And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up; and he entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.
The Lord begins His public ministry in the small town where He grew up, in the synagogue He had attended for years. Everything about the day is ordinary — the town, the habit, the standing to read — yet it opens His first sermon.
He could have begun anywhere. He chose the town where people had watched Him grow up.
Here we notice His humble manner. And we need to learn to copy this humility. Meekness suits a man doing God's will, for when he is carrying out God's purpose he needs no show. It was enough for this blessed Man that He had come to speak the words of God, and so He stood up to read in the synagogue of Nazareth. So He opened the book not in Jerusalem but in the little town of Nazareth. People said nothing good could come out of it — a little village, obscure then and now.
This matters for anyone who finds their own neighbourhood the hardest place to speak of Christ.
There are unlimited opportunities in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. The people in our street; our neighbours! Is this perhaps the most difficult of all gospel "fields"? Yet how richly rewarding, if we walk in fellowship with the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," and are given to "know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary."
The phrase points backwards, past this one Sabbath, into the years before it.
There is another point here about the Lord's perfect Manhood. It says, "As His custom was." Now, that is delightful! He was not just an occasional visitor to the synagogue, He was there regularly.
The habit also served a purpose once His ministry began.
It was the practice of the Lord to teach and to preach the word in the synagogues where the Jews regularly gathered on the sabbath. Because the people gathered like this, He could set the truth before many at once. He used that opportunity again and again.
Notice who was holding the scroll.
It says He unrolled the Book and He found the place, and there is something particularly precious in that. The One who wrote the Scriptures found the place and, standing up, read it to those who were there. How we ought to approach the reading of the Word of God with reverence, as He did!
In the wilderness the Word was His weapon against the enemy.
The Son of God is Himself, as God, the Author of every line of Holy Scripture. He used the Word of God as His only weapon against the enemy. He also made it the basis and the material of His public ministry… His custom was to read the Scriptures publicly.
What He chose to read is surprising, given where it sits in Isaiah.
It was, in fact, the beginning of Isaiah 61. This is all the more remarkable, because the prophecy around it speaks of the total ruin of Israel. It speaks of the kingdom of God and His glory being brought in when judgment takes its course. Yet right in the middle of this, these verses describe our Lord in the fullness of grace. In everyday language, no prophet is as full of the gospel as Isaiah. And in Isaiah, perhaps no part of the whole prophecy breathes the spirit of the Gospel like these very verses.
Something in it struck the people listening.
He was God in the fullness of His Person. Yet He comes before us as the dependent Man, full of the Holy Spirit. He speaks and acts in the power of the Spirit, and overflows with grace for men. What struck the hearers at Nazareth was "the gracious words that came from His mouth." The synagogue had often heard the law of Moses read aloud, but no one had ever proclaimed grace there like this.
He closed the scroll in the middle of Isaiah's sentence.
He had ended His reading in the middle of a clause. Why? The prophecy said His mission was twofold: "to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God." In the prophecy these two — the "acceptable year" and the gloomy "day" — are joined as one service of Christ. But the Lord, by His own lips, showed that the second half of the clause has not yet been fulfilled. In His coming to this world, a long stretch of time separates the "acceptable year" from the "day of vengeance."
- Home — He opened the book in the obscure town where He was raised, not in Jerusalem. Meekness needs no show, and our own street is the field.
- Habit — "As His custom was." He was no occasional visitor. The Sabbath gathering was His settled practice long before He preached there.
- Reverence — The Author of Scripture stood to read it and found the place Himself. The Word was His weapon in the wilderness and His material in public ministry.
- Grace — He chose the passage in Isaiah that breathes the gospel most, set inside a prophecy of ruin and judgment. The synagogue had often heard the law; it had never heard grace proclaimed like this.
- Pause — He stopped mid-sentence, before "the day of vengeance." He came to announce the acceptable year. The day of judgment waits for another time.
And [the] book of the prophet Esaias was given to him; and having unrolled the book he found the place where it was written,
It is a Sabbath morning in the town where Jesus grew up. He stands up in the synagogue, and someone hands Him the scroll of Isaiah. Everything hangs on what happens next: which passage He unrolls, what He claims about it, and where He stops reading.
It looks like ordinary synagogue routine. One writer stops at who was receiving the scroll.
What a moment! He who is God had become man, and He stoops to act as man among men… The Spirit of the Lord was not upon Him as God, but as man. The Spirit anointed Him to preach the gospel to the poor.
The scroll was in Hebrew, and the synagogue service followed a set order:
This illustrates the Lord's familiarity, gained by training, with the Hebrew Scriptures. Synagogue rolls were not in Aramaic. A Haftara, or section from the Prophets, was read on the Sabbath after the reading of the Law.
He was not handed an open book. He searched out the passage Himself:
It says He unrolled the Book and He found the place, and there is something particularly precious in that. The One who inspired the Scriptures found the place and, standing up, read it to those who were there. How we ought to approach the reading of the Word of God with reverence, as He did!
Was this the set reading for that Sabbath, or His own choice? One writer weighs it up:
It seems He did not read the portion set for that day in the Jewish reading list. He chose the passage Himself. That may have fixed attention on Him all the more. And now, with their attention gained, He opened His mouth and announced that the prophetic word was fulfilled in His own person.
The place He found was the opening of Isaiah 61. What surrounds it in the prophecy is ruin and judgment.
This is all the more remarkable because of where the prophecy sits. Its setting is the total ruin of Israel. It is also the bringing in of the kingdom of God and His glory, when judgment takes its course. Yet right in the middle of this, these verses describe our Lord in the fulness of grace. In ordinary language, no prophet is so full of the gospel as Isaiah. And perhaps no part of his whole prophecy breathes the spirit of the Gospel like these very verses… What He read describes His grace in ministry. It is not so much His Person as His devoted life, His work, His ways on earth.
Isaiah's sentence runs on past the point where Jesus closed the scroll. That break was deliberate. (Where the quote below says "the acceptable year of Jehovah," the ESV reads "the year of the LORD's favor.")
The prophecy said His mission was twofold: "to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God." In the prophecy these two form one service of Christ: the announcing of the "acceptable year" and the gloomy "day." But the Lord, by His own lips, showed that the second half of the clause still waits. In His coming to this world a wide stretch of time separates the "acceptable year" from the "day of vengeance."
Another writer measures that gap by the calendar:
If you compare this with Luke 4:17, you will find the Lord shut the book in the middle of this verse. So far the Scripture was fulfilled. Those who heard Him never imagined what lay ahead. First would come this long period of grace, more than 1800 years. Only then would the book of wrath and vengeance open. Yes, this long period lay hidden in the middle of that verse.
