The story is found in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4. Jesus has just spent 40 days in the wilderness without food. He was hungry. The devil used this time of physical weakness to tempt Him with food, riches, power and glory. All this Satan was able to, and would, give Him, if Jesus would simply bow down and worship him. Jesus responded, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”
Following the temptation, Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth. On the Sabbath He entered the Synagogue and as He stood up to read, He was handed the book of Isaiah, the prophet.
This is where I begin to speculate and envision the scene. It was a big deal to have the hometown boy come back home. He’s famous. I imagine the town was pretty proud to claim Him as their own. “He’s one of us, we know His family.” News of Jesus had spread throughout the Galilean District. I’m thinking the town of Nazareth probably considered Him their favorite son. So, when He entered the Synagogue, they wanted to hear from Him so they asked Him to do the reading for the day. Standing up, He found His place in the Book of Isaiah and began to read. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Isaiah 61:1-2) It was short and sweet. He closed the book and sat down. I imagine the silence was deafening. Then He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The people were impressed and spoke well of Him while at the same time wondering how this can really be Joseph’s son; after all they knew the whole family, including His brothers and sisters. Apparently they were also thinking, “He has done many great things in Capernaum, why hasn’t He done some of those things here, in His very hometown?” He owes us!
Jesus perceiving their thoughts said, “No prophet is welcome in his hometown,” Then He gave a couple of examples from the past of God’s exclusivity. 1) During the days of Elijah, when there was a great famine in the land, God sent the prophet to just one poor widow and her son, and provided all the flour and oil needed until the famine ended. (1 Kings 17:8-16) 2) The second story is similar. During the days of Elisha, another prophet, there were many lepers in Israel, but God sent Elisha to heal only one, Naaman the Syrian.
These stories didn’t sit well with the people. “Looks like He’s not going to do for us what He’s done for others.” This filled them with rage and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.” (Luke 4:28-29) What an amazing turn of events in such a brief time…one minute they love Him, the next, they hate Him.
But before we get too puffed up, I ask, how are we any different today? For many, God is merely a local hardware store, called on when needing something. We’re fine with Him helping us when we want a physical desire fulfilled, but otherwise, “Stay out of my life, I can handle it on my own.” Most people want the physical goodies He can provide but don’t really want Him or His message. It reminds me of the story from the Gospel of John, Chapter 6 where a large crowd following Jesus came to Him because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. It was a large crowd of five thousand. Jesus, having compassion on them, fed them all until they were full using only five barley loaves and two fish.
The next day, crowds of people were looking for Him once again. When they found Him, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:26-27)
