Luke 4:16-30
Rejected
• Spiritual highs often precede spiritual tests. Last week, we
talked about Jesus’ baptism. He was filled with the Holy
Spirit. Immediately after this, he leaves and goes into the
wilderness. Luke 4 says that he went without food or water
for 40 days. At His weakest point, he was tested by Satan.
Jesus had mastered control of His physical desires, so he
resisted the Devil. Having passes these tests, Jesus was
ready to begin His ministry. He begins in Capernaum, on the
northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Word of His preaching
and miracles spread all around. So, after this, He heads to His
hometown of Nazareth. One might think He would receive a
warm welcome, but as we will see, this wasn’t the case.
• True Identity
• Luke 4:16-21
◦“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the
synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the
prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the
place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good
tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim
release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the
blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he
closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and
sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were
fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, To-
day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.”
• When arriving in Nazareth, Jesus goes to the synagogue.
• A typical synagogue service opens with an invocation for
God’s blessing and a recitation of the traditional Hebrew
confession of faith (Deut. 6:4-9, 11:13-21)
• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
◦““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might. And these
words that I command you today shall be on your
heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and
when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates.”
• Deuteronomy 11:13-21
◦““And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I
command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to
serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he
will give the rain for your land in its season, the early
rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your
grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass
in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and
be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you
turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you,
and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no
rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish
quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your
heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a
sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
between your eyes. You shall teach them to your
children, talking of them when you are sitting in your
house, and when you are walking by the way, and when
you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that
your days and the days of your children may be
multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your
fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above
the earth.”
• This was followed by prayer and the prescribed readings, then
a brief sermon
• Jesus was apparently selected to do that days reading
• He begins to read from the book of Isaiah
• 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 poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of
the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;”
• Jewish rabbis interpreted this passage as referring to the
Messiah. Jesus was boldly claiming that he was the fulfillment
of this passage, and the people in the synagogue would have
recognized that.
• The words Messiah and Christ mean the same thing. They
both mean “anointed one”. Messiah is the Hebrew word,
Christ is the Greek.
• Anointing means to authorize, or set apart, a
• How would you respond if someone you grew up with showed
up one day and announced that they were the anointed of
God?
• False Understanding
• Luke 4:22-27
◦“And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious
words that were coming from his mouth. And they said,
“Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them,
“Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb,
‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did
at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”
And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is
acceptable in his hometown. 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, and
Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath,
in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 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.””
• “Physician, heal yourself” doesn’t come from the book of
Proverbs, but was likely a known saying in the Jewish
community. It meant take care of yourself first.
• The people of Nazareth were wanting Jesus to perform
miracles in His hometown, like they had heard of Him doing in
Capernaum.
• Jesus gave two examples of how God works outside of
people’s expectations
• He was showing that His purpose on earth likely wouldn’t
meet their expectations
• What type of modern misconceptions do people have of
Jesus?
• Misguided Response
• Luke 4:28-30
◦“When they heard these things, all in the synagogue
were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him
out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill
on which their town was built, so that they could throw
him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he
went away.”
• Jesus’ words were an affront to the Jewish people’s national
pride.
• Jesus was exposing their prejudices against gentiles
• Having their beliefs questioned brought the people to anger
• A mob got together to drive Jesus out of town.
• The mob wanted to throw Jesus over a cliff
• Jesus’ time had not come, so He miraculously passed through
the crowd and went on His way.
• Do people today sometimes react to Jesus in the same way?
• What kind of preconceived notions do people have about
Jesus’ nature today?
◦He died for all, so all are saved
◦Only those that believe what I believe will be saved