Some scholars deny that Isaiah wrote the later chapters. Jesus read one of them as Scripture:
Did the Lord of heaven and earth not know what our modern unbelieving scholars have found out? They say only the first thirty-nine chapters made up the book of Isaiah. Yet He read a portion of Isaiah 61 — one of the so-called false chapters. When He finished He said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Was Christ reading, pressing on the consciences of His hearers, and fulfilling something that only pretended to be written by Isaiah?
- Book. The scroll handed to Him shows a real man, trained in the Hebrew Scriptures, standing to read in His home town.
- Place. The One who inspired the writing unrolled it and found the passage Himself. He shows us how to read Scripture with reverence.
- Person. He applied Isaiah's most gospel-filled lines to Himself. The Spirit anointed Him as man to preach the gospel to the poor.
- Pause. He shut the scroll mid-sentence, before the day of vengeance. His first coming brings grace; His return brings judgment.
- Proof. By reading Isaiah 61 as Scripture, Christ put His seal on the prophet's book. The grace He announced that day still stands open.
[The] Spirit of [the] Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to [the] poor; he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to [the] blind sight, to send forth [the] crushed delivered,
In the synagogue of His home town, Jesus reads aloud words Isaiah wrote centuries earlier, and applies them to Himself. Three questions follow: who is speaking, why the poor come first, and why He stopped reading where He did.
One who is God speaks these words. Yet the anointing He describes belongs to Him as man.
It is the man Christ Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord was not upon Him as God, but as man, and so anointed Him to preach the gospel to the poor.
The timing mattered. He had already received that anointing in public before He came home.
In Judea the Spirit of God had come upon Him in public, anointing Him for the marvelous service of grace. Now that He had returned, it was the perfect time to read this Scripture. He was first to preach the gospel to the poor, and "the common people heard Him gladly." He clearly came for the help of those in need, not to seek the backing of the rich.
Of all the things He could have named, He names preaching first. One writer explains what that preaching is, and how it works.
The great business of Christ was to preach, that is to present God. The Holy Spirit gives the right word at the right time, and in the right way. "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The Lord does not reason; He says, Here it is. The way of God is to present what we want. You want salvation, there it is; you want mercy, and there it is. God alone can come like this, by grace, into the place of a sinner.
The order here is not accidental. Being poor means being in the place of need, and that is where a person can receive what God gives.
The preaching of glad tidings to the poor comes first, and gives character to all the rest. When man is in the place of need he can receive the gospel. When he knows he is a sinner, held captive by sin he cannot give up even when he wants to, the gospel brings him release. The blind receive their sight. Those bruised in chains receive liberty.
The captivity in view runs deeper than any political one. His own hearers showed it when they denied being in bondage at all.
The Lord Jesus preached a Gospel of "great salvation," a Gospel that delivered men from the power of sin, the bondage of Satan, and the fear of death... Their reply, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone," showed how blind they were to their condition. Because of their sins, the Assyrians and Nebuchadnezzar had led the nation away captive. Even at that time, though they lived in the land God had given them, they were under the yoke of Rome. But they were under a more grievous bondage.
"Bruised" describes those crushed under weight — and the writer illustrates it with the man of the tombs, beyond all help until Jesus came.
The Son of God in Manhood was a great Deliverer, setting at liberty those who were crushed under the yoke of the law, the dominion of sin and the bondage of Satan... A man may be respectable and religious, yet under Satan's power... If he is to be set at liberty, he must come under the power of the Lord Jesus.
He read on into the next line, then stopped in the middle of it and left the rest unread.
The prophecy declared that His mission was twofold: "to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God." In the prophecy the announcement of the "acceptable year" and of the gloomy "day" forms a single service of Christ. But the Lord, by His own words, showed that the second half of the clause is still waiting to be fulfilled. In His coming to this world, a wide stretch of time separates the "acceptable year" from the "day of vengeance."
He was speaking to a crowd of Jews. But the blessing He announced was never meant to stop with them.
It is just as certain that the great blessings of His mission were to run in no narrow channel. He spoke to a crowd of Jews, yet He showed them how the grace that was in Him would work: it would flow out and on to sinners of the Gentiles... His mission was to the world; He came for the blessing of men, to seek and save the lost, to preach the gospel to the poor.
- Anointed — The Spirit rests on Him as man, and that anointing is the credential for everything He then does.
- Sent — His first work is not a miracle but a message. He presents God, and puts before each person what they need.
- To the poor — Need is the qualification. The gospel comes first to those with nothing, and that sets the tone for the whole list.
- For the captive — The chains are sin, Satan and the fear of death. The freedom He gives reaches further than His hearers imagined.
- The open year — He closed the book before the day of vengeance. That unread half is why the year of grace is still running today.
to preach [the] acceptable year of [the] Lord.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And having rolled up the book, when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him.
The reading is over, the scroll is back in the attendant's hands, and the whole room is silent and staring. Luke holds the scene still. Every eye is on the Man who has just read Isaiah's words about the Anointed One and then sat down as though they described Himself.
The "attendant" held a recognised office in the synagogue. He is named just once in that role:
The chazzan, or hyperetes, is translated "servant, minister, officer" in the Authorized Version. He is mentioned only once in connection with the synagogue: as the "attendant" to whom the Lord gave the book when He had finished reading. Luke 4:20.
Something in the way He read had already tied Him to the passage in their minds:
How very strongly Luke gives us the whole scene before our eyes! There was something in our Lord's manner that struck their minds as out of the ordinary. It tied Him, in their attention and questioning, to the passage He was reading. The power of the Spirit was on Him.
He had not even read the portion set for that day:
He had read, it seems, not the appointed portion according to the Jewish reading schedule, but a passage He selected Himself. That may have fixed attention on Him all the more. And now, having gained it, He opened His mouth and announced the fulfilment of the prophetic word in His own person... Never before, we may be sure, had anyone there stood up to read and then declared that the prophetic word was written of Himself. It was language the walls of that synagogue had never heard before.
What held them was the size of the claim made by an ordinary local man.
His hearers were astonished at the boldness of His assertion and at the claim He made to this dignity. And yet as they listened they could only bear witness to the gracious words that came out of His mouth... The acceptable year of the Lord had come, and with it the Anointed One — its blessed Inaugurator and Herald! His words were words of grace, and fell sweetly on ears wholly unprepared for such a sound.
