The rejection of Jesus

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.

Rejection at Nazareth
16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He began by saying to them, ‘Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.’

22 They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son? ’

23 Then he said to them, ‘No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: “Doctor, heal yourself. What we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your home town also.” ’

24 He also said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had leprosy, and yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’

28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff. 30 But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:14-30

I have titled my sermon this morning: “Jesus is the Messiah that we would not expect to have.” Over the last two weeks, the world has erupted with great joy and excitement. You may have noticed that billions of people this week alone have heard about a name. Dozens of advertisements have been aired with this one name. The world has heard something about this name. This season, dear friends, the world has made this name quite fancy with plenty of decorations. I am talking about a name that you have been accustomed to for years. This name is none other than Jesus.

Now, with all the overwhelming evidence that we have this morning regarding this name, the point of contention is not whether Jesus ever came into the world or not. We already have the evidence regarding this season of Christmas. It is certain that He once came into the world by miraculous birth, and we have truly celebrated it. Even the paramount atheist has gone out this season for a Christmas holiday on account of this one great name. But my contention is that it is really not about whether He came or not. It is about who Jesus is and what exactly He came to do on earth, and why people follow Him or reject Him.

The Context of Crisis

Let me give you a little context. The passage that has been read to us places us in a time of crisis in Israel. There is a national crisis, a political crisis, and a spiritual crisis. Jerusalem is under Roman rule and oppression. A faithful remnant like Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna, as Luke records, have been waiting for God to act. They have been waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem as spoken by the prophets long ago. The person we see walking into the space of time and history is none other than Jesus. As Jesus returns to His hometown after being empowered by the Holy Spirit, we see the moment that explains who He is, His identity, what His mission is all about, and why people either follow Him or reject Him. The question you need to answer by the end of this sermon—by the end of the day—is: will you follow or reject Him?

The Identity of Jesus

Let us look at His identity. I will read for us verse 14 again all the way to 22:

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘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 favor.’ And He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth. And they said, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?'”

Friends, this is the man whom the entire hometown has known to be the son of Joseph. It had been His custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and to participate in the synagogue service even before the formal beginning of His public ministry. Is He a man who aspires to be a rabbi in His hometown? Is He a man who aspires to be a scribe or a Pharisee? In fact, the rabbis of the day would be confused by the kind of man Jesus is. He is not a scribe. He is not a Pharisee. He is not a Sanhedrin. A report about Him has been going out throughout the surrounding country, He is teaching in their synagogues, and He is being glorified by all. Who is He then?

On this very day, friends, Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, has already begun His ministry. Jesus Himself reveals at this moment His identity and mission. Having read the passage of Isaiah chapter 61, He reveals that He is the one whom Isaiah the prophet spoke about. He says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” According to verse 18 to 19, He is the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests. He is the anointed one. He is the sent one from God. He is the one commissioned by God for a mission to seek and save the lost.

While some philosophers have regarded Jesus as a good moral teacher or a wise rabbi who taught ethical living, they reject His claims that He is divine and the Savior of the world. Who then is this Jesus? He is not just a rabbi. He is the long-expected Messiah that Israel has been waiting for.

There is great tension here with what Jesus is revealing to the people of His hometown. He had ordinarily lived to be known as Joseph’s son. “Is this not Joseph’s son?” they would ask. “He cannot surely be our long-awaited Messiah. Can this be the one who can deliver us from Roman rule and oppression?” Friends, this is not merely Joseph’s son as they had supposed Him to be. He is the anointed one. He is the Messiah. He is the one appointed by God in the lineage of David to redeem His people. Luke makes us understand from the genealogy he recorded in chapter 3 that Jesus has proceeded from the Father. That is where He comes from. He begins His ministry having come from God, being the very Son of God. He is sent by God Himself. So who is He according to this passage? He is the one who can open this portion of Scripture and claim all the references for Himself: “Today this prophecy has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Friends, Jesus alone is the one with the ability to seek and save the lost. He is the one whom God has chosen. It sounded at the beginning that He had come on a military procession, as Luke accounts in chapters 1 and 2 with a heavenly host praising God during His birth. But He does not seem to walk around in military regalia. He is surely not the one they had been expecting. His father is a carpenter. He comes from a humble background. His birth was a humble one. What more can timbers and nails do to overthrow Roman rule? There is no sign at all in Him of a Davidic stature that qualifies Him to be the long-expected Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah we would not expect to have. The question this morning is: will you follow Him or reject Him? We have already looked at His identity—who this Jesus is. He is not merely Joseph’s son, as the people of His hometown supposed. He is the sent one from God, commissioned to come and seek and save the lost.

