31. Jesus returns to
Galilee- Matt. 4:12, Mark 1:14, Luke 4:14, John 4:43-45
-Jesus goes in the power of the Holy Spirit back into
Galilee as John is taken into custody. The news about Him is spreading and He
gains support in Galilee as those who had been in Jerusalem and saw His
miracles received Him as a man of God (probably not as the Messiah though).
*Application* Jesus’ fame and notoriety became contagious in the region of the
Galilee. This was a low profile area compared to Judea and allowed the Christ
to develop His disciples unhindered from the controversy and political
turbulence of the area around Jerusalem. Christ was always led by the Holy
Spirit in whatever endeavor the Lord told Him to do. May we likewise be
obedient to His promptings and directions through the course of our lives.
Verse to Memorize- Luke
4:14
32. Jesus rejected at
Nazareth- Luke 4:16-31
-Christ Jesus had begun teaching in the synagogues being
praised by all (Luke 4:15). He came back to Nazareth, where He’d grown up, and
the synagogue leadership brought Him up to read from the Word of God (Itinerant,
or visiting, speakers were common and customary in the synagogues, Paul was
another example we see in Scripture being allowed a voice in these places).
Jesus was in the habit and custom of being in the synagogue (the assembly, the
gathering place of the Jews, popularized when the Temple in Jerusalem was
unavailable and in disrepair by foreign invasion and still the tradition of
Jewish people as their Temple was destroyed in 70 AD). As He stood to read, He
selected Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the
afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to
captives, and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”
*Application* There is no better Scripture that He as God, Savior, and Redeemer
could have picked as He taught here in His hometown. In the same way we, as His
followers, are anointed by the Spirit of God to bring the good news of Christ
to the afflicted. We also can bind up the brokenhearted with our love and
tender mercies. We can proclaim victory and freedom to those held in the
bondage of sin because of what Christ Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary.
We can be released from a life of death and we can share with others the rescue
that God has provided through His precious Son. This is still the favorable
year (time, age) of the LORD!
-Jesus had the full
attention of His audience as He sat back down after His reading of Isaiah
61:1-2. Then He proclaimed, “Today the Scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing (Luke 4:21).” This at first was well received, but Jesus pressed in on
them and made some comments that greatly irritated them to the point of wanting
to kill Him. The issues primarily revolved around the fact that at times God
chose to reach Gentiles rather than Jews. Jesus implied that his hearers here
in Nazareth were as unbelieving as the citizens of the Northern Kingdom in the
times of Elijah and Elisha. That was a time of great idolatry and wickedness,
which these listeners fully understood and raged at the thought that this
Prophet was comparing them to that generation. Jesus was taken to the cliff on
the brow of the city’s mountain side (I have seen this location and He undoubtedly
would not have survived being thrown off of it, it is steep, mountainous, and
very rugged). Somehow Jesus was able to pass back through out of their throng
to safety and went on His way returning to Capernaum where He headquartered His
earthly ministry (Luke 4:31). *Application* Jesus displayed no fear of man in
proclaiming the favorable year of the LORD. He spoke the truth and sometimes
that enraged people that had hard hearts and pride. We will encounter the same
obstacles in our delivering of the truth, especially in hometowns and places
where our past is very familiar to people. No prophet is welcome in his
hometown. Take that concept to the bank and cash it.
Verses to Memorize- Luke
4:18-19
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