Until that day, that building had heard something else:
Before this it was the law which had been ministered in the synagogues; now they were listening to words of grace.
Isaiah's sentence runs on. His reading did not.
He stopped reading in the middle of a sentence and put a full stop where in our Old Testament we have only a comma, and He closed the book. Why did He do that? The rest of the sentence is this: "and the day of vengeance of our God." There and then He was to open the acceptable year of the Lord — the year of grace, the year of blessing. And He was to postpone the day of vengeance until that year had run its course. That year has lasted until now.
Writers read the closed scroll as a deliberate gesture rather than a stopping point:
And when He read this scripture He closed the book, just before it goes on to speak of the day of vengeance of our God, pushing back, as it were, that day, lengthening out the acceptable year of the Lord to this present time... The day will come when His hand will open the book again, but meanwhile grace flows on its blessed worldwide course, and men are offered salvation.
Three things came together in front of that congregation, and one writer sees the same combination available now:
The blessed Lord standing before the audience was holding the written word in His hand, and He Himself was filled with the Spirit of God. Depend on it, there is no power in this world that can withstand such a combination as that.
The One they stared at has not changed:
What a privilege to know the Lord Jesus, who is still the same! What a privilege to gather around Him at times and receive fresh impressions of His blessed Person. At such times it is not difficult for us to have the eyes of our hearts fastened on Him.
- Handed back. The scroll went back to the chazzan, the synagogue attendant — a role named just once in connection with the synagogue.
- Held. Something in His manner tied Him to the passage before He said a word. The Spirit's power was on Him, and the reading was His own choice.
- Halted. He stopped mid-sentence and closed the book. He put a full stop where Isaiah has a comma, leaving the day of vengeance unread.
- Held open. The closed book stretches the acceptable year out to today. Grace still runs its course, and salvation is still offered.
- Held on. The same Lord, the same word, the same Spirit are ours. The response is still to fasten the eyes of the heart on Him.
And he began to say to them, To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.
The reading has ended. Jesus hands the scroll back, and every eye in the Nazareth synagogue turns to the man who grew up among them. His first words are not an explanation of Isaiah. They are a claim about Himself: what the prophet promised has come true today, in front of the people listening.
He does not say the prophet's words are about to come true. He says they have come true — in a room, on a Sabbath, in a man the listeners can see. And that man is God acting among men:
They handed Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. What a moment! He who is God had become man, and stoops to act as such among men… It is the man Christ Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord was not upon Him as God, but as man, and so anointed Him to preach the gospel to the poor… There and then a real man was the vessel of the grace of God on earth.
Isaiah's sentence did not end where Jesus ended it. He read to "the year of the Lord's favor" and closed the book, leaving "and the day of vengeance of our God" unread. That break is deliberate, and it defines what "fulfilled" covers:
He stopped reading in the middle of a sentence. Where our Old Testament has only a comma, He put a full stop, and He closed the book. Why did He do that? The rest of the sentence is this: "And the day of vengeance of our God." There and then He was to open the acceptable year of the Lord — the year of grace, the year of blessing. The day of vengeance He would postpone until that year had run its course. That year has extended until now.
(Where the ESV says "the year of the Lord's favor," older translations say "the acceptable year of the Lord.")
The prophecy names the people before it names the gifts — the poor, the captive, the blind, the bruised. That order decides who can receive what Jesus announced:
The preaching of good news to the poor comes first, and gives character to all the rest. When a person is in the place of need he can receive the gospel. When he is consciously a sinner, captive to the sin which he cannot renounce even when he wants to, the gospel brings him release. The blind receive their sight. Those bruised in chains receive liberty. It is in fact "the acceptable year of the Lord"; the jubilee of God; fuller and more blessed than the law ever proclaimed in Israel.
The claim was personal, so no one could stay neutral. The crowd bore witness to what they heard and still refused the One who said it. They knew the family, so they did not know the voice:
What a word this was! Not a general explanation of the meaning. It demanded instant faith, or it produced the anger of unbelief. They all bore Him witness, and they saw the power of grace shining out in Him. Yet they were unchanged, and they did not know the voice — He was the son of Joseph, one of them.
The words "this Scripture" put His own authority behind the scroll in His hands. That includes the later chapters of Isaiah, which some claim Isaiah never wrote:
He read a portion of Isaiah 61 — one of the so-called false chapters. When He finished He said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Was Christ reading, applying to the consciences of His hearers, and fulfilling something that falsely claimed to be written by Isaiah?… The full verbal inspiration of the Scriptures is the ground of all authority. Hold fast, then, the written word of God.
The day of vengeance is still unread. So the announcement made at Nazareth still stands, and it puts a question to the reader:
He declared that this prophecy was fulfilled in their hearing that day. He stopped short in the middle of our verse 2… When He had read that far, He shut the book and sat down, with words of grace to all. Did He speak the truth? A great deal turns on this for your souls. Was He really the One the Spirit of the Lord foretold, the One God the Father had sealed? If so, your salvation turns on Him. Do not say that words of grace are hard. What? Hard to be saved by God, according to the fulness of His mercy in Christ! The same Lord that saves now will be the Judge by and by.
- Today. "Today" is the word that changes everything. Prophecy stops being a promise and becomes a Person standing in the room.
- The comma. Jesus closed the book mid-sentence. He opened the year of God's favor that day and postponed the day of vengeance. That half of the verse is still unread.
- The poor first. The jubilee He opened reaches those who know their need — poor, captive, blind, bruised. It is fuller than anything the law ever proclaimed in Israel.
- No neutral seat. A claim like this demands instant faith or produces the anger of unbelief. Nazareth bore Him witness and still rejected the speaker as Joseph's son.
- Still open. The same year of grace has run from that Sabbath until now — the One who saves today is the One who will judge later.
And all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?
Jesus had just read Isaiah's promise in the synagogue of His home town and announced it fulfilled. The room answered with two things at once: admiration for how He spoke, and a question about who His father was. Everything turns on whether wonder at His words will become faith in His Person.
Grace was not only the subject of what He said. One writer finds it in the sound of the words too.
What amazed them was His "words of grace." These words presented the grace of God, so they were winning words — both gracious and graceful. Luke may be playing on both senses of the phrase. They were words of pure grace (not a word about "the day of vengeance," Isaiah 61:2). They were also attractive, appealing words, with a charm of their own.
One writer traces that same grace right through His life on earth.
The grace of His lips showed itself all through His wonderful path here. He was full of grace and truth. Even His enemies had to admit, "No one ever spoke like this man!" while others marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth.
One writer sets what Jesus brought beside what was spoken at Mount Sinai.
