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Transcript of 1995 Issue 4 - Sermon on Luke 4:14-30 the Startling Preaching of Jesus in Nazareth, Part 3 - Counsel...
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8/12/2019 1995 Issue 4 - Sermon on Luke 4:14-30 the Startling Preaching of Jesus in Nazareth, Part 3 - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/6
Wq.e
~ h t t t l i n J:r.endfbtg
of 3).eIiUIiin Itl /tretlr
The Content o the Sermon
o Jesus at Nazareth
After reading Isaiah 61:1-2 and
58:6,Jesus c/osedthe
book
and
gave
it
back
to
the
attendant
and
sat
down
...
AndHe began
to
say
to them, 'TODAY
THIS
SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN
FULFIUED
IN
YOUR
HEARING. '-
Lk.4:20-21. Hispointlsdramaticand
astonishing:
the jubilantkingdom of
God has broken into
human
life to
bringcomprehensivesalvation to the
world
n he
person
and work of Jesus
Christ.
The Dawning
o the Jubila,nt
Kingdom o God
The Time o
the Dawning o
the Kingdom
o God
Jesus is
explaining to His
audience that
at
Ute
.verymomentofHis
teaching,
and
wiUt
His person and
ministry
the Jubilant Day
of
Restoration promised by isaiah 61 is
breillting into human life, society
and
experience. The rich blessings
Isaiah promised, from this point
in
Jesus' life onward, will begin to be
bestowed
and
experienced
by
God's
people gradually and increasingly
until
they
are brought to. full
perfection in individual believers at
Uteir deaths,
and
brought to full
consumation for the entire creation
at
Ute
second coming of Christ.
The Effects o the Dawning
o the Kingdom
o
God
The underlying gospel principles
taughtin Ute provisions of theJubilee
Laws of Ute
Old
Testament will
be
gradually and progressively
experienced
in
history
by
believers DEFIN
ITIVE-PROGRESSIVE-FINAL
in Jesus
and
will be perfectly and structure... . Salvation
was
eternally experienced at the end of DEFINITIVELYaccomplishedinthe
history wiUt Ute physical return of perfect, finishedworkofJesusChrist;
Jesus Christ and the completion of it is PROGRESSIVELY and
His kingdom, I Cor. 15:24f. The INCREASINGLY appliedduring this
promised
Jubilee is already "in age, personally and institutionally;
progress"--"TODAY
this
Scripture,
and it
will be
FINALLY
achieved,
in
Le., Isa. 61:1-2; 58:6), is
fulfilled
in its highest fulfillment, at Ute end of
YOUR, (Le.,Christ's first century history on the Last Day. We HAVE
hearers),
hearing.
Those who believe BEEN saved, II Tim. 1:9, we ARE
inJesus Christ
as
the Divine-human BEING
SAVED
now, Phil. 2:1213,
Savior,
and
who restuponHim alone
and
we WILL
BE
saved in the future,
for salvation will experience the IPet. 1:9. Toputitanotherway we
restorationof ustice
and
God's moral
HAVE
BEEN remade n God's image,
order
to
human society
full
restoration to total welIness, spiritual
renewal ofindividualsand societies,
the cancellation of all their
indebtedness
to
God for their sins,
deliverance from
Ute
slavery of sin
and
Satan, inheritance of Ute earth,
eternal life and communion with
God individually and SOCially,
gradually
and
progressively until the
Jubilee comes
in
total perfection with
Ute second coming
of
Christ.
The Threefold Pattern to the
Coming
o
the Kingdom o God
There
is A THREEFOLD
PATTERN TO BIBLICAL
PROPHECY AND ITS
Eph. 4:24,
we
ARE
BE I N G
progressi.vely
'
remade
in
His image,
n
Cor.
3:18
and
we
look
forward to
the day
when
we
WILL BE .
perfectly
remade in
. His .image, ..
hi 1 .
3:20-21."- David Chilton, Paradise
Restored, pg. 24-25, (Tyler, texas;
Reconstruction Press, 1985). Orto
say
it
in yet two other ways: The
Jubilee
HAS
BEGUN
in
Christ. The
Jubilee
IS
INCREASINGLY being
realized
in
Christ. TheJ ubiiee
WILL
BE perfectly fulfilled with the return
ofChrist. The Kingdorn ofGod HAS
COME wiUt all its saving power and
blessingsin Christ. The Kingdorno
God
IS
COMlNG in progressive
triurnph over sin and opposition in
Christ in history. The Kingdorn of
God
WILL COME
in total
FULFILLMENT: "Scripture presents consurnrnation at the end ofhistory,
salvation in terms
of a I Cor. 15:24f.
