Luke 4:16-30
Isaiah 61:1-11
Jesus- A hometown advantage?
In sport, in most sports anyway- there is this thing called “Home town advantage”
It is the idea, that when a sport team plays at their home ground, they have the home town advantage. They should in theory have more of a chance of winning at their home ground- since more things are deliberately set in their favour.
The home team have the majority of the crowd cheering them on and booing the other team, they would have the best of the facilities, they would know the playing conditions inside and out of their home ground, they would water their felid if they wanted to play a slick passing game, and some would even say, they have the ability to sway the referee to give decisions the home team’s way, as the crowd cheer or boo every decision.
I have known some clubs that have really stretched this home town advantage to the limits, as they have made sure the changing rooms for the away team are much worse than the home teams, be it a lack of hot water, or even a lack of space.
I know the on-going joke, at Manchester United football club, was that Manchester United always got extra time to play by the referee, if they were losing and needed more time to score a goal: it was the home town extra time advantage.
As we come to this passage today in Luke chapter 4 today, we come to a time when Jesus went back to his hometown – Nazareth- the place where he grew up.
He went back in order to do some teaching in the synagogue.
Jesus had grown up with his mum and dad, Mary and Joseph in the town of Nazareth, just like many other boys. And as Jesus grew up in the town, he would have gone to the synagogue every week, to hear from the scriptures and enjoy fellowship with others, in obedience to his parents and to God, his father. No doubt Jesus would have helped his dad- Joseph with some carpentry jobs, and I am sure he would have helped out his mum with jobs around the house. Jesus would have lived a relatively (what appeared on the outside) normal life.
That was until Jesus turned 30, and at the age of 30 (ish), Jesus started his ministry. He was baptised by John the Baptist in the river Jordan, he was tempted in the wilderness by the devil for 40 days, he had already started doing works of healing, casting out demons, and teaching about the kingdom of God.This man Jesus, who had grown up in Nazareth had gone away and started his ministry and now he had returned home to his home town- Nazareth.
The people of Nazareth had heard what miracles Jesus had been doing while he was away, and now he was back in his hometown, the people were understandably, proud of their home town boy.
Look at verse 22 with me:
22 And all spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”
When Jesus returned to his hometown Nazareth, and taught in the synagogue, his people were proud of him. When they exclaimed, “Is not this joseph’s son?”- They were saying “ this is one of ours. We know Joseph, this is Jesus, his son, he is one of ours.
They had heard all the miraculous things he had been doing, and they had just heard him preach with authority in their home town synagogue and they were amazed and said “this is our home boy”- “this is one of ours”
Why were the people so quick to claim Jesus as one of their own?
What had Jesus just taught them in their synagogue?
Well Jesus had just taught them something that was absolutely life changing- and absolutely pivotal to the plan of salvation of God from eternity past.
Jesus had stood up in the synagogue to read the scroll of Isaiah, as was custom and when he unrolled the scroll, he read these words.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me:
Because he has anointed me
To proclaim good news to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind
To set at liberty those who are oppressed
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
After he finished reading the scroll, he rolled it back up, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, as was custom when a rabbi taught, and when everyone was staring at him, he preached these words
Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing
Can you imagine being there?
Those words that Isaiah had prophesied 700 years earlier, now, where not just words on a scroll, but those words were now in flesh, they were sitting before the people in the synagogue.- Those words had life- and he was right in front of them.
I can nearly imagine Jesus pointing at himself as he said these words
The spirit of the Lord is upon me
I am the anointed one, I am the chosen king
It is me who has come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
I don’t think there would have been any snoring that day in the synagogue, no-one would have been rushing home for food, or to get things done.
I think people would have been picking their jaws up from the ground.
Jesus claimed in their presence, that it was he who has brought the year of the Lord’s favour.
In Isaiah 61, which is part of the scroll that Jesus read from, when Isaiah talked of the year of the Lord’s favour, he was particularly talking about the day of salvation. To have the Lord’s favour, is to have salvation, and so when Jesus claimed, that he has come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, he is particularly saying, he has come to bring the day of salvation.
And so, when we read through the words on the scroll of Isaiah that Jesus read, we read it with a primary focus on salvation
For Jesus to claim good news to the poor, yes he was talking about the poor economically, but primarily, he was talking about those who are poor in spirit, those who know they are empty without God, those who know they are spiritually bankrupt.
For Jesus to claim liberty to the captives, yes, he was talking about those who have been unjustly treated, but primarily he was talking about those who are captives to sin- and that is all of us.
For Jesus to say that he was going to recover the sight of the blind, yes, it means that Jesus was going to heal those who were physically blind, but primarily it meant that he was going to open the eyes of those who were blinded by the dark forces of this world.
To set at liberty those who are oppressed, yes, it means, Jesus was going to help those who have been unfairly treated, but primarily, it means that Jesus was going to free us from the bondage of our sin.
Jesus was saying as he read this scroll of Isaiah that he was sent to this world to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with God. And this is what Jesus proclaimed again and again in his ministry- Repent and believe, repent and believe.
Friends, as a church, God’s people whom God has sent into this world, our primary mission is to bring people to Jesus, since this is everyone’s greatest need. And the way that people come to Jesus is through repentance and belief. – There is no other way.
And so, as a church, we must always have this mission at first and foremost of all we do.
That doesn’t mean we don’t feed the hungry, it doesn’t mean don’t we help the poor, it doesn’t mean we don’t help those in violent relationships, yes we do all of that……. but we must make sure it doesn’t become our primary focus.
Sadly, we have seen some churches slide down this social justice type of gospel, which in the end is no gospel at all. Some churches have neglected their primary mission of salvation, that they don’t even look like a church anymore, instead they are just another social arm of society.