How different all this was from what was spoken out of the blackness and darkness at Sinai! This was good news for the poor. It was not the Creditor demanding payment from the debtor. Forgiveness breathed through every word He spoke. He had come to tell people about the grace and compassion and love of God. His presence among them was the witness of all this to them. God had drawn near to them as a Saviour. There was bread for the hungry, clothing for the naked, freedom for the captive, and light for those who had long sat in darkness. And the people marveled at the words of grace that came from His mouth. It was all so different from what their ears were used to hearing.
They spoke well, they marveled, they said. One writer reads that sequence as a picture of unbelief, and points to what their wonder still lacked.
This is one particular display of unbelief — "They bore witness … they wondered … they said." Above all places, they expected at home the displays of power they had heard of elsewhere. But they did not realise that the display of divine power was morally dependent on faith. When He was known as "Joseph's son," they could not receive Him in the power of His coming. Weighed as a whole, it is a very interesting and instructive picture of unbelief at work. And note: He presented Himself to them here not by general miraculous testimony, but in Person, offering Himself in gracious personality, graciously suited to their situation.
They could not deny what they had just heard, so they questioned the speaker instead. Their question was also wrong on the facts.
But unbelief gives itself away at once. "Is not this Joseph's son?" They could not deny the grace, but they despised His Person: "He was despised and rejected by men." In fact, unbelief is always blind. He was not Joseph's son, except in law — He was God's Son.
Behind the question lay a doubt about His credentials. Another writer says the puzzle should have made them look into it.
He had not learned these things in the schools of the rabbis. He did not belong to the priestly tribe, and the priests had given Him no papers allowing Him to speak like this. Was He not Joseph's son, son only of a lowly carpenter? But He did have these things: why did they not look into it, and so find that God, not man, was the Author of what He spoke?
The rejection did not come from the religious authorities in the capital. It came from neighbours.
So grace met a clear rejection the very first time it was preached. And this did not happen in Jerusalem among the scribes and Pharisees, but in the humbler parts of Galilee, in the very place where He grew up. Their familiarity with Him acted as a veil upon their hearts.
That difficulty still applies wherever a person is already known.
Perhaps that is one of the hardest places to preach — the place where we grew up! To our neighbours, to the people we work with every day, to those who know us well.
- Grace spoken. His words were grace itself. Not one word about the day of vengeance, and a charm in the way He said them.
- Grace unlike Sinai. No creditor demanding payment. Forgiveness in every word He spoke, God drawing near as Saviour, bread for the hungry and light for those in darkness.
- Grace admired. They spoke well, they marveled, they questioned. One writer calls that sequence a picture of unbelief, since the display of divine power waited on faith they did not have.
- Grace refused. "Is not this Joseph's son?" was blind as well as dismissive. In law He was Joseph's son. In truth He was God's Son.
- Grace veiled. Grace met its first refusal, and not from scholars in the capital. It came from neighbours, and knowing Him so well became a veil over their hearts.
And he said to them, Ye will surely say to me this parable, Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard has taken place in Capernaum do here also in thine own country.
The scene is the synagogue at Nazareth, where Jesus has just said that Isaiah's words come true in Him. Before anyone can answer, He names the thought in the room: a proverb, and a demand for the works they had heard about at Capernaum.
The proverb was not invented for the occasion. It was already in use, and it outlived that Sabbath in a changed form. The mention of Capernaum also raises a question about where this visit sits in Luke's order of events.
Luke 4:23. — For this proverb ("parable"), see Talmud, "Bereshith Rabba," section 23. It is still current among Jews in the form "He is a physician for others, not for Himself."
"Capernaum." You do not need a critic's training to see that this section is out of chronological order, since it refers to great deeds done there.
He did not wait for them to speak. He answered a wish they had not put into words.
Luke records the first effect on the congregation: they all spoke well of Him and wondered at the gracious words that came from His mouth. Then the Lord told them what they really wanted, because He knew their thoughts. They wished to see works of power, but for the word they had no heart.
Notice how the demand shifts the subject. The words He read were for the poor, the captive and the blind. These hearers did not count themselves in that list. So the only question left was His right to speak at all.
They heard and wondered. They could not deny that these were gracious words. Would they receive them, then? That is a very different thing. They were not the poor, the captive, the blind or the bruised. They were wonderful words indeed from Joseph's son! How had He learned this wisdom? And how did He have the boldness to take such a place as He was taking? After all, the question was about Him and not about them. But they had heard of miracles done at Capernaum. So: let the physician heal himself. What they had heard of elsewhere, let Him repeat in His own city.
He could have settled the matter with a miracle. He answered from Scripture instead.
His answer to their thought was that "no prophet is acceptable in his own country." Still, grace shines out all the more because Christ was rejected. Notice that He does not defend Himself by power. He works no miracle to establish the rights of His own Person. Instead He appeals to the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures, for what suited the present time.
Behind their demand lies an assumption about what makes God's power appear.
They expected the same display at home, above all places, of what they had heard of where He was a stranger. But they did not realise that the display of divine power depended on faith, as a moral matter. Once they knew Him as "the son of Joseph," they could not receive Him in the power of His coming. And note this: He did not present Himself to them by general miraculous testimony. He came in Person, offering Himself in grace, in a way fitted to their situation.
They wanted what grace brings, without what grace says about them. Once that was clear, the mood in the room turned. Long familiarity with Him did the rest.
This beautiful picture of grace at work did not suit the people of Nazareth. Gracious words sounded fine as an idea. But the moment they saw that grace assumes those who receive it deserve nothing, they rose up in proud rebellion and great fury. They would have killed Jesus if He had not passed out from among them. The good things that grace brings were acceptable enough. But they did not want them on the ground of grace, since that assumed they were no better than Gentile sinners. Their familiarity with Him acted as a veil over their hearts.
- Proverb — "Physician, heal yourself" was a known Jewish saying, still repeated later as "He is a physician for others, not for Himself."
- Demand — They wondered at His gracious words but wanted works of power. He named the wish before they voiced it.
- Credentials — The quarrel was about His Person, not their need. To them He was Joseph's son, who had to prove Himself first.
- Refusal — He worked no miracle to defend Himself. He answered from Scripture, because God displays His power where there is faith.
- Grace — They welcomed the good things grace brings, but not on the ground of grace, which put them level with Gentile sinners. That is what turned wonder into fury.
And he said, Verily I say to you, that no prophet is acceptable in his [own] country.
