Jesus Unwelcomed
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Introduction
Introduction
It has been said that disappointments and frustrations are usually caused by unmet expectations. It may be that the person knows what is expected of them and doesn’t fulfill those expectations. It may be that they do not know what is expected as those expectations were never voiced. Nevertheless, those who have unmet expectations become disappointed and frustrated with the one who fails to live up to what they want.
This is not much different than what we see in Jesus’s ministry that Luke presents in the passage we are looking at today. Jesus was in his hometown of Nazareth and was a home-grown celebrity rabbi. He was the guest-speaker and teacher at synagogues throughout Galilee. His reputation had gone out all over the place. And now he was back home, speaking in his local synagogue and has proclaimed that the ultimate Jubilee year has begun and that he is the very one who is anointed by the Spirit of the LORD.
Now one might assume that this would make people excited, but as we will read, the excitement soon turned into anger and rejection so that Jesus, who was invited to speak, became Jesus who was thrown out of town. And as we look at this episode in the ministry of Jesus, I want us to see four phases in this part of the text. These phases go back and forth between Jesus and the Jewish men in the synagogue. The first phase comes in the form of the Jewish Response. The second comes with Jesus’s Rebuttal. The third phase is seen in the Jewish Reaction. Finally, we see the last phase with Jesus’s Removal.
Jewish Response
Jesus’s Rebuttal
Jewish Reaction
Jesus’s Removal
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?”
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.’ ”
And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
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,
and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
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.”
When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
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.
But passing through their midst, he went away.
The Jewish Response
The Jewish Response
The first phrase in this text begins when the Jewish men in the synagogue respond to Jesus’s previous statement. Jesus read from Isaiah 62, and told the men in the synagogue that the prophecy had been fulfilled in their hearing. In other words, they were witnessing the coming of the Messiah—the anointed One of God—and the ushering in of the Jubilee to end all Jubilees. And the response seems to have started off positive, but moved quickly into the negative.
Luke tells us that all the people spoke well of Jesus. What he actually says is that they testified to Jesus, meaning that they testified to Jesus’s good character. They marveled at his gracious words—his words of grace; it’s probably has a dual meaning. On the one hand, Jesus’s words were gracious words. They were kind and encouraging and exciting. On the other hand, they were words of grace—words about God’s grace to the marginalized. Words that said, “This is the year of the Lord’s favor—the year of the Lord.’s welcome/acceptance.”
Thus, it starts off with exaltation and excitement—exalting Jesus and excited about his message. People love their celebrity preachers. But at some point, that began to change. We’re not told how, but at some point, the people began focusing on their own notions rather than on Jesus’s news, their expectations as to whom the Messiah should be rather than Jesus’s explanation of who the Messiah would be.
And so we see them pointing to Jesus’s father Joseph. Remember Luke already wrote back in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was the son (as was supposed) of Joseph. Joseph was just a carpenter living in a no-name town of Nazareth. That did not fit the profile of the Messiah in their opinion.
It is amazing, isn’t it, at how easily a person can go from thinking Jesus is the greatest thing since sliced bread to tossing him away like he’s the heel of the loaf. No one eats the heels. They’re unworthy of consumption. At best we tear them up and give them to the birds. People can be so fickle about Jesus. This isn’t the only time. We know that Jesus had a huge following at one point and yet when he tells them that he is the bread of life, all but the 12 abandon him. He has a following and then is arrested and the people quickly turn against him and cry for his crucifixion.
Even today, people continue to have their expectations of who Jesus is to be. Sometimes those expectations come from outside of the church and sometimes they come from inside the church. There are those who see Jesus as the great information-giver. He sets people right as to who God is and how God works. Teach me more, preach to me more! It’s all about information-gathering. There’s no category hardly for Jesus’s acts of service. Sure, he has them, but only as a side-kick to his teaching. They lend support but are nothing in themselves. Then there are those who are just the opposite. They see Jesus as the great social-justice warrior, doing all these great acts of service and standing up for the little guy. Yet, they ignore his teachings.
And when confronted with facts that do not conform to expectations, suddenly there is doubt and frustration and disappointment.
Jesus’s Rebuttal
Jesus’s Rebuttal
So then how does Jesus rebut these expectations and doubts? That’s the second phase. The first was the Jewish Response, but now we see Jesus’s Rebuttal.
And it begins with a prediction that Jesus makes. He reveals not just their doubts, but their cynicism. Cynicism goes beyond doubt. Doubt generally comes from a distrust based in uncertainty. One is not sure about something. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” That’s doubt. They know (or at least suppose) he’s the son of Joseph; there’s no doubt in that. What they’re unsure of is that the Son of Joseph could be the Messiah.
But Jesus shows their cynicism. Cynicism is deeper than doubt. Cynicism distrusts and disparages. Cynicism derides a person or situation. Doubt can lead to cynicism if we’re not careful. And Jesus showed it would lead to that very thing.
