Sermon Central
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Not What We Expected Series
Contributed by Ken Sowers on Mar 24, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus' first sermon, not what we expected
Not What We Expected
Worship service in Jesus day
Temple vs. Synagogue
Temple about Sacrifice - Holy Days - Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Atonement, Hanukkah
Synagogue about Scripture - prayers - psalms - scripture reading - early sermons / commentary
Nearly 500 synagogues in Jerusalem
Factions - Pharisees, Zealots, Essenes, Sadducees - most people didn't fit in well in any group
But they showed up - they sang the songs - They said the prayers -
They mourned their condition, they hoped. Maybe this year!
The writings of Isaiah were becoming favorites.
Israel restored to former glory
Messiah reign over the nations
Peaceable Kingdom - Wolf and Lamb
Last weeks sermon? - now known as Is. 60
ISA 60:17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly."
Jesus enters the Synagogue of his home town
He worshipped there for over 30 years
Everyone knew him, well liked, showed some promise
If you think that the teachers in the Temple were the only ones amazed at His insight at the age of 12 - you need to think again.
They recite the Shema
DT 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
LK 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: `Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "
24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
