, but God the Son attended church regularly!
JESUS’ COMMUNICATION – THE WORD OF GOD – Vss. 17-19
I believe that the synagogue was packed that day!
The hometown boy was there.
The leader of the synagogue would have asked him, as a guest teacher, to read the Word of God.
When Jesus shared the Word of God, He did it for a purpose.
His purpose was to communicate truth.
Vs. 17 – Jesus was given the Book of Isaiah, a book of prophecy. Jesus found a specific spot in the Book, Isaiah 61:1-2, and read it.
This prophecy was about himself as the Messiah.
Vss. 18-19 – READ
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, – Of course the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit was upon the Lord Jesus. Whatever He did, He did in the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 3:21-22, 4:1, 4:14
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; – The Gospel is the Good News.
The Good News has always been for the poor, the poor in Spirit, whether someone is rich or poor physically.
Matthew 5:3 – Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
A person who is poor in Spirit acknowledges his or sin and grieves over it.
A person who is poor in spirit realizes that he is not good enough to enter into Heaven.
A person who is poor in spirit humbles himself, and comes to the Lord Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life.
The Good News that Jesus preached can be summed up with the words of a very familiar Scripture verse. John 3:16
he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, – Jesus healed the brokenhearted on many an occasion.
- He healed those who were brokenhearted by illness and death.
- He healed those who were brokenhearted by sorrow.
- He healed those who were brokenhearted by sin.
Brokenhearted people that Jesus healed included:
- Mary and Martha who were brokenhearted by the death of their Brother Lazarus
- Bartimaeus who was brokenhearted by his blindness.
- The man sick of the palsy brought to Jesus by four friends – He was brokenhearted by His sins.
- The Apostles who were brokenhearted by the death of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus heals brokenhearted people today!
- He heals those brokenhearted by sickness and death.
- He heals those brokenhearted by offenses committed against them. He teaches them to forgive.
- He heals those brokenhearted by sin.
Matthew 11:28-30
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Only the Lord Jesus can set free those who are held captive by Satan, by their sins, and by their own unforgiving heart.
Only the Lord Jesus can give sight to those who have been spiritually blinded by Satan.
Only the Lord Jesus can set at liberty those who have been bruised by the events of their past.
[19] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.This was the “Year of Jubilee” which occurred every 50 years. This was a time when the land had a year of freedom, the Jewish slaves were set free, and the land was returned to its original owners.
My friend, the Lord Jesus has come to set you free! Please let Him do so!
Jesus used the word of God to communicate a message from God. Make sure that you have accepted His message and applied it to your own life.
JESUS’ COMMENTARY – THE WORD HAS BEEN FULFILLED – Vss. 20-21
Vss. 20-21 – Jesus had quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2a. It is interesting that he stopped reading in mid-sentence of verse 2. The first part of Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled at his first coming. The rest will be fulfilled at His Second Coming.
Jesus was making an announcement.
This was a privileged people.
This prophecy was fulfilled before their eyes.
They were looking at the fulfillment of that prophecy, the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were presented with God’s truth.
It was there for the accepting.
It was there for the taking.
Each time you hear a Biblical sermon or Sunday School lesson, or Bible Study, you are presented with God’s truth.
It is there for you to accept.
It is there for to you take as your own.
It is there for you to apply to your own life.
JESUS’ CHARGE – HE WAS A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOR – Vss. 22-27
Vs. 22 – At first the people of Nazareth were impressed. Jesus sounded so good!
But the feeling didn’t last long.
Right away they remembered that this was Jesus, the son (as they thought) of Joseph.
He had grown up around them.
He had attended their synagogue as a boy.
He had been their carpenter.
Why he couldn’t suddenly become their Messiah!
They resented Him instead of believing on Him.
Most of you have grown up with the Lord Jesus.
You’ve heard about Him for a long time, most of you for all your life.
You are very familiar with the Lord Jesus.
You either believe Him and do what He says or you resent Him, by not believing Him and not doing what He says.
Some of you believe on Him for salvation but do not believe Him enough to obey Him by the way you live. Whether you accept this truth or not if you don’t obey Him, you resent Him. Matthew 6:24
Vs. 23 – Jesus quoted a parable. He is reading their minds.
They wanted Jesus to do the miracles He had done elsewhere in front of them. They wanted Him to entertain them, to prove Himself.
Why didn’t Jesus do this?
Vs. 24 – He, as a prophet, was not accepted in His own country. He would not do miracles because they did not believe. Matthew 13:48
In verses 23-27 Jesus gave two examples miracles that took place among the Gentiles.
A gentile widow had the privilege of a bottomless barrel of meal and a bottomless container of oil during a drought and famine in Israel during the days of Elijah the Prophet. There were many Israeli widows in the land at the time.
A gentile soldier was healed of leprosy although there were many Israelites that had leprosy in the days of Elisha the prophet.
During those days Israel was in a general state of unbelief.
God did not bless them with those special miracles.
I fear to say that we in our Christian churches today are by and large in that same state of unbelief.
Jesus is a prophet without honor right here in America, and often in this church!
JESUS’ CONFLICT – THE PEOPLE DIDN’T LIKE WHAT HE SAID – Vss. 28-30
Vss. 28-29 – The people didn’t like what Jesus said.
They rebelled against Him.
They tried to kill Him and couldn’t!
So much for being a hometown hero!
Very often we will run into the same problem. We don’t like what the Lord Jesus says through the preacher and we rebel!
We might ignore the Word. Or we might even reject the preacher as being far too radical or as being wrong.
The rebellion of the people of Nazareth did not change the truth. Your rebellion against the Word of God will also not change the truth.
The people of Nazareth needed to have a change of heart about the Lord Jesus. They need to repent.
Perhaps you need to have a change of heart about the Lord Jesus as a Christian and make sure He is Lord of your life.
Perhaps you need to have a change of heart about the Lord Jesus and become a Christian.