The Mission of Jesus

What was His mission? What did He come to do? From verse 18 to 19, we see the mission of Jesus. His mission flips public expectation upside down. He has not come to make Israel mighty in military conquest as David did, as they expected. Not at all. There is little hope for physical prosperity in this kind of Messiah. His focus is much more spiritual. He does not come on a military campaign to make Israel great again. He comes to preach the good news to the poor. He comes as a preacher, and preaching is His priority. He comes preaching the good tidings, the good news.

There are many politicians who would want to come and make great promises to you. They have a manifesto to convince the crowd. They know how to go about it. They have plenty of promises to make. Recently in America, we have a phrase that says, “Make America great again.” A politician would say, “Vote for me and I will fix things for you. I will make a better country if you elect me.” Well, here friends, Jesus is not merely giving empty talk. He has come to give His own life as a ransom for many. He is the change that a dark and broken world needs. These are the people He has come to: He has come to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and the year of the Lord’s favor. He has come as a preacher.

Whatever pain and suffering we see around this broken world, there have been climate change campaigns, United Nations revolutions, and humanitarian organizations going out with expeditions to bring ultimate change and solution to a broken and dying world. But Jesus is the only hope. Dear friends, the problem with this world is not that mother nature is angry or collapsing. The problem with this world is sin. Look at this passage and see the brokenness that man is undergoing. The problem with this world is sin. Jesus knows the solution too well. He is the solution. He promises a better kingdom and a better solution. Good news—that is what He has brought for people to hear.

His mission is for a specific group of people. He is the Messiah of the poor, the Messiah for the spiritually bankrupt. He is the Messiah for the captive and those living in bondage. He is the Messiah for the spiritually blind. He is the Messiah for the oppressed. Those are the ones He has come to save and seek. He has come to look for men like the tax collectors and sinners, the outcasts, those who have been neglected and quarantined. He is the Messiah for the lepers. He is the one who can open the eyes of the blind to see. He eats with sinners, mingles with the outcasts, and overturns the entire tradition. Those are the people He has come for. Later, He will give parables of the lost: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. His mission is entirely for the lost and those who are considered nobodies. He has not come for the healthy and religiously upright. Not at all. He has come as a physician for the spiritually sick. He has not come to make your life better now, nor to afford earthly privileges for anyone. He has come to seek and save the lost and grant them eternal life.

Why People Either Follow or Reject Jesus

Why do people either follow Him or reject Him? That is the last question. According to verse 20 to 30, allow me to read again:

> He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth. And they said, “Is this not 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 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.

Why do people either follow or reject Jesus? Here we have an expected response. Why is He rejected in His own hometown? The first reason is because of what He claims to be. They cannot reconcile the ordinary Jesus they know with the Messiah He claims to be. The prophet, as He quotes, is not accepted in his own hometown. The people of Nazareth knew His name and His family. They knew and watched Him grow up. But when Jesus reveals who He truly is, they reject Him. They thought they knew Him too well. They cannot understand why the man who had been reading the scrolls suddenly makes a claim of divine authority over the Scriptures by saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” They cannot believe that it demands faith and repentance for them to believe in Him.

The problem is that we too can become accustomed to religion, and we can find the claims of Jesus so offensive to us. Dear friends, we can be too accustomed until we find His claims—particularly how to be saved—very offensive, and that is the saddest place to be. Later, He will give the example of the rich young ruler who comes to Him and asks about the way to the kingdom of God, and His claims about what is demanded and required make him sad and turn away. My question this morning is: how does it settle in your heart when you are confronted with the claims of Jesus? Do you reject and refute His claims, or do you humbly receive Him as Lord and follow Him? Do you agree with His mission on how to live the Christian life and to whom to witness, or do you reject it and invent other inventions?

