Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read 17 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 20 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 21 He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” 23 He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25 Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26 It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Jesus begins his Galilean
ministry teaching in the synagogues and was initially praised for his teaching. Filled with God’s Spirit he began to preach
about the kingdom of God (vv. 14-15).
Jesus returned to Nazareth where he was raised. Nazareth was a small village that was not very accessible. in accordance with Jewish Law and tradition, Jesus went to the Synagogue, as was his custom, and read a passage from Isaiah. All were amazed at the words of salvation he spoke. In keeping with his theological theme of promise and fulfillment, Luke wove together verses from Isaiah (Is. 61:1-2 and Is. 58:6) but those texts from Isaiah would not be found on a Synagogue scroll.
Jesus is the promised Messiah bringing the Good News of salvation to all who will hear “Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear (Mk. 4:23).” The townsfolk were astonished at, “The gracious words that came from his mouth (v. 22).” The congregants would have heard, “It is not by bread alone that people live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:3).” This is why the townspeople asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph (v. 22)?” Could someone they had known all his life could be the messenger from God bringing the Good News of salvation. In Jesus, God has fulfilled his Old Testament (OT) promises although the OT promises will not be completely fulfilled until Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Jesus tells his listeners that they will doubt he is the fulfillment of the God’s promises and will want him to demonstrate his power by performing miracles, similar to the ones he did in Capernaum, for them to see (v. 23). Jesus further angered the congregation by saying, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place (v. 24), a direct reference to the OT prophets who were rejected and killed. When Jesus told the story about Elijah being sent by God to minister to a non-Jewish woman in pagan Zarephath (1 Kgs. 17:7-16; vv. 25-26), and Elisha healing the pagan leper from Syria, Naaman (2 Kgs. 5:1-19; v. 27), the synagogue attendants became enraged, droved Jesus out of town and tried to kill him. The townsfolk understood Jesus to be saying that he was a prophet sent by God to everyone not just the Jews. Jesus’ time to be killed had not yet come so the townsfolk could not kill him.
Almighty God, you gave all power and all authority in heaven
and earth to Jesus Christ your only begotten Son who was the fulfillment of your
promises to mankind. May your Holy Spirit
guide us always so that through the example of our lives, we may inspire others
to lead lives of holiness pleasing to you.
This we pray through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Comments