The sermon and its effect: V. 20. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagog were fastened on Him. V. 21. And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. V. 22. And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
When Jesus had finished the reading of the lesson, He rolled the parchment together again and then returned it to the servant of the synagog, who had charge of the sacred books. The Scriptures were very precious in those days, and every synagog took the best care of its copies. He then sat down. During the reading of the Scripture-lesson, both the congregation and the reader stood. But during the talk, or sermon, the speaker as well as the audience were seated.
His reading and His entire bearing had made such an impression upon all those present that all eyes were fixed upon Him in anxious expectation. Their interest had been aroused.
Luke gives only the topic or the beginning of the Lord's discourse: Today is fulfilled this scripture in your ears. That is the gist of the sermon: He that spoke these words through Isaiah, He stands today, at this moment, before your eyes; the promised Messiah has stepped into your midst. And then He surely invited them to come to Him with meek and contrite hearts, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled not only in their ears, but also in their hearts. Repentance and forgiveness of sins the Lord preached.
The effect of Christ's sermon is shown in the words: They bore witness to Him and were surprised at the words of grace which issued from His mouth. The confession was wrung from them, though they were reluctant at first about making the concession. The words about the grace of God whereby the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled came upon them as a surprise: they had not known that so much beauty was contained in the Old Testament.
But that the admission was made very grudgingly in the majority of cases, appears from the question which passed around among the audience: Is not this man the son of Joseph? Compare Mark 6, 2. 3. The jealousy of small souls came to the foreground, feeling constrained to spoil the effect of the words of grace.