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.’ ”
You may have heard it said, “Never trust a skinny chef’s cooking.” Or perhaps, “Never go to a bald barber for a haircut.” Still, “Never seek healing from a sick doctor.” Spoken like a true cynic. But that last one, is the proverb that Jesus said they’d be saying. They’d look on Jesus as a sick doctor. Who would want to go to a doctor for treatment when he couldn’t even treat himself? Why would people come to Jesus when he was out of step with God? Why would they come to him for guidance when he himself was out in left-field somewhere? That’s what they would be thinking. They distrusted Jesus. They sought to disparage him and his ministry. They derided him all the way to the cross. Remember this wasn’t just a Nazareth problem, this was a national problem.
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”
In their cynicism, they’d want Jesus to perform miracles for them. In Luke 4:14, we saw that Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit and he went around Galilee. It’s from Matthew and Mark that we find him healing various people of various ailments. But he’d later go to Capernaum and other places and also perform some pretty magnificent feats. And they’d demand Jesus to do the same for them. And when he would not give into their demands based in cynicism rather than requests based in faith, he became unacceptable to them.
Luke used a very specific word here for "unacceptable.” It’s the Greek word “dekTOS.” It means favorable, accepted, welcomed. Another way to look at it is that it is the same word used in
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The contrast between God’s welcoming of the people through his Messiah and the un-welcoming disposition of the people themselves is staggering! God, through his Messiah would welcome the outcast. But God’s offer of welcome would be rejected when Christ became unwelcomed—when Christ himself was the outcast.
The sad fact of the matter is that nothing has really changed, has it? I’ve known and have heard about (and you probably have too)—about those who prayed for God to heal a mother or a father or a sick child. He’s healed other people’s moms and dads and children. So why not mine? What you’ve done in Capernaum—what you’ve done there, do here! And when he does not do as commanded, Jesus becomes unwelcomed.
And the repercussions of this would be infuriating. Jesus gave two examples of what happens when his own people reject their own prophets. If they reject their own prophet, their prophet will be sent elsewhere. And as we saw when we went through Romans, if people refuse to acknowledge God, then God will give them over. Here Jesus shows God doing just this. Though there were Jewish widows in Elijah’s day, Elijah—being an unwelcomed and rejected prophet—was sent to a Sidonese widow. Though there were Jewish lepers in Elisha’s day, Elisha healed Naaman, the Syrian.
It’s hard to picture what this might be like to us in America, but imagine what the outcry would be if we as an American church began to solely focus on helping out an Iranian Muslim community. Or if a Ukranian church began to just focus on a Russian community to help out. The Sidonians were pagan. They had oppressed Israelites for centuries, but it was to a Sidonian widow that Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet since Moses, went to help. The Syrians were Israel’s enemies. They had attacked and destroyed much of Israel, taking prisoners and imposing tributes. Yet, it was one of their commanders named Naaman that Elisha, Elijah’s protege, healed.
And here is Jesus saying the same will happen to Israel in his day. In essence, Jesus’s rebuttal was that the Jews would reject their Messiah and the Messiah would become the Christ to the Gentiles, again: those who are rejected and outcast, Jesus would welcome. No wonder the men got angry with Jesus. Everyone loves to hear of God’s grace, but no one has the stomach to hear of God’s rejection.
People everywhere have the same theology that was unique to the Jews in the first century: “God loves me and accepts me just as I am.” And yet never ask the question: “Do I love God and accept him just as he is?” Certainly God loves those who have at one time rejected him and despised him. He loved us just as we were. And yet he loves us too much to leave us just as we were. But a person that rejects Jesus—rejects God—just as he is, never turning from such hostility, proves he/she has never received the Holy Spirit and so does not belong to him.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
The people there in Nazareth thought they knew who Jesus was but couldn’t see who he truly was. They thought they knew who the Messiah should be, but couldn’t see who he truly would be. Paul wrote that this isn’t a first century problem or that it is a Jewish problem. This is all of us.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
I agree with Piper when he said,
Faith is not mere agreement with facts about Jesus, and it’s not a mere trust in Jesus to do for us things that even unbelievers want done. Saving faith does not receive Jesus merely as useful. Saving faith receives Jesus as himself, the greatest gift of the gospel. This means that saving faith sees Jesus as supremely desirable, supremely great, supremely beautiful, valuable, all of which the Bible sums up by saying that Jesus has divine glory.
Satan blinds human hearts to this glory. No one deserves to see this glory or this love from God and yet God will give it graciously and generously. But to reject Jesus, just as he is, is to reject God’s very act—his greatest act of love and the greatest gift of the gospel.
So when Jesus rebutted the response of the men in that synagogue, he exposed their hearts. And evil hates to be exposed. And yet, ironically, when it is, often leads to its greater exposure.
The Jewish Reaction
The Jewish Reaction
Which leads us to the third phase; the Jews react to Jesus’s rebuttal. They react in anger. There is no longer doubt in the minds of the Nazarenes; there’s disgust. No more reluctance; only rage.