Friends, the church is not another social club, we are a people who offer something that no-one else has to offer- God himself- Jesus- and as I keep saying- Jesus is more than enough.
Because here is the reality of the gospel, the reality of people coming to know Jesus: when people come to know Jesus, when people repent of their sins and believe, then social change often follows.
For example, during the Welsh revival of 1904 when thousands of people came to repentance and belief in Jesus, the prison officers had less work to do, there was simply less crime happening. Even the bars had to close, because less people were wanting to go and get hammered.
During the Billy Graham crusade of 1959 in Australia, the national crime rate dropped significantly.
Friends, when people find Jesus, lives change and change for the better.
If we are not leading people to Jesus, we may just be giving people a bandage, which may be good for a while, but it won’t last forever.
Friends, when Jesus claimed that he brought in the year of the Lord’s favour, he was claiming that today is the day of salvation. And since the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, today is the day of salvation. Anyone who repents and believes will be saved.
We live in a privileged time, a time after our salvation has already been sealed through the cross and yet one day, when Jesus returns, that day of favour, that day of salvation will be over, it will be too late, for those who haven’t repented and believed.
Friends, maybe you today, need to repent and believe, why not today?
Anyway, let us get back to the synagogue……
Jesus had just taught with authority and the home town crowd were amazed, they were proud and all seemed to be going great, when suddenly, Jesus throws a spanner in the works and spoils this hometown reunion.
Look what he says in verses 23 and 24
3 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
Jesus heard what they were saying about him, he heard that they were proud of their home boy, but more importantly he knew what was in their hearts.
He knew that their hearts demanded Jesus to do even greater things in their hometown, than he had done in other places. They thought they had a right for Jesus to focus all his attention and all his miracles and all his teaching in Nazareth, because after all that was his home town, that is where he grew up.
And yet Jesus, perceiving their hearts, crushed this type of nepotism at the root.
Jesus perceived what they were thinking, “Physician, heal yourself” . In other words, they knew that Jesus had made a lame man walk in Capernaum and so they expected, no, they demanded nothing less in their hometown.
Jesus makes it very clear, that when it comes to the kingdom of God, there is no hometown advantage, there is no favouritism, there is no sawing the ref, there are no better changing rooms, there is no added extra home advantage time.
In fact, Jesus emphasises that God does not show favouritism to those who think they should be shown favouritism.
Jesus mentions two Old Testament stories which shows that God did not work miraculously amongst the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but instead decided to work miraculously amongst foreigners, those who didn’t expect any favouritism.
The first story Jesus mentions was when the prophet Elijah went to a foreign widow Zarephath in the land of Sidon, in order to survive the 3 and half years of no rain. Elijah could have chosen countless widows in Israel to make this never-ending bread for him, but he didn’t, Elijah chose a foreign widow from Sidon. And so, God saved Elijah, the widow and her son, during the famine, even though God could have chosen an Israelite widow.
God didn’t just save an Israelite- Elijah through the drought, but he saved two foreigners as well. There was no home town advantage.
The second story Jesus mentioned was when the foreigner Naaman from Syria was made clean from his leprosy, and yet no lepers who were Israelites were made clean.
Interestingly, in the story of Naaman in the book of kings, when it said that Naaman was cleansed from his leprosy, it actually says that Naaman was clean. It was considered an impossibility for a foreigner (non- Israelite) to be clean, and yet here Naaman, a gentile, was considered clean, after he had been cleansed of his leprosy. Naaman was part of God’s family, even though he was a foreigner.
There was no hometown advantage.
Now, as most sports players will tell you, as much as there can be an advantage playing at home, it can also be one of the worse places to play when your home fans have turned against you.
And this is exactly what happened with Jesus, in his home town at Nazareth in the synagogue. What started out with pride and amazement, ended, in his home town trying to throw him off the edge of a cliff and kill him. Talk about fickle…..
Look at verses 28-30 with me:
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
How fickle we are, hey?
One minute we are speaking well of someone, the next we are wanting to throw them off the edge of a cliff. One minute the crowd chanted, “son of David” “Messiah”, and hailed palm branches at him and the next thing, they were shouting, “crucify him!”
What had made this home town turn on Jesus so quickly?
It was the thought that God does not show favouritism, it was the thought that they deserve better than other towns, it was the thought that God not only saves Israelites, but he also saves gentiles too- those unclean people.
Friends, we see in this world, the spirit of “self-entitlement” everywhere.
And the spirit of self-entitlement, just brings, bitterness, anger and division.
We must pray daily that God will protect our hearts, our church, from the spirit of self-entitlement.
We may fall into the trap, that because we were here first, we have more entitlement to those who came later. Jesus said in God’s kingdom, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”
We may fall into the trap, that because we have been here longer, we have more entitlement than those who have only been here 5 minutes.
We may fall into the trap that our congregation is more important than the other one.
We may fall into the trap, that because we give more money, we should have more say.
We may fall into the trap and perhaps I fall into this trap, is the self-entitlement, because I work harder than someone else, I have more entitlement.
I don’t know what your self- entitlement may be, but I encourage you to dig deep and find it since it lurks in all our hearts and bring it before God and ask for forgiveness.
How did Jesus combat any self-entitlement?
Look at Philippians 2:3- 7 with me:
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus knowing, he was equal with God, since he was and is God, did not take advantage of who he was, but instead emptied himself for the sake of others, by stepping off his throne in heaven and dying on a cross for our sins.
Friends, you are children of God…….nothing can change that.
And if you believe that, then, I hope it will give you freedom to give up your perceived rights.
Yes, you may have been here longer, you may have worked harder, you may have given more money than anyone, but none of that matters in the kingdom of God.
I pray that just as Jesus did at the cross, we will always consider others more significant than ourselves.
Let us pray.
Comments