4 TIl COUNSEL of Chalcedon April, 1995
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The
Significance o
the Word,
Today
in
Lul,e 4:21
"Luke emphasizes that salvation
has become present
in
Christ with a
frequent use of the adverbs 'now'
and 'today.' He uses 'now' fourteen
times (Matthew 4 times, Mark 3
times) and 'today' eleven times
(Matthew 8 times, Mark once).
In
Jesusthetimeofsalvationhascome."
Leon Monis,
The
Gospel According to
Luhe, Tyndale
Commentaries. See
"now" in 1:48; 2:29; 5:10; 6:21, 25;
11:39; 12:52; 16:25; 19:42; 22:36,
69; and "today'
in
2:11; 4:21; 5:26;
12:28; 13:32, 33; 19:5, 9; 22:34;
23:43; 24:21. Luke understands the
imelVention of God into history in
Jesus Christ to bring global and
comprehensive salvation to His
peopleas the establishment ofa new
world orderin which there wouldbe
the complete reversal of he condition
of God's people from oppression to
exaltation and global triumph, Isaiah
2: This new world order can
be
desclibed as the coming of the
Kingdom of Christ, which is the
manifestation of the sovereign rule
of God in histOlY
in
powerand grace
which
establishes a new
order
(dvilization) of righteousness
and
blessedness in
and
through Jesus
Christ
in
fulfillment
of
God's
covenant promises. The
long-awaited era when God delivers
His people from the misery
and
oppression of sin and Satan and
blings them into spiritual, moral,
sodal , political, economicand global
prosperity, as promised time
and
again in the
Old
Testament, has
fina1ly
begun with the incarnation,
life,
and
ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Nazareth two thousand
years ago God began the restoration
ofHis church and creation
in
Christ.
And He who has begun anew work in
youwill heep on peJjorming it until the
day
ofChristJesus. The New Heavens
and
New Earth have already begnn
emblyonically in Ch,ist at His first word of God.
What
she meant is
advent and will be consummated in unmistakable. Spiritualize it and
Him at His second advent. youmustspiritualize theincamation
The Wonderful Nature
o theJubilee We
Have
in Christ
or What
is Life in
the
Kingdom o Christ
The importance of this subject
should be obvious. TI,e salvation
Ch,istcame to bringisnotexclusively
personal, subjective, "spilitual," and
heavenly
as
the Pietists believe; nor
is it exclUSively sodal, political and
economic
as the Liberation
Theologians believe. As we have
seen
in
our study of
Mary's
MAGNIFICAT in lllke 1:39-56 and
in
Zacharias'BENEDICIlJS in Luke
1:57-80 this salvation s
PERSONAL,
GLOBAL and COMPREHENSNE.
Salvation "relates to every part of
man's life, both now and n thefuture;
it ouches all ofcreation
and
even the
destructiveness of Satan. --- Christ
is at this very moment a
comprehensive Savior who came
to
make His bleSSings flow far as sin's
curse is found " - Greg Bahnsen,
Penpoint,July, 1992, Vol. 3, No.4.
Just as in the prophetic use of the
provisions of theJubilee legislation,
so Mary, the mother ofjesus, in her
MAGNIFICAT speaks of a global
reversal of men's fortunes. As we
have seen
in
our study ofhermoving
and
brilliant hymn, there is nothing
sentimental nostalgic or
other,worldlyaboutit. It is explosive.
It speaks of the total Christian
Reconstruction of
men
and nations
on
earth in histOlY. The point of
her
third stanza, lk. 1:51-53,
is
that
Jesus Ch,ist is bringing a great
reversal in human sodety on earth,
and
it has alreadybegnn. The power
that is accomplishing this global
reversal was introduced into histOlY
in
the incarnation and ministry of
Jesus.
To
spiritualize Mary's words,
confining them to the spilitual or
heavenly realms, is to tlifle with the
about which she speaks; and
then
we would have no gospel. This
reversal will be as literalandas radical
as Mary said it would be. Those
who
are in
power---politically
economically,socially--willsomeday
not be in power. And those Ch,istians
who are not in power will someday
be in power. Those reprobate
who
are now millionaires will someday
be paupers;
and
those Christians
who are in selious need because of
the wicked cultures
in
which they
live, will someday be millionaires.
