We begin a new series this morning: Plastic Jesus: How Did Someone So Real Become So Fake. In the world of fashion, you can see Jesus is My Homeboy t-shirts on everyone from Ashton Kutcher to Brad Pitt. More than 500 movies have been made about Jesus. And everyone sings about Jesus from rapper Kanye West to Carrie Underwood. If you listen carefully to the opinions of many concerning Jesus, you might think Jesus is made of the same stretchy material they make old man pants from. It seems you can stretch Jesus into whatever mold you desire. Among the most popular of opinions concerning Jesus is that He was nice guy who inspires people to do good things. The thought runs like this: if everyone lived lives of love like Jesus did, the world would be a better place.
We are examining the life of Jesus in some detail from the Gospel of Luke. Embedded in the narrative of the life of Jesus is a story where He goes back home, only to find His life threatened by the people He grew up with. At the first glance, it is curious story and modern readers wonder what got these people so upset. That nice middle class, religious people were so irked by Jesus that they wanted to kill Him certainly makes us wonder about the modern idea that He was simply a nice guy.
I want to tell you a story today of some middle class people who go to church one day and get so mad at the preacher, they attempt to kill Him. How did a worship service turn into a lynch mob?
Today’s Scripture
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 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?” 23 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.” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 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, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 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.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 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. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:14-30)
Let’s look at the story briefly and draw from it its significance. There are really four parts to the story:
1. There’s Jesus’ sermon;
2. There’s a response to the sermon;
3. There’s Jesus’ explanation;
4. There a response to the explanation.
Jesus is in His hometown of Nazareth where He goes to the synagogue. Luke tells us that Jesus regularly went to the synagogue (Luke 4:16). One of these things that happened at the synagogue was that it was customary to read from the Bible. And that’s exactly what Jesus did:
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)
This text was chosen intentionally. It was a unique passage that everyone knew in that day to reference the future Messiah. Today we still gather together regularly to read from the Bible. Don’t underestimate the importance of this book. The Bible has been translated in more than 2,500 languages. The second most translated book is Don Quixote and it has been translated into a mere sixty languages.
Jesus is quite popular at this point in His life. Luke doesn’t include the stories here but Mark does and Jesus’ popularity has risen sharply. He is going from synagogue to synagogue when Jesus finds Himself among simple people of Nazareth (Luke 4:14-15). Nazareth is small as the population of the town isn’t all that much. Some estimate that no more than 200 people lived there and they were only farmers and people of simple trade. That the hometown boy has come back to speak in the synagogue that day has piqued the town’s interest.
It was evident that Jesus had made something of Himself. Luke alludes to Jesus’ notoriety in verse twenty-three: “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” (Luke 4:23). Just about ten miles northeast of Nazareth lay the town of Capernaum. It was there that Jesus was also teaching in a synagogue. Jesus wasn’t the kind of preacher/teacher that you slept through. The Bible continually records the common people’s response to Jesus’ teaching as amazement (Mark 1:22).
Jesus spoke like no one else. And as Jesus is teaching, a demon-possessed man is there in worship that day. Jesus confronted the demon-possessed man in the middle of the worship service so that the evil spirit came out the man. But the evil spirit didn’t come out quietly, the man convulsed and the demon yelled as it came out of the man (Mark 1:21-28).
Now when this kind of thing happens at your church, it would be an understatement to say: “And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee” (Mark 1:28).
In driving through Western Oklahoma, there isn’t a whole lot to see once you are past Oklahoma City. One thing you will see is a water tower in small town of Yukon where their native son’s name is prominently displayed for all to see: Garth Brooks. Or you could think of former Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman’s relationship with his hometown of Henryetta, Ok. Much like these two men from small towns in Oklahoma, Nazareth was proud of their native son, Jesus.
While Jesus’ had not attained the popularity of these two in His lifetime, He was a powerful communicator. And the story of His miracle piqued the interest of the small town of Nazareth. Jesus grew up with them and would have played little league there had the story happened in modern times. You can see the wheels turning in the narrative when they ask, “Is not this Joseph's son?” in verse twenty-two. Now Jesus possesses an uncanny awareness of what happens in people’s minds. So He directly confronts the question they are thinking.
1. The Message is the Man and the Man is the Message
Jesus was just as plastic in His day as He is many people’s minds in our day. If you have ever watched Dog the Bounty Hunter, the famous bail bondsman, then you know he prays to Jesus on almost every episode. There were so many opinions of Jesus in that day as there are in our day. What was Jesus really like?