And they stand up and throw Jesus out! How’s that for a metaphor! Not only did they reject Jesus in their hearts and minds, they ejected him from their synagogue. But that wasn’t good enough; they ejected him from Nazareth. And even more so, they wanted to eject him from the cliffs of Nazareth. Now, don’t think of this as a canyon or anything. But there were pretty steep ridges. To throw someone down probably wouldn’t kill them, but it would be painful and it was usually done so that it incapacitated them so that the people could stone them.
This was their reaction: utter rejection and ejection.
I was talking to a person the other day who told me about his mom. When he was younger, she would go to church and was fairly involved. She wanted him to go with her but he was getting caught up in gang life and had no desire. He is now a Reformed Baptist preacher and his mom is an atheist. I asked him what happened to her. It turns out her sister had cancer and died. His mom had prayed and prayed for her healing and when her sister died, she rejected Jesus and ejected him from her life.
It is through affliction, pain, trials, and suffering that our preconceived notions are revealed. We cannot fathom that God or that Jesus his Son would be or do one thing or refuse to do something we know they could and have done before. And the heart is exposed and Jesus is ejected.
Jesus predicted his own rejection, and in an ironic way—in order to prove he was wrong about their rejecting the Messiah, they rejected and ejected him from their own existence. They did, in essence, what he said they would do. But they didn’t see it. They reacted in anger.
One of the great prayers in the Bible comes from
Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
Agur prays that God would give and do just enough to keep his own heart true to the Almighty. Agur’s one goal in life was to glorify God and he understood at anytime he could blaspheme the Lord with his lips or with his actions. The Jews, in refusing to believe their lips could speak in such a way as Jesus said, proved his words by their acts.
There are a lot of cold hearts in churches across the world. These people honor Jesus with their lips but their hearts are far from them. There’s a good chance that there are some in this room today. They will not dare utter the words, but their actions speak a louder testimony.
Jesus’s Removal
Jesus’s Removal
And so we see the fourth phase of this text when Jesus simply removed himself from the situation. As they neared the edge of the hill, Jesus just walked right through their midst and went on his way.
That’s baffling, isn’t it? How’d he do that? Was it a supernatural event? Maybe. Could it have been that everyone was in such a rage, they lost track of him? It’s a possibility. All we know is that Jesus just walked right through the crowd and went on his way. It wasn’t his time to die.
Do you think Jesus was saddened by the events? Probably so. His own people—his own townsfolk—rejected him and tried to throw him down a hill! His humanity must have felt the pain of rejection. Yet, it’s presented as though he were stoic about the situation. He just went away. He didn’t argue with them. He didn’t seem to cry about them. He just went away.
When Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, he told them to stay in a town but if that town rejected them, they were to shake the dust off their sandals. On top of that, he would instruct his followers not to cast their pearls before swine. This confuses many Christians about how it relates to the Great Commission and evangelism. I think Jesus gives us a great example to follow.
He proclaimed the truth of the gospel and showed the hearts of the people. Jesus did not teach how good the people were. He didn’t teach how deserving they were to have a Messiah who came to proclaim the most jubilant of Jubilees. He presented the truth to the people and it was more than they could stand. And when they vehemently rejected him, he walked away.
So long as a person is willing to hear the gospel, let us proclaim the gospel. But if there is vehement rejection of it, we dare not cast our pearls before swine. We instead, shake the dust from our feet and remove ourselves from the situation. It may be painful. It may be saddening to hear that there are people we know and people we love who reject the Savior we adore.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish this portion of Scripture this morning, let me ask you: are there any areas of expectations that need to be checked in your life? Are you expecting something from Jesus that the Bible never promises? Are you keenly aware that the next trial in your life could reveal a mindset that is unbiblical? Left unchecked and not reoriented, could bring you to utterly reject the Jesus you think you know and love?
We’ve seen how these unmet expectations affected the men of Nazareth. At first it was a little doubt in their minds as to whether or not the Messiah could come from a man in Nazareth. But when Jesus revealed their hearts fully, he showed that the doubt would turn to cynicism. That he had better prove himself to be the Messiah by doing the same miracles in Nazareth as he’d do in Capernaum. And when they were confronted with their own cynical hearts, they sought to silence Jesus and eject him from their very lives, than examine their own souls. It’s easier to do that, isn’t it? It’s easier to say he’s not really the One than to admit that we’re wrong or our concepts and preconceived notions are flawed. It’s easier to reject than to reorient. We’re bent toward rejection; it takes a miracle to reorient.
We’re going to take just a moment or two in silent prayer. Perhaps you see this morning how close you are to joining these Nazarene men who couldn’t stomach their own hearts and mindsets as to who the Messiah would be. You see that you have preconceived ideas and expectations as to what Jesus ought to do and you have become disappointed and frustrated. I want to give you a few moments to confess that and ask that God would reorient your heart and mind toward the biblical Jesus.