Those who are
proud
and full
of
self-lovewillbehumiliated;and those
who are full
of
God-loveand humility
will be exalted. The meekwill inherit
the earth
Or
to put
it in the words of the
Jubilee legislation: this divine
restoration ofhumanlife
and
sodety
will include the day when
men
and
women in Christ the world over will
not
only be renewed individually
and spiritually in their faith and
devotion to God
in
Christ, butwhen
they
will be renewed in their
faithfulness to God, to the creation,
and to each other as defined by
Biblical Law
The Gospel o Luke: as
a Booh
o
Ecstatic Joy
No otherN
T
gospel writer deals
so often with the idea
of
oy as Luke.
His
record
is dominated by
ECSTATICJOY that the kingdom of
God has come, is coming
and
will
come. The gospel begins with the
song of the angels 2: 14 the
Magnificat, the Benedictus and the
Nunc Dimittis, 1:46[; 1:68f; 2:29f.
Thoughout
the gospel, those who
receive blessings praise God, 2:20;
5:25f; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 18:43.
The words 'rejoice'
and
1oy' occur
several times, 1:14 44 47; lO:21;
199:6;
15:6,
9f. There is laughter
April, 1995 l' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l 5
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and
merry-making
in
this gospel,
15:23,32. And
the gospel ends as
it
began, with the praise ofGod,24:52;
1:14, What is the cause of this joy
and praise in Luke? Luke "sees God
at work bringing men salvation and
itishis pleasure
to bringout
a variety
of
aspects
of
his
great saving work. "
Leon Morris. The Gospel of Luke is
full of ecstatic joy because of his
"conviction that salvation, (Le., the
Jubilee), is a reality
in
the
present
and
will
be
such even more in the
future." -
Bo
Reicke,The
GospelofLuke.
"
..
(T)he
events of the gospel do
not
simply belong to
thePAST,
but
alsohave
to
do with
a continually
PRESENT
reality
which fills the heart
with a thrillingjoy and
constrains all followers
of]
esus to do their part
forthekingdom ofGod
in the
assurance that the FUTURE
consummation is at hand. --- Past,
present,
and
future belong together
in
Luke precisely because of this
FULFILLMENT. (1). The drama of
redemptiOn.,
2):
the.
lirnvefsality
of
mission,
(3). the
eschatological
joy
and hope, constitute
an
organic
UNITY." -
Bo
Reicke. The jubilee we
have
in
Christ
IS and
WILL
BE an
ecstatically joyful time
he
Lord's Messiah
is
the Bringer
of
the Jubilant
Kingdom
of
God, and
hat
Messiah
s
Jesus
According toJesus the fulfillment
of Isaiah
61
was taking place that
very
moment in
His
own
person
and
preaching. He is
the
Messiah
anointed
by the
Lord to establish
God's great kingdom
in
the hearts
and
societies
of men and to bring to
actual fulfillment the provisions and
blessings of the Jubilee. Jesus is the
One Who
will,
in
His preaching, Le.,
by His powerful Word, actually bring
the good news of salvation to the
"poor," i.e., those
crushed
and
shattered by sin. In proclaiming
"release" to "prisoners," He will
actually bring liberation from the
slavery ofsin and healing of sight to
those who are blind. He binds
up
the broken-hearted and comforts all
those who mourn
in
Zion, Isa. 61:2.
He, through His restored Church,
will
rebuild the
ancient ruins," and
raiseup theformerdevastations, 61:4.
He will cause His people
to be
called
the
priests of
the
Lord, to eat
the
wealth
of
nations,
and
in
exchange
for their humiliation
they will shout
for joy over their portion ...everlasting
joywillbetheirs, 61:6-7. Thebenefits
and effects of Hisworkandreign will
be global. All the world
w ll
recognize
His people as the
offspring whom
the
Lord
has
blessed, 61:9. God's people
will rejoice
greatly
in
the
Lord, .... for
He (Christ)
has clothed (them) with
garments of salvation, and wrapped
them
with
a robe of righteousness as a
bridegroom
decks
himself with a
garland,
and
as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels,
61:10.