Friends, this is not merely rejection in this passage; it is a scene of unbelief. If you look at verse 22, they all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His mouth. But then they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” Jesus is actually exposing their unbelief. What is needed in response to His identity and mission is faith, repentance, and following Jesus. He quotes the proverb, “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown.” His identity and the priority of His mission do not meet the expectations of His hearers. Then He announces grace to the outsiders and challenges their ethnic privileges. As Jews, they had known that the Messiah was meant for the Jews, not for the Gentiles or outcasts. They could not reconcile these facts as Jesus used this illustration. They had considered themselves the automatic recipients of all their national and ethnic privileges. But Jesus overturns their expectations. His message actually sounded to them more offensive than Roman oppression itself, and they were filled with wrath and wanted to kill Him. Salvation and grace have been extended to the outcasts. That is what is happening in this passage.

Conclusion: Will You Follow or Reject Him?

Friends, for such a season as this, just as we have been celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ—that a Son has been given to us—we look at His identity and His mission, and we see it is far different from what we expect. He is the Messiah we would never expect. The people of His own hometown never expected such a Messiah who would flip their expectations upside down. He has come into the world with good tidings, with gracious words, to give His life as a ransom for your sins. For this first coming, He has come to offer grace to you who are lost in this darkened and broken world.

Jesus quoted a passage from Isaiah chapter 61, verses 1 and 2, but He left out the section about the day of the vengeance of God—when God will come and deal with His enemies. Right now, He is proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. He has come with good tidings. But at His second coming, when the prophecies shall be fulfilled once and for all, He will come to execute judgment and vengeance upon His enemies. This is the acceptable hour, day, and year for salvation. This is the day for salvation. This is the acceptable moment to receive the favor of God. The door of salvation is wide open. That is what He has come to proclaim: the good tidings and the good news to the poor.

We must believe. You must believe in the One who gave His life as a ransom for your sins, and you must follow Him. What do you do with this identity of Jesus and His mission that is already laid bare to you? Will you choose to follow Him or reject Him? The people of His own hometown rejected it. They rejected His identity completely. They rejected His mission completely. And He told them that the door of grace has been opened even to the outsiders, the outcasts.

Believers, we are privileged to have open Bibles with us. We are privileged to have the preaching of the gospel with us over and over again. We have freedom of religion. Sometimes we can take this for granted, becoming too accustomed to the person and mission of Jesus. We ought to be reminded of His identity and His mission once again. In this season when the name of Jesus has been going out across the world, it is easy for people to become so accustomed to hearing this name that they forget who He truly is.

Friends, His mission is to preach to the poor, to seek and serve the lost, to go beyond the borders of our own ethnic privileges and identity. How does this inform how we interact with our neighbors, the poor? Do we preach the gospel to them? Are we compelled by the mission of Jesus? When we think about the poor and those who are oppressed, what do we think about them? The question is: does this look like you are following Him, or does it look like you have rejected Him and His mission?

Non-believers, Jesus does not promise wealth in this world, but He teaches us the right view of wealth and riches. He does not promise health, prosperity, or earthly privileges according to this passage. He promises true liberty and eternal life. That is what He has come to give. He calls you to follow Him. What do you choose to do with it? Will you follow Him or reject Him?

Sometimes the words of Jesus, as the philosophers would say, can be tickling to the ears. There can be temporal admiration of Jesus, as we have seen in verse 22: “And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth.” That can happen. But here is the issue: He was not a minimalist. Jesus is not just a wise rabbi like Mahatma Gandhi of the day. He is the One who came to save you from your sins. He is the One who came to save you from your bondage and your blindness. What happens when Jesus does not match your expectations? What do you do with that? There is no other choice. There is no other way. You either reject Him or follow Him. And you cannot follow Him on your own terms. You follow Him by His terms.

Friends, this passage has come to us: Jesus is the Messiah we would never have expected to have. He has a different identity from what we expect, and a different mission from what we expect. The question that comes to ask is: will you choose Him or reject Him? Will you follow Him or reject Him? He said that He has come to give His life as a ransom for many. That is what He came to do. He died on that cross so that your sins can be forgiven. Will you reject Him or follow Him?