Jesus read Isaiah aloud in the Nazareth synagogue and said the words had come true that day. The crowd answered with a shrug: "Is not this Joseph's son?" His reply is a proverb about prophets and home ground. It raises the hardest question in the chapter: why do the people who know a messenger best often receive him least?
The word behind "acceptable" is worth pinning down first. (The commentators quote older English versions, which read "his own country" where the ESV has "his hometown.")
The Greek word dektos (literally 'acceptable,' from dechomai, 'to accept') is another word that older English versions render both 'accepted' and 'acceptable'. It appears with euarestos in Phil. 4:18, where the two are translated 'acceptable' and 'well-pleasing' to God. It has nearly the same force as euarestos, and should be rendered 'acceptable' in Luke 4:24; Acts 10:35; and 2 Cor. 6:2.
The saying is not a random observation. It answers the crowd's remark about His father.
It was a case that fell under a rule you could call unchanging. Men are so alike, and the evil in them so deep-rooted. "No prophet is acceptable in his own country." And this seems to be a comment on their question, "Is not this the son of Joseph?" God acting in a son of Joseph! God speaking with so familiar a voice, and hiding Himself in nature and everyday life! That seems impossible, even self-contradictory. It is startling, because it brings God so near. And, sadly, it is unwelcome in the same measure.
Where this happened matters as much as what He said.
So in a very definite way, people rejected grace the very first time it was preached. This did not happen in Jerusalem among scribes and Pharisees. It happened in the humbler parts of Galilee, in the very place where He had grown up. Their familiarity with Him acted as a veil on their hearts.
Jesus knew what they were really after.
The Lord knew their hearts, and that they were ready to accuse Him of words without power. They had heard of His miracles in Capernaum and were interested, not in His words, but in seeing miracles. So He anticipated what they would say, and adds that "no prophet is accepted in his own country" (vv. 23-24). Such is the sad state of people's hearts that they do not want a prophet who might know them too well.
Notice what Jesus does not do next.
It is remarkable that He does not defend Himself by power. He works no miracle to make good the rights of His own Person, but appeals to the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures, for what suited the present time.
The prophets Elijah and Elisha were refused at home too. So where did the fault lie?
Then why was Elijah not accepted in his own country? Why not Elisha? Did the fault lie with the prophets? Could they have been careless about the first claims of their own country? No — but the moral state of the people was such, and their forgetfulness of God so appalling, that God, in His holy government, passed over the people who held the outward place of privilege. Grace can never be idle, so it sought out a Sidonian widow and a Syrian leper as fitting objects for its satisfaction.
The proverb is not the end of the story but the hinge of it.
Here we have the whole history of Christ — the perfect display of grace in the middle of Israel, His land and His people; and they did not know Him. No prophet is accepted in his own country. But this rejection opened the way for a grace that went beyond the limits a rebellious people would set to it. The woman of Sarepta and Naaman were witnesses of this grace.
Luke's wording is not the only form of the proverb.
The proverb as recorded by Matthew and Mark has the added reference to His relatives and to His house. Luke has, "No prophet is acceptable in his hometown" (Luke 4:24). Matthew has, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household" (Matt. 13:57). Mark has, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household" (Mark 6:4).
The same writer lists other differences. In Luke the Lord is alone and His life is threatened. In Matthew and Mark He is with His disciples, and He heals a few people before leaving.
- Familiar. He grew up there. God speaking "with so familiar a voice" seemed impossible to them, and nearness itself made Him unwelcome.
- Refused. They wanted the Capernaum miracles repeated, not a prophet who might know them too well. Familiarity acted as a veil over their hearts.
- Silent power. He answers with Scripture, not with a display of power to make good the rights of His own Person.
- Passed over. Elijah and Elisha met the same refusal. God passed by those who held the outward place of privilege, and grace found a widow in Sidon and a leper from Syria instead.
- Widened. The rejection at home opened the way for a grace that overran the limits a rebellious people tried to set for it.
But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, so that a great famine came upon all the land,
In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus' neighbours have just brushed Him aside: "Is not this Joseph's son?" He does not defend Himself, but points back to a drought in Elijah's day. Why point to a famine, and why to a widow outside Israel?
They met Him with contempt. He answered from the Old Testament they already had.
Unbelief shows itself at once. "Is not this Joseph's son?" They could not deny the grace, but they despise His person… It is remarkable that He does not defend Himself by power. He works no miracle to make good the rights of His own person. Instead He appeals to the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures, for what suited the present time.
The drought was not weather. It was the exact penalty God had named through Moses long before.
Long years before, the Lord had said to Israel through Moses, "Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them… and He shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain." This solemn warning went unheeded. Idolatry had been almost continuous since the time of Moses; now at last it had become universal. God had been patient a long time. At last the idolatry of the land provoked "the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger." The judgment foretold so long before was about to fall.
The length of the famine matches a later span of time.
For three years and six months famine was to hold the land in a strangling grip. Note that this is the same length of time as the gracious public ministry of the Son of God. Soon the dry, parched ground told its own tale.
Israel had needy widows of its own. Notice also when the Lord chooses to speak like this.
The Lord speaks of the sovereignty of God in blessing in public testimony only twice. Both times grace had been rejected. In Luke 4, first they wondered at His words of grace, then they despised Him. Then He tells them of God's sovereignty in blessing.
The prophets were not at fault, and neither was God's goodness. Something in the people themselves shut the door.
The moral condition of the people was such — their forgetfulness of God so appalling — that in the ways of holy government the people who held the outward place of privilege were passed over. Grace can never be inactive. It sought out suited objects for its own satisfaction in a Sidonian widow and a Syrian leper.
Grace found its object in a woman who had nothing left.
Sidon was under the special judgment of God, and there was a widow there, left without any human resources. She was the one to whom God sent His prophet in the days of deep distress. When Israel themselves were suffering from a terrible famine, God opened stores for the desolate woman in Sidon.
The history carried a warning for the men listening.
So the Lord warns His hearers what would happen to them if they refused it… It was as good as saying: "I offer grace to you with all its blessings. But if you refuse it, it will run to others." And on their stubborn refusal it has run to others. As a nation the Jews have been rejected, and the Gentiles at large have inherited the benefits of the gospel. "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." So Elijah turned from the same stubborn people to the widow of Zarephath, a Gentile.
The place God chose adds a further sting.
If the message is carried to the nations, personified by a Sidonian widow, the widows of Israel are set aside. Judgment on Israel's state opens the door for the Gentiles to receive grace. And this happens in the very territory Jezebel came from — she was the great corrupter of God's people.