All
these
blessings the
Church
will enjoy
because of
the
New
Order
of
righteousness, theJubilee-Kingdom
of
God, which the LordJesus Christ
has brought to us--- For as the earth
brings
forth its sprouts, and
as a
garden
causes
the
things
sown
in
it to spring
up,
6 TH COUNSEL of ChaIcedon April, 1995
so
the
Lord Godwill cause righteousness
and praise
t spring up
before
all
the
nations,
61:10-11.
The Messiah
as King
and
theJubilee Prophecy
The predominant conception
underlying Messianic expectation
among the Jews of the first century
was
KINGLY, 1:27,32,33,69;
2:4,
11; 3:23-31. The belief, based on
the promise
of
he Old
Testament, was that
when the Messiah
arrived He
would
announce
the
establishment of the
Reign of Jehovah on
earth,
Samuel
7;
Genesis 49: 10.
In
his
birth narratives Luke
made explidtly clear
that Jesus is the Son
of the Most High God
and the promised king
of the house ofDavid,
fulfilling the Davidic Covenant of
Samuel 7 John the Baptist impressed
us with Jesus' unparalleled
supremacy and superiority, whenhe
identified Jesus as
being
"mightier"
than' he,
in
fact sO'superior that'
he,
Oohn), was not worthy
to
untie His
shoes. Luke's genealogy of Jesus
traced His lineage back to King David,
(and beyond), Luke 3:23[ The
Divine Voice from Heaven atjesus'
baptism ncluded a phrase taken from
Psalm 2 which prophesies Jesus'
kingship---
ThisisMy
belovedSon.
...
Moreover, the rite of anointing in the
O.T. was particularly related to the
inauguration of lsrael's kings; and
Jesusis "The AnointedOne ofIsaiah
61, anointed with water
by
J olin the
Baptist, and with the Spirit by the
Father. In the light of
Luke's
framework thus farJesus in Nazareth
could
be
depicted as "standing
up
among His own people
to
deliver
HIS INAUGURAL KINGLY
ADDRESS, His Kingly Accession
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Speech,
as
He read from Isaiah 61,
explained it and appliedit to Himself.
Isaiah 61 bears some striking
resemblances to the kingly speech
of Psalm 72 in which:
(1).
The
Messiah's reign
is
given Divine
sanction; (2). the kingly Messiah's
subjects
and
all the earth rejoice
at
His enthronement;
(3).
All of creation
rej
oices and produces abundantly;
(4). the poor
and
oppressed of God's
people have special cause for joy,
because amnesty
is
declared, prisons
are opened, their causes will be
heard, justice will be established,
and
creation s
abundance
will
provide for all their needs--all of
which will together result in their
personal and social re-enfranchise
ment. The above represent perhaps
the most frequently mentioned
blessings that were associated with
the accession of the king in the
ancient Near East.
In
Isaiah 61
we
see:
0 .
the Messiah's Divine
sanction; vs.
1;
(2). the
rejOiCing
of
the poor and the oppressed,
vs.
1,2;
(3). amnestyfor prisoners, vs. 1; (4).
abundance of creation and material
prosperity, vs. 5,6,7; and (5). the
establishment
of
ustice in the eatth,
vs. 8-11. So, therefore, it is obvious
that Isaiah 61 represents the Messiah
as
a great King Who will establish a
great Kingdom.
The
O.
T. associates the theocratic
king with thejubileelegislation. For
example some of the kings of Israel
instituted jubilee and Sabbath-year
laws in the fOlm of royal decrees of
social reform declared at regular
intervals,
jer.
34:8-22. It is
not
surprising therefore to note that in
those statements in Isaiah which
declare the birth andlorcoming
of
a
great (messianic) king,
Isa.
9:6-7;
11:1-5; 42:1-4, one clear aspect of
the expectations expressed in each
instance is the hope for a sovereign
who will not cease to labor until
he
has 'established justice in
the
earth:
Isa. 42:4. - Sloan. Isaiah 61:
itself
reflects and presupposes this kingly
figure of Isaiah 9:6-7, etc.
In the synagogue in Nazareth
Jesus identifies Himself
as
the
Divinely Anointed King, Who in
establishing His Kingdom
in
the
eanh, will bring in the Jubilee Era
The Messiah as Prophet
and
the
Jubilee
Prophecy
In the synagogue in Nazareth
Jesus also identifies Himself as a
PROPHET OF JEHOVAH,
as
were
Elijah and Elisha---
..
no
prophet is
welcome
in his hometown,
-
Lk.
