A Young Rabbi In Town

There was a buzz in the air because there was a young rabbi in the area. Everybody was talking about this man all throughout the region because there were rumors circulating that he spoke wonders and he was a miracle worker. People were beginning to flock to him just to hear him speak because he spoke with authority.

Now the rumor was spreading in Nazareth that this man of wonders was in town. The people of Nazareth gathered in the synagogue on the Sabbath, wondering if he would speak. Suddenly a man came in and unassumingly sat down in the back. They were surprised that a man who spoke with authority did not desire a better spot in the synagogue.¹ Perhaps this wasn’t the man after all, and besides, they recognized him because he had grown up here.

You could hear a murmur start to rise. Surely this could not be the man everybody was speaking about? This man from, of all places, Nazareth? This man with no formal training? Still, there was something about this man’s face since he returned from the desert, it was kind but stern, his eyes were piercing, and there was a look of sadness…

A Familiar Face Making Bold Claims

When it was time for the reading he stood up and walked to the front, all eyes fixed upon him. The hushed murmur grew louder as he picked up the scroll and found what he was looking for.

Every eye gazed intently upon him as they waited for him to speak, and although he didn’t really need to look at the scroll, he began reading:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,²

He rolled up the scroll, put it down, and returned to his seat as all eyes remained fixated on him, never lowering their glances from him. The murmuring grew louder still. “What will he say next?” was the question everyone was thinking.

He looked at them, and it seemed like he was looking at each and every one of them directly in the eyes at the same time. It seemed as if his eyes followed everyone in the room simultaneously. You could not avoid his glance even if you had wanted to, it was like he was gazing through their eyes and into their souls.

At this point he said something that must have shocked all who heard it:

 “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”³

A Mixed Reaction to Jesus

The people were amazed and they started to marvel at him because they knew he was the carpenter’s son, how could be say such a thing? After all, they knew his mother and they knew his brothers.

He knew they would want to see him perform a sign to back up what he just said. They heard he had done miracles in Capernaum and they wanted to see one as well.

He refused and went on to say:

²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”⁴

At this point the people had heard enough, wonder and amazement turned to anger, and they turned against him. Filled with rage, they drove him to the edge of a cliff just outside of town, with the intention of pushing him to his death. But somehow he slipped away without a finger being laid on him.

Most rejected him that day, yet some began to follow…

A Mixed Reaction to Our Message

So it is when people hear Jesus’ message for the first time. Most reject it out of hand but some start to follow, or at least they start to think about it. But in order for people to follow they must hear the message, and that is where we come in.

Spreading the gospel will not always be easy and we will be rejected. They rejected the message when the tree was green, they are sure to reject the message now that the wood is dried.⁵ Being rejected is never easy, and Jesus told us it wouldn’t be easy, but this is the commission Jesus gave us just before he left the world for the last time.

We might be mocked, we might be ridiculed, we might be called names, and we might be shut down. But all of this happened to Jesus as well, and much, much worse, and yet he continued to tell people the truth.

We must also speak the truth boldly in face of opposition. Let the spirit of the Lord be upon you. When the time comes the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say.⁶

Most will reject us, but some might begin to follow…

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1. See Matthew 23:6 ↩︎
2. Isaiah 61:1 ↩︎
3. Luke 4:18 ESV ↩︎
4. Luke 4: 24-27 ↩︎
5. See Luke 23:31 ↩︎
6. See Luke 12:12 ↩︎