The same men who admired His words turned against Him. Kelly points to what grace always does.
Man was attracted at first, but afterwards he turned against it. This is because grace tells out the ruin of man, and it always insists on going out wherever there is need and misery.
- Shut heaven. God shut the sky for three and a half years. It was the discipline He had promised a nation that turned to other gods. The famine men felt exposed a deeper famine they did not feel.
- Shut hearts. Nazareth admitted the grace of His words but refused His person. The Lord answered that unbelief from Scripture, not by miracle.
- Open sovereignty. Only twice did the Lord teach God's sovereignty in blessing before a crowd. Both times, people had just refused His grace.
- Open door. Passed-over privilege sends grace outward — to a widow in Sidon, and later to the Gentile world at large.
- Open danger. Nearness to God's things is no guarantee of receiving them. Israel's widows went hungry while God fed a stranger in Sidon.
and to none of them was Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidonia, to a woman [that was] a widow.
Jesus had just told His neighbours that Isaiah's words came true in Him, and they sneered that He was only Joseph's son. His reply reached back to an old famine, when God's prophet passed every hungry home in Israel and stopped at a foreign door.
Jesus named a real town, one that can still be located today.
The village to which God sent Elijah to help a poor widow. Called ZAREPHATH in 1 Kings 17:9. Identified with Sarafend: it is near the sea, about midway between Tyre and Sidon.
When His own townspeople despised Him, Jesus did not answer with a display of power. He answered with an old story from their own Scriptures.
They could not deny the grace, but they despised His person: "He was despised and rejected by men." … It is remarkable that He does not defend Himself by power. He works no miracles to make good the rights of His own person. Instead He appeals to the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures, for what suited the present time. … Grace, therefore, when Israel rejects (and they were doing so now), goes out to the Gentiles. Sidon was under the special judgment of God. A widow lived there, stripped of all human resources. She was the one to whom God sent His prophet in the days of deep distress.
In 1 Kings, Elijah goes to the widow so that she can keep him alive. In Luke, God sends him to help her. Both are true.
God had a double purpose: to sustain His servant and to bring a message of grace to the widow by him. Speaking in the synagogue, the Lord compares this message to the gospel going out to the nations beyond Israel's borders. The evangelist finds his own sustenance in bringing the good news of grace to others. But we find a third thing in Luke's account. If the message goes out to the nations, pictured here by a Sidonian widow, then the widows of Israel are set aside. Judgment on Israel's state opens the door for the Gentiles to receive grace. And it happens in the very land Jezebel came from, that great corrupter of God's people.
The offence in the sermon was not that God helped someone. It was that He chose whom to help.
The Lord then closes this scene of His position in Israel. He shows that a prophet is not received in his own country. Then He asserts the sovereignty of grace seen in the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, who served while Israel had turned away from God. … but they would not have grace or goodness in God. They claimed their own righteousness and privilege. This was a most terrible blow to Israel's pride, but it was blessed grace all the same. Without sovereignty there can be no grace, righteous grace.
The fault did not lie with the prophets.
The moral condition of the people was terrible. Their forgetfulness of God was appalling. So in the ways of holy government God passed over the people who held the outward place of privilege. Grace can never be inactive, and it sought out suited objects for its satisfaction: a Sidonian widow and a Syrian leper.
Look at how Jesus tells it. The widow is not a second choice.
The way the Lord states the case suggests a great honour for the Gentile widow. What followed proved it. She received rich blessing from the God of Israel in one of the darkest periods of Israel's history. Because this is true, people have rightly called Elijah "the first apostle to the Gentiles."
The old story carried a warning, and what it warned of has since happened.
It was as good as saying, "I offer grace to you with all its blessings, but if you refuse it, it will run to others." Their refusal was stubborn, and it has run to others. As a nation the Jews have been rejected, and the Gentiles at large have inherited the benefits of the gospel. "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." So Elijah turned from the same stubborn people to the widow of Zarephath, a Gentile.
- Rejection. Nazareth admired the words and dismissed the Speaker. Jesus answered that unbelief with Scripture, not miracles.
- Overflow. Grace refused at home does not stop; it crosses the border, as it did to a widow in Sidon, Jezebel's own country.
- Sovereignty. God chose the object, and that choice is what enraged the crowd — without freedom to choose, there is no grace at all.
- Honour. The foreign widow was no afterthought. She was the one person chosen for blessing in Israel's darkest hour.
- Warning. Holding the place of privilege is no guarantee; refuse the offer and it runs to others, as the gospel later did.
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.
Jesus was teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth, and His neighbours had just dismissed Him as Joseph's son. So He reached back into their own history for a second uncomfortable example. In Elisha's day the land was full of lepers, yet the only one made clean was a foreigner. Why did God pass over the people who held the place of privilege?
Both examples the Lord chose fall outside Israel: a widow of Sidon and a Syrian soldier. One writer links this to the way Nazareth had just received Him.
Blessing was there, presenting itself before them. They could not misunderstand it, but they do not recognise the Son of God. "Is not this Joseph's son?" Here we have the whole history of Christ: grace perfectly shown in the middle of Israel, His land, and His people — and they did not know Him. No prophet is accepted in his own country. But this rejection opened the way to a grace which went beyond the limits that a rebellious people would set to it. The woman of Zarephath, and Naaman, were testimonies of this grace.
Naaman was a great man in the world's eyes, and a man of valour. None of that is the word the Lord picks up.
His disease and his helpless state made Naaman a fitting object for God's sovereign grace and mercy. What gave Naaman such a great place before the world had no value in God's sight. In His day (Luke 4:27) the Lord uses Naaman as an example of grace reaching a Gentile. He does not say there were many great men, and honourable men, and men of valour. None of these qualities would have made men fit objects for grace. That is why He says there were many lepers.
Israel's law gave the priest the task of declaring a healed leper clean. The rule still stood on paper. Yet, as Jesus says, not one leper in Israel found that cleansing.
The cleansing of this Syrian leper was indeed a wonderful witness to the sovereign grace of the God of Israel. "The law of the leper in the day of his cleansing," as set out in Leviticus 14, was no longer known in Israel, for though there were many lepers in the land, none of them were cleansed. And where was either priest or sacrifice that God could own? Elisha's ministry was outside the nation's ritual, such as it then was… It is a serious thing when the usual channel of blessing has been defiled and can no longer serve. Grace must keep its own character of holiness. It will be neither hindered nor defiled by human interference.
Both of the Lord's examples say the same thing: God chooses whom He will. One writer counts how often the Lord said this in public.