4:24-27.Jesuswas widely recognized
as
a prophet
in
His lifetime,
Lk.
7:16;7:39; 13:33; 22:64; 24:19.
However, it
is
not merely as a
prophet that Luke presents Him;
but it is
as
THE FINAL PROPHETIC
FIGURE
OF
END-TIME
EXPECTATION AND
HOPE. Jesus
is THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES
promised in Deuteronomy
18: 15
(Acts 3:22f ;7:37). What was it in
the life of Jesus that provided for
Luke the historical foundation for
his belief that Jesus
is
that Prophet?
The claim to be anointed by the
Spirit of the Lord not only had
profound MesSianic implications in
the kingly sense, but also reflected
therein
is His
claim to
be
a prophet
of
far
greater significance thanMoses,
Elijah and Elisha.
The
promise
of
a messianic
prophet like Moses, Deut. 18, and
the Jubilee legislation, Lev. 25, are
connected simply by virtue of the
fact that they are given to us by the
Spirit-inspired Moses. The claim of
Jesus to
be Spirit-anointed of the
Lord, to be the Bringer of theJubilee,
and the prophet, greater than Elijah
and Elisha lies all these strands of
O.T. truth together.
In Acts 3: 18-26 Peterclearly links
the prophethood of] esus andJubilee
Promises. In that text he identifies
Jesus
as
the Prophet like Moses of
Deuteronomy 18:15
and
then
explains that the coming ofJesus as
this Prophet was intimately bound
up with the restoration
ojall things
promised in the Jubilee legislation.
Peter's words are these:
Repent
therefore and return, that your
sins
may be
wiped
away, in
order
that
TIMES
OF REFRESHING may come
from
the
presence of
the Lord;
and that
He
may
se:ndJesus,
the Christappointed
for you,
Whom heave:n
must
receive
until THE
PERIOD
OF
RESTORATION OF ALL TffiNGS,
about
which
God spoke ry the
mouth
of
His holy
prophets from
ancient
time.
Moses
said,
'The Lord
God
shall
raise
up
for you a
Prophet lihe
me from your
brethren; to Him
you
shall give heed in
everything He
says
to
you. And it shall
be that every soul that
does
not
heed
that prophet shall be utterly destroyed
from among the people.' And likewise,
all the prophets who
have spoke:n,from
Samuel and
his successors
onward,
also
announced these
days. Itis
you who are
the sons of the prophets, and of the
covenant
which God made with
your
fathers, saying t
Abraham,
'And in
your
seed
all the families
of
the
earth
shall
be
blessed.' For you first, God
raised
up His Se ,ant, and sent Him to
bless you
by turning
every one oj you
from
your
wielled ways.
Therefore, there
can
be little
doubt that Luke has understood,
and so presented, the scene at
Nazareth to represent, among other
things, the functional claim
by
Jesus
to be THE eschatolOgicalProphet of
theend times, the Prophet ikeMoses
who is inaugurating
the
eschatological year ofjubilee. -Sloan
To SUl1unarize:
Luke would have his first centulY
readers believe that Jesus entered
April, 1995
l'
TIlE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon 7
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Nazareth, the cityofhis upbringing,
and
read
in the synagogue from sa.
61,
a well-known Messianic text of
SCripture which spoke
both
of the
eschatological year of Jubilee
and
the
charismatic,
(Le.,
Spirit-endowed), activity of its
kingly/prophetic agent.
Furthermore, Luke declares that
Jesus so interpreted that text as to
proclaim
Himself as its
present
fulfillment, the very
bne
whose activity
was therein spoken
of, and
thereby
claimed to fulfill
Simultaneously the
roles ascribedboth to
the MessiahKingand
the
Prophet
like
Moses
of
the
end
times:- Sloan. What
a stanlingimpactthis
had
on his
readers,
and
on Christ's
hearers
The
Universality of
the wrd s
Messiah and
HisJubilant Kingdom
The
Implicit
Teaching
of
Jesus in
His Answers
_
..
wBisAudiencein
- .
the Synagogue
in
Nazareth
Regarding the Universality
of Salvation
Not only has the Jubilee broken
into
history, and
not
onlyisJesus the
agent by
which
that Jubilee comes;
but
that Jubilee is for the whole
human race, Jew and Gentile alike,
and Christ's Kingdom is comprised
of
all
who believe
in
Him, regardless
of
ethnic origin, Galatians 3:29.
