Luke 4 - Jesus Gets Rejection in His Hometown!

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Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

Notice as Jesus begins his public ministry, he is "led by the Holy Spirit" into the wilderness. Though he would be tempted by the devil, the Holy Spirit initiated the experience so Jesus would grow stronger in his faith and dependence on the Holy Spirit and God's Word. God doesn't lead us into temptation, but when it comes we have an opportunity to grow in our faith and trust in God.

Jesus fasted for 40 days, which was customary for prophets to do before they began their public ministry. I think one of the most humorous lines in the bible is when it says, "Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and he was hungry!" "Duh"! Of course, he was hungry. I get hungry after 40 minutes without eating. But the point was that Jesus was in a vulnerable spot, especially when the devil's first temptation was, 

“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Note the pre-qualifier, "If you are the Son of God?" Though the temptations were real in themselves, the bigger temptation was that Jesus would try to prove He was the Son of God prematurely. Someone called this "Jesus' miracle of remarkable restraint".

One of the most valuable lessons we are going to find in the temptation of Jesus is his reliance on scripture. He shows us that scripture gives us power to fight the lies of the enemy. When Paul talks about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, he says the Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit!".

Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3 when he states, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone". Matthew adds, "But every word that comes from the mouth of God!"

In the next temptation the devil took Jesus to a high place and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world. He tells Jesus he will give them all to him if, 

“I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

In temptation the devil always tries to get us to buy into his lies and deceive us. This is why he is called the "deceiver". In this case he says that the kingdoms of the world have been given to him, and he can give it to anyone he wants to. There is some truth to this as we know the devil is the kingdom of the world. 

Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) by the popular election of mankind since the days of Adam. Since Satan possesses the glory of the kingdoms of this world, and can give it to whomever I wish, it should not surprise us to see the ungodly in positions of power and prestige. - Guzik

But to receive this Jesus would have to pay a very high price. He would need to bow down and worship the devil. 

Jesus quotes the first commandment from when he says, 

‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

The devil of 0 for 2, so he goes for one more try. He takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and says, 

“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

The devil once again tempts Jesus to prove he is the Son of God before his time, and then adds another tactic. He quotes scripture and twists it to get Jesus to give in. The scripture is from Psalm 91. It is interesting that scripture can be used as the "sword of the Spirit", but also the devil can use scripture to deceive us. For centuries now people have used scripture to justify things like slavery and polygamy. 

But once again Jesus goes back to the correct use of scripture when he says, 

‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The passage ends on an ominous note when it says, "The devil left him until an opportune time." The devil lost this battle but he would still try to win the war. 

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Jesus then returned to his hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. Again Luke says he was, "Led by the Spirit!" Do you believe me now when I said Luke puts a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit? 

Jesus' authority as a prophet is shown when he is invited to preach on the Sabbath in the synagogue. This was an honor for a rabbi to do this. The scroll of Isaiah was given for him to read. The words of that part of Isaiah said, 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Isaiah 61:1-2

This is passage directly related to the coming Messiah. The tension was mounting, as the people waited for how Jesus would interpret and teach on this passage. He says, 

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Although this is very early in Jesus' ministry, he couldn't have been more clear in saying he was the long-awaited Messiah. This was very bold, especially because he was in the town he grew up in. At first the people were amazed at Jesus words. They wondered out loud, "Is this Joseph's son?" 

Then, Jesus says something interesting to them, 

“Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

What does this mean? 

Most likely they were demanding that Jesus do the same miracles he had done in Capernaum. By quoting the proverb, "physician heal yourself" they are asking Jesus to prove himself. Jesus knew this was in their hearts. They would not believe unless he performed some kind of show for them. This is why he says, 

Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 

Jesus recounted two stories for the Old Testament, where though Israel was suffering in one case from a famine and in another case from leprosy, the prophets Elijah and Elisha were sent to Sidonian widow and a Syrian leper. 

Jesus’ audience wanted special favors because He was in His hometown. Jesus pointed out that this doesn’t matter to God, using God’s work among the Gentiles in the days of Elijah and Elisha as examples. - Guzik

Jesus made at least two points. First, the fact that they did not receive Jesus had nothing to do with Jesus, but everything to do with them. He was truly from God, but they would not receive Him. Their rejection said more about them than it did about Jesus. Second, it showed that God’s miraculous power operates in unexpected and sovereign ways. People that we often consider undeserving and perhaps strange are many times recipients of God’s miraculous power.

Jesus' approval rathing went way down after those words. The people were so furious with him, they wanted to throw off a cliff. They wanted Jesus on their terms not his terms. God is watching over Jesus as he mysteriously slips through the crowd and goes on this way. This was a miracle they weren't expecting. 

They wanted a miracle, and Jesus did an unexpected one right in front of them, escaping miraculously. - Guzik

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit

Jesus went from Nazareth to Capernaum, which was 43 miles, about a 4 day trip. We alwys forget the time it took for him to go from one place to another. This was all still in the district of Galilee. Once again he was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. 

A man possessed with a demon cried out, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

I have always found it extremely ironic that the only ones who seem to recognize who Jesus truly was are the evil spirits. Partly because they knew he had power over them, and he could destroy them with one word. 

Jesus calmly commanded the demon to come out of the man. The demon threw the man down but he came out of him and the man was unharmed. We don't know what became of the demon. It is likely he went somewhere else to harass someone else. The people were amazed at his power and authority and the news of it spread everywhere. 

Jesus Heals Many

Jesus went to the home of Simon, who we can assume is Simon Peter who was from Capernaum. The fact that Peter had a mother in law shows he was married. This fact really doesn't diminish anything for his role in the bible. Apparently the "other people" asked Jesus to heal his mother in law. Jesus bent over and rebuked the fever. It is an interesting way to heal someone. 

He spoke to the fever and his authority was equally applicable to sickness as to impure spirits. The healing happened immediately and the woman got up and began to serve the people. She was grateful to be well and showed it by showing hospitality to others. 

"This was not only the healing of a disease, but also the immediate granting of strength. One doesn’t normally go from a high fever to serving others." - Guzik

 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

We see the comprehensive nature of Jesus' healing ministry. He healed various sickness and healed all of them. Many other demons were cast out and all of them shouted the same thing, "You are the Son of God." He rebuked them. Why? Wouldn't he want to be called the Messiah in front of all these people? 

Jesus restrained the demons from speaking about Him because He did not want their testimony to be relied upon.

 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

After a strenous day of ministry, Jesus needed to get away to a quiet place. Though Jesus had performed many miracles and healing that only the Son of God could do, he also was still human and needed rest. The people tried to keep him from going. But as we know by now, Jesus was not a "people pleaser". He had other people he needed to preach the gospel to! He went first to the Jewish people in the synagogues. He next stop was the synagogues in Judah. 

This was the clear emphasis of Jesus’ work before the great work of atonement on the cross – he was a teacher and a preacher, both in the open air and in houses of worship. His work of miracles and healings was impressive, but it was never His emphasis.