The Lord seldom speaks in public about the sovereignty of God in blessing. He does so only twice, and both times men had rejected grace. In Luke 4, first they wondered at His words of grace, then they despised Him. Then He tells them of God's sovereignty in blessing.
Behind Naaman's cleansing stands a slave girl in his household, far from home. Long after, Jesus was still speaking of what her testimony did.
She was in enemy land; she was a slave, probably she had lost her loved ones and may have seen her home destroyed. But her firm faith and her loving heart gave power to her testimony. The result was that Naaman was not only cleansed but secured as a worshipper (2 Kings 5:17). The little maid passes from the page of Scripture, still unnamed. Yet the Lord Himself commented on the result of her service (Luke 4:27). We may be sure that He still takes account of every service, however obscure and unnoticed it may be by others.
Their admiration soon turned to hostility. One writer traces this to what grace says about man, and to the timing of the Lord's words about the Gentiles.
Grace both tells out the ruin of man, and always insists on going out wherever there is need and misery. Even so, the Lord did not say openly that grace would go out to the Gentiles. He waited until their rejection of Him began to show. And now the same men who were so taken with the charm of grace at first were ready to turn on Him.
- Need, not standing. The Lord counts Naaman among lepers, not among great men. Greatness gives no claim on God. Grace looks for helplessness.
- Grace, not machinery. Priest and sacrifice were defiled, so the cleansing came outside Israel's ritual. A failed channel cannot stop God's grace.
- Sovereign, not owed. Many lepers, one cleansed. The Lord spoke of God's freedom in blessing only twice in public. Both times people had first refused His grace.
- Outward, not inward. Rejection at home opened the door beyond Israel. A Syrian soldier and a widow of Sidon show where refused mercy goes next.
- Small service, lasting fruit. A nameless slave girl gave her testimony, and Christ Himself still spoke of what it produced.
And they were all filled with rage in the synagogue, hearing these things;
Moments earlier the synagogue at Nazareth was full of admiration for Jesus. Then the same room wanted Him dead. What turned them was not a claim about Himself. It was two old stories: help sent to a widow in Sidon and to a Syrian leper — both outsiders.
The change of mood is fast. One writer traces it to what grace says about the people who hear it.
Man soon turns from it in anger and dislike. Attracted at first, he turned against it afterwards. The reason is that grace tells out the ruin of man, and it always insists on going out wherever there is need and misery.
The blessings themselves were welcome. What was not welcome was the footing on which they came.
This beautiful presentation of grace in its practical working did not suit the people of Nazareth. Gracious words were all very nice in theory. But the moment they realised that grace assumes nothing but demerit in those who receive it, they rose up in proud rebellion and great fury. They would have killed Jesus if He had not passed from among them. The good things that grace brings were acceptable enough. But they did not want them on the ground of grace, since grace assumed they were no better than Gentile sinners.
God sent Elijah past every widow in Israel to one in Sidon. Elisha cleansed no leper in Israel — only a Syrian. One writer explains why the blessing skipped the people who seemed to have first claim on it.
The moral condition of the people was so bad, and their forgetfulness of God so appalling, that God's holy government passed over the people who held the outward place of privilege. Grace, which can never be inactive, sought out a Sidonian widow and a Syrian leper as fit objects to satisfy it.
Their rage did not come from lack of evidence. They knew what He had done in Capernaum.
They would not listen to a ministry of grace, though they were fully aware of the proofs of His divine mission that He had already given in Capernaum... They were willing to see displays of power. But they were not willing to hear of God acting in the sovereignty of His grace, so they cast Him out.
Luke notes that the wrath was unanimous — everyone in the synagogue. One writer traces it to pride.
Wrath fills the heart of those who reject grace. They did not believe, and they could not see the blessing that had visited them. Still, they will not have it go elsewhere. Their pride made them unable to value grace, and would not hear of it going to others. They seek to destroy Jesus, but He goes on His way.
This was not one town's problem. Another writer puts the same reaction inside every human heart.
The very people who "wondered at the gracious words that came from His mouth" the same day sought to cast Jesus down headlong. And what was it that brought out their enmity? The assertion of man's evil and God's true grace. Man cannot endure the thought that his salvation depends upon God's mercy. He cannot bear that it is for the worst of sinners as much as for anyone else.
They took Him to the cliff edge, and He walked away untouched. One writer sees His whole future rejection pictured in that moment.
They try to kill Him by throwing Him from the brow of the hill where their city stands. But He passes through the middle of them and goes His way. What a plain foreshadow this is of the rejection waiting for Him at the hands of the people! It also shows how the death they planned for Him did nothing to hinder the purposes for which He stooped even to death. And so grace went out to the Gentiles.
Their violence did not deflect Him, though it cost Him something.
They might be enraged, but grace does overstep their limits. They rose up to thrust down Him who had denied their privileges, but He passed through to renew the work of grace elsewhere. This does not move Jesus; it tries Him and breaks His heart, but it does not move Him.
- Grace spoken. Jesus preached grace, and the synagogue first admired His gracious words.
- Grace exposes. Grace tells out the ruin of man. The moment they saw it treated them as no better than Gentile sinners, admiration turned to rebellion.
- Grace travels. A widow in Sidon and a Syrian leper show the pattern. Grace passes over the place of privilege and goes where the need is.
- Grace enrages. Wrath fills the heart that rejects grace. It will not take the blessing, and will not let others have it.
- Grace continues. He walked through the crowd and went on; their fury foreshadowed His death, and it could not stop grace reaching the Gentiles.
and rising up they cast him forth out of the city, and led him up to the brow of the mountain upon which their city was built, so that they might throw him down the precipice;
Minutes earlier the people of Nazareth had admired His gracious words. Now the same crowd was dragging Him to a cliff edge. What did He say that turned their praise into an attempt on His life?
He had just spoken of God's sovereignty and of grace reaching people outside Israel. The offence was not the offer of good things but the terms on which they came.
This beautiful display of grace at work did not suit the people of Nazareth. Gracious words sounded very nice in theory. But the moment they realized that grace assumes nothing but demerit in those who receive it, they rose up in proud rebellion and great fury. They would have killed Jesus if He had not passed from their midst. The good things that grace brings were acceptable enough. But they did not want them on the ground of grace, since it assumed they were no better than Gentile sinners.
Their fury had a second edge. They would not take the blessing themselves. They would not let it reach anyone else either.