We
learn this from the Elijah and Elisha
stories to which Jesus refers in
defending His
statement that
a
prophet is without honor n his own
country,Lk. 4:24-27 .Jesus uses these
stories
to instruct His hearers, as
Luke uses the record 0
f ] esus'
referring to them to instruct his
readers,
about the
universal
application of
the
gospel of
the
kingdom and
the
universal
character ofJesus'Messiahship. -
Jesus is not just the 10ng-1lwaited
Messiah oftheJews, for Luke Heis
also
the Messiah
of
the Gentiles.
From this perspective Luke's
understanding
of
the
jubilee year
seems
to
extend
beyond
the
boundaries
of Mosaic Law, which
tended to
preserve
the blessings
ofthatyearfotJewsalone. -Sloan.
Therefore, here we see once again
emphasized Luke's distinctive theme:
Jesus Christ is the bivine-human
Savior of the whole world
The Point Made
.
bJ1tSUs RefeftiiCt
to Elijah and Elisha
In Luke 4:20-27 we see a verbal
exchange between Jesus and His
audience
in
the synagogue
in
Nazareth. Jesus explains that Isaiah
61 is fulfilled n Him and in His
ministry,
vs. 21. His
shocked
audience,
in
unbelief, asks: But how
can thatbe since you are only the
son
of Joseph the carpenter?- vs. 22.
Jesus answered them, anticipating
what they were about to saybecause
He knew the hearts of
men
, John
2:25,
"No doubt you will
quote
this
proverb to
Me
'Physician, heal yourself;
whatever
we
heard
was done at
Capernaum, do here
in
yourharnetown
as
well.'
And He
said, Truly I say
to
you, no prophet is welcome in his
8 TIlE
COUNSEL
of Chalcedon f April,
1995
hometown. But
I
say to you in truth,
there
were
many widows in Israel in the
days
of
Elijah, when the sky was
shutup
for
three
years
and s x months, when
a
great famine
came
over all
the
land;
and
yet
Elijah was sent t
none of hem,
but
only
to Zarephath, in
the
land
of
Sidon, to a
woman
who was a widow.
And
there were many lepers in Israel n
the
time
of
Elisha
the
prophet; and
none
of hem was cleansed, butonly Naaman
the Syrian."- Th. 4:20-27.
The
Meaning of
Proverbs
n
Luke
4:23-24
Only Luke, the
beloved physician,
preserved thissaying
of christ . Jesus read
the minds
of
His
hearersandsoquotes
a well-known
proverb they were
about
to
use \vith
Him: "PhYSician, heal
yourself " His hearers were wanting
to say to Him: "We have heard of
your miracles
n
CapernauID. and
elsewhere, sowe ~ n d ofyou that
you do here in your own hometown
what you have done elsewhere,
b e c a u s e t i r e i y
a s y o u r h o n e t o ~
friends and relatives, your own flesh
and
blood, have more claim on you
than strangers. Prove to us that you
are what you say you are--more than
a mere son of] oseph the carpenter."
He responds with a rebuke
by
quoting another familiar proverb:
r
uly I say to
you, no
prophet is
welcome
in
his
hometown."
Or , to put
it
in
modern lingo: "Familiatity
breeds contempt."
In other words, Jesus "refuses
to
comply
with.
their demand
to
prove
lhe
genuineness
of His claims
through displays of power
and
sensational miracles. They were not
desirous of salvation
in
theirrequest
for a revelation of His power,
but
did
so withmotiveswhich were anything
-
8/12/2019 1995 Issue 4 - Sermon on Luke 4:14-30 the Startling Preaching of Jesus in Nazareth, Part 3 - Counsel of Chalcedon
6/6
but holy, and which resulted in His
refusal. - Geldenhuys
The Illustrations
From
the Lives o lijah and Elisha
Lenski cannot be beaten in his
explanation of Jesus' use of these
illustrations
in
Luke 4:25-27. He
writes: The argument involved
in
these illustrations is overwhelming.
The
people
of Nazareth were
comparing two Galilean cities: their
own town where Jesus had actually
been a nativeand Capemaum where
He had removed over a year ago.