Perhaps upwards of a billion people think of Him every Sunday. Jesus is and was a polarizing figure. Moods and opinions of Him swing wildly. Jesus is about to change the mood of the room sharply. To understand the profound rejection here, Jesus will switch His hometown to Capernaum (Matthew 4:13). Where the atmosphere was electric as the service began, Jesus consciously knows that all eyes are on Him as sits down to tell everyone, “I Am the Messiah.” “I Am the Messiah” is what “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” as everyone knew this Scripture’s connection to upcoming Messiah. The mood changes because Jesus retells the stories two familiar stories but He recasts them in ways that push against the people.
Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah and referenced two Old Testament stories that were well known to His listeners in that day. One story had to do with a prophet named Elijah while the other story was connected to a prophet named Elisha. All three were to “Hall of Fame” prophets.
What was a prophet? Prophets don’t walk out of educational institutions, as they are more likely to walk out of the woods. Prophets had a call of God on their lives that was intense. You often find these men suffering through depression as the very people who God sends them to often reject their message. Hundreds of times throughout the Bible you’ll find these men saying, “Thus says the Lord” as he speaks on behalf of God. The prophets made it a regular habit to go to God’s people to tell them to turn from their sins. They would come to God’s people and were often rejected by these people. But throughout the history of the Old Testament, God declared through these prophets that He would one day send THE Prophet. The Prophet with a capitol “P.” He is a God’s spokesman and He is coming. God Himself would become a Prophet.
2. Jesus Redraws the Boundaries
Again, there are three passages in Jesus’ story were from the Old Testament. He first quotes from the scroll of Isaiah. He then alludes to two stories that were familiar to everyone to correct their view of Him. After Jesus’ quotes from the Isaiah scroll, they spoke well of Him. Yet, the mood of the room changed immediately when Jesus talks about the two prophets names Elijah and Elisha. The people had a grid which they interpreted Jesus. They thought they were the ones who would get the blessings of the Messiah.
Notice how Jesus Redraws the Boundaries. The first story is found 1 Kings 17:8-24. We find the story in Sidon where the people worshipped the god of Baal. Some believe that all religions worship the same god. No, that isn’t true. Different religions have different gods. Baal is different from the God of the Bible. We worship Jesus. Elijah was commanded to go to a widow in Sidon. It was there he was to be fed by a widow. A widow was as low as you could go in the socio-economic order. She is destitute and has no income. Once more, the Bible tells us that there is a drought in the land. When you have no income and no land and you are living off the food pantry when everyone’s hurting because of the drought, you are in a bad way. She worships the wrong god and lives in the wrong nation. She has nothing going for her. Elijah finds her gathering sticks. And God tells the prophet Elijah to eat from her resources. Her son is starving to death. She is skin and bones because anything she has to eat she gives to her son. This widow has no food. Elijah miraculously tells her that God will make sure she and her son do not starve.
The second story is found 2 Kings 5:1-14. We meet Naaman. Naaman is a leper. Lepers occupy a significant place in Scripture. Leprosy is skin disease that is debilitating. Your limbs are covered with sores and you can even lose the sense of touch. Leprosy can even disfigure your face. Note carefully where Jesus says each of two stories happen. Both miracles happen to people to outside people. Naaman is the commander of the army of the king of Syria. This man is a warrior. Syrian armies would come into raid Israelites. The Jewish people hated the Syrians. And this is Jesus’ point. Jesus redraws God’s boundaries.
The widow was from Sidon and the commander was from Syria. Both of these stories come from the Old Testament but both are God’s actions of working on behalf of people who are outside the boundaries of God’s people. What was the people’s reaction? “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” (Luke 4:29).
There is no record that Jesus ever returned to Nazareth. Today, the city is largely a Muslim town. It still rejects Jesus. You know why they rejected Jesus? They wanted to control Him. They had sick people in Nazareth. They had hurting people in Nazareth. They wanted Jesus to do in Nazareth what He did elsewhere. Jesus said, “I’m not going to do any miracles here. Not because I can’t but because if I do, you’ll think you control Me.”
The widow got her miracle after she trusted God. It was only after she gave the food to Elijah that God gave this mother her son back. God is not a genie in a bottle that answers all of our requests. You don’t use God for money. Jesus didn’t die that day. He wouldn’t die until He was ready and only when He was ready. Later, someone warns Jesus to be careful as Herod wants to kill Him. Jesus isn’t threatened by Herod (Luke 13:31-35).