Wrath fills the heart of those who reject grace. They do not believe, and they cannot see the blessing that has visited them. So they will not have it go elsewhere. Their pride made them unable to value grace, and it would not hear of grace going to others. They seek to destroy Jesus, but He goes on His way. Here is the whole history of Jesus among the people traced out beforehand.
Luke marks the place: the hill their own town stood on. This was home, the streets where He grew up.
Nazareth was the place where Man's life toward God had been displayed. Now He visits it to display the heart of God toward man... They all spoke well of Him and wondered at the gracious words that came out of His mouth. But then He declared the sovereignty of God and grace for all people. That filled them with wrath, and they rose up and thrust Him out of the city. Herod had sought His life when He was a baby. Now the people He had lived among, and for whom He came from heaven, seek to kill Him.
Throwing a man from a height was a known way of killing, but the law of Moses never prescribed it:
Capital punishment was at times carried out in ways not mentioned in the law: sawing apart and cutting with harrows and axes, 2 Sam. 12:31; Heb. 11:37; throwing from a height, 2 Chr. 25:12; Luke 4:29.
So the men most eager to defend Israel's privileges broke Israel's own law to do it.
Filled with anger, they break their own law again without hesitation. They try to murder God's prophet by taking Him to a cliff to throw Him over. They would say He was not loyal to His own nation. But men's ideas of loyalty are too often only a selfish devotion to their own group. Here that feeling was so strong that it turned to cruel and violent murder.
The hillside shows in small what the nation would later do. It also shows that their plan stopped nothing.
But the men of Nazareth are only roused into fury by such words. They seek to kill Him by hurling Him from the brow of the hill their city stands on. But He passes through the middle of them and goes His way. How clearly this foreshadows the rejection that awaited Him at the hands of the people. The death they intended for Him did nothing to hinder the purposes for which He stooped even to death itself. And so grace went out to the Gentiles.
The people who knew Him best came closest to killing Him. That is the lasting warning of the hillside.
Two paths lay before them. They could accept their Prophet, or treat Him as all other true prophets had been treated. They chose the latter. They led Him to the brow of the hill to throw Him down headlong. In this way they would put out, if they could, the light that exposed their unbelief... But note this well. The place of privilege, like the prophet's own country, is a place of great danger, because it carries such great responsibility.
- Grace offends. Nazareth loved His gracious words. But grace assumes that those who receive it deserve nothing, and their praise turned to fury.
- Grace travels. Their pride would not take the blessing, and would not let it reach anyone else.
- Grace exposes. At the cliff they tried to put out the light that exposed their unbelief. Religious men broke their own law to do it.
- Grace prevails. The death they planned hindered nothing. He went His way, and grace went out to the Gentiles.
- Grace warns. The town that raised Him came nearest to killing Him. Being closest to the light brings the greatest responsibility.
but *he*, passing through the midst of them, went his way,
Moments after His words charmed the crowd in the Nazareth synagogue, the same people were dragging Him to a cliff edge. He walked straight through them and left, which raises two questions: what turned admiration into murder, and what stopped it?
Grace does not flatter the people who hear it, and it does not stay inside Israel.
They were attracted at first. Afterwards they turned against it, because grace both exposes the ruin of man and always insists on going out wherever there is need and misery. Still, the Lord did not make it clear that grace would go out to the Gentiles until their rejection of Him began to show itself. And now the same men who were so struck by the charm of grace were ready to throw Him headlong off the hill their town was built on. But He passed through the middle of them and went His way. His time had not yet come.
The offence was what grace implied about them. Needing grace puts a person on a level with everyone else.
Yet the reminder itself is unbearable to the Jews of Nazareth. It offends their religious pride and national dignity. Does it not bring Jews down to the level of people who need grace? Law, not grace, is the principle they want. Yet they, and all Israel with them, were guilty of breaking the law. They badly needed the grace Isaiah 61 had spoken of, and they needed the Messiah who had spoken to them.
Commentators differ on how He got through. Some point to who He was.
Was it a miracle? It was the result of His own dignity as the perfect Man. That dignity awed the crowds, so that no one dared to touch Him.
Others doubt it was a wonder at all, and give a reason drawn from His whole life.
Some call this a miracle, but the words do not have to mean that. Our Lord never seems to have worked a miracle for His own benefit, so we are slow to think He did one here. He simply passed through the middle of them. In all their noise and confusion, they were perhaps not yet united enough to carry out their purpose.
One answer looks past the crowd to God — and reaches all the way to believers today.
Here is the protection of the power of God for the obedient Man. He shows no supernatural display of power. Rather, God made His enemies powerless to carry out what they intended. This same power is often at work, completely unknown in most cases, to protect believers who depend in faith on His sovereign grace.
The danger was never the height. One writer sets this hill beside the pinnacle of the temple and finds the same refusal at both.
That hill was not higher than the pinnacle of the temple. Jesus was in no more danger at the one spot than at the other. But how then would He fulfil the Scripture that He came not to honour Himself? So He passed through the middle of them and went His way. He withdrew unnoticed and unknown, keeping His place as a servant and showing His grace in the thoughts of His saints.
Nazareth wanted Him dead years before Calvary. The scene is read as a preview — including a preview of how little His killing would achieve.
What a clear picture this is of the rejection waiting for Him at the hands of the people. It also shows how the death they planned for Him did nothing to hinder the purposes for which He stooped even to death. And so grace went out to the Gentiles.
The verse does not end with escape; it ends with a direction. (Older translations read "went His way"; the ESV has "he went away.")
What does He do? "He, passing through the midst of them, went His way." What was His way? It was a way of divine mercy and goodness to people in every condition you can imagine. Did He meet hungry men? He fed them. Blind men? He gave them sight. Men with leprosy? He cleansed them. Deaf men? He opened their ears. Dead men? He raised them. Whatever the need was, He met it.
Walking away calmly is not the same as feeling nothing.
They rose up to throw down the One who had denied their privileges. But He passed through them, and took up the work of grace somewhere else. This does not move Jesus; it tries Him and breaks His heart, but it does not move Him. The reproach of man turns Him to God.
- Grace offends. The message that thrilled Nazareth turned deadly the moment it put its hearers among the people who need grace.
- Grace travels. Refused at home, it "went out to the Gentiles" — out to people beyond Israel.
- Grace is guarded. He passed through untouched because His time had not yet come. There was no display of power then, and the same power still guards those who depend on Him.
- Grace stays a servant. The hill was no more dangerous than the temple pinnacle. He would not use power to honour Himself, so He withdrew unnoticed.
- Grace keeps walking. He went His way — feeding, healing, opening eyes. Rejection tried Him and broke His heart, but it never moved Him.