The examples top this with a
reference to all the widows and lepers
in the whole ofIsrael and one widow
and one leper of pagan lands. What
is then the force of the argument?
The gifts of God's grace, in particular
the works of His power, are not
bestowed because of nationality or
outward connection of any kind,
(including blood-relations).
Nazareth has no claims over against
Capernaum nor, for that matter,
apemaum over against any other
city.
All
the widows and
all
the
lepers in all Israel had no claims that
God recognized over against the
widow of Sarepta and Naaman of
Syria. THERE ARE NO CLAIMS
THAT COERCE GOD; HE
BESTOWS
THE GIFTS OF HIS
GRACE
AND MERCY
FREELY,
WITHOUT HUMAN MERIT OR
WORTHINESS, yet not arbitrarily
but according to His gracious plans
and designs, in which he considers
man's need and emptiness and the
hearts that make
no
claims at
aU---these He delights to bless.
'Jesus did not come
to
Nazareth
because it was His native city and
thus had special claims on him; he
had
not gone to Capemaum for any
such reason. He brought the gospel
to Nazareth as He brought it to any
number
of
places
in
Galilee. Instead
of receiving Him gladly Nazareth
thought of its special claims, met
Jesus with this presumption, and
ended by driving Him out.
Jesus is teaching his hearers
regarding the universality of the
gospel, that there's a wideness in
God's mercy, like the wideness of
the sea. - F.W. Faber. He selects his
two O.T. examples, ElijahandElisha,
to show that God's grace overleaps
artificial, man-made barricades, not
only those of village, city
and
province, but even those of people
and country. -- This statement of
Jesus was indeed very significant. It
was a lesson needed by Christ's
immediate audience here in Nazareth
on this unforgettable Sabbath. But it
also served a wider purpose. t was
a clear indication of the dawn of a
new era in
the
history
of
redemption,
an
era
both
predicted
and
foreshadowed in
the
old
dispensation,butnot fully realized
until the new; a long, long period,
during
which, beginning from
Jerusalem, the door of salvation
would be opened more and more
widely
to
all
true comers
regardless of race or nationality.
Hendriksen
This truth
is
the basis for world
evangelization and the universal and
free offer of the gospel.
l this
Scripture
The whole
of
the O.T. was to Him a prophecy
respecting His life and work. And
this applies not only to prophetic
utterances, but also to rites and
institutions,
as
well
as
to historical
events which were so ordered
as
to
be a forecast of the salvation and
judgment which He was to bring.
Plummer. 'Jesus acknowledged the
Old Testament in its full extent and
its perfect sacredness.
The Scripture
cannot be broken,
Hesays,Jn.1O:35,
and forthwith draws His argument
from the wording ofit. - Weiss in
Plummer.
2 A factor of crucial importance
here, for a proper understanding of
not onlyJesus' behavior in Nazareth,
but
also for understanding
the
broader complex of data in the Gospel
with respect to Jesus' Messianic
self-consciousness, is that Christ did
not
avoid any reference
to,
or
acting
out of, his OWN accepted
FUNCTIONS of the MesSiah, but
rather He avoided the public and
open use of (and hence the public's
understanding of) the TITLE.
He
apparently did so not only because
of, as is commonly
and
correctly
recognized,
the rather stark
nationalistic hopes to which the title
itself was wedded,
but
also because
of the deeply set cultural pattern of
Jewish thinking, and the established
mode of Messianic expectation. t
was in fact this particular cultural
mode of Messianic self-expression
that provided the vehicle for Jesus'
re-interpretation of he title, Messiah.
It is not until after His suffering,
indeed,
BECAUSE
of His suffering,
that He is shown speaking more
openly of Himself
as
the Messiah,
Lk. 24:26, 46.
By
dealing
in
His
words and deeds with the functions
of Messiahship, as opposed to the
title Messiah, Jesus was able
to
affirm certain individual aspects of
contemporary Messianic expectation
(e.g. preaching good news to the
poor, beareroftheSpirit, announcing
the jubilary/restorative work
of
the
prophet like Moses) without at the
same time supporting those elements
of Messianic expectation (e.g.
militaristic conquest) with which the
title itselfwas so closelyassociated.
Sloan, pg.
80,
The
Favorable Year of
the Lord:
A
Study ofJubilary Theology
in
the Gospel ofLuke.
To
be
continued.
April, 1995 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 9