Luke 4:14-30
Jesus Teaches the Good News
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
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. He stood up to read, 17 and 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 proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
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 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!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” 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 off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
When Jesus came to dwell on the earth, Israel was occupied by Roman troops...This was a serious circumstance for all of Israel as the Roman Empire was expanding over the world...Jesus did not come to set the Jewish people free from this Roman occupation...And Jesus really did not go into detail on the Law of Moses...But the Spirit of the LORD was upon Him and He brought the Good News to the poor...What He said was that He fulfilled what Moses had written (and this was very, very important)...The Spirit of the LORD was upon Jesus...God had both anointed and appointed Jesus to proclaim the Good News to the poor...God had sent Him to proclaim freedom not from the Romans and its empire, but for the prisoners and to give back the sight to the blind and to set the oppressed free...Jesus would proclaim this year- the year of the LORD’s favor...And this was despite His country being occupied by the Roman Empire...Jesus came to dwell among us to teach us about mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love...
His critics wondered not only about His teachings and where He had come from...But it was the poor, the prisoners, the oppressed, and the blind He was addressing...Jesus was not discussing the Israel occupation or the Mosaic Law in detail (even though He knew it Perfectly)...What Jesus brought was the gospel, because He is the Good News...And in His Own Way, this is what He taught us...The things He taught are in the New Testament, and are the in the four gospels...And so we learn much, very much about mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love, as we read the gospels...And we learn much about Him through His actions and His Word, as we read about this Good News...