St. Luke 4:14-44: "4 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 'The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.' 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, 'Is this not Joseph's son?' 23 He said to them, 'You will surely say this proverb to Me, "Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country."' 24 Then He said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.' 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. 31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. 33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, 'Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!' 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be quiet, and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, 'What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.' 37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region. 38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. 40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, 'You are the Christ, the Son of God!' And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. 42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.' 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee."
One of the good things about this Lectionary is that we get to go back and hear the narratives that we heard in St. Mark, told from a different perspective from St. Luke. As a matter of fact, if the Epiphany season was longer this year, we would have also heard these same narratives from St. Matthew's point of view. So that, the three synoptic Gospel writers each have a voice in training us about our Lord Jesus' life and mininstry leading up to His crucifixion. And during Lent we will get to hear from all four Gospel writers their perspective of the Passion of our Lord. If you are wondering when we will get to hear St. John's perspective on the life and ministry of our Lord, that will come during the Easter season, from Easter to Whitsunday. St. John giving us our Lord's life and ministry from a theological standpoint comes after Easter. For the three synoptic Gospel writers present the material in a catechetical manner. And since Epiphany was historically the preparation for catechesis into the Church, and during Lent the catechesis actually took place, these narratives serve as a teaching tool for to learn what our Lord did while He was alive on Earth, and it teaches us what things He endured for our salvation.
Therefore, today, we get to see from St. Luke the narrative of our Lord teaching in the synagogue of His home town, Nazareth. From St. Luke we learn that the people of Nazareth did want our Lord Jesus to perform the works that He did in Capernaum, but our Lord says no. We also learn that this upset the people of Nazareth so much that it led them to so much wrath that they desired to throw our Lord off of the mountain upon which the town was situated. Now, something should first be said about differences between the Gospel writers. St. Luke and St. Mark to not differ in substance, they only differ in the details. That is, what one writer leaves out, the other writer supplies. This is for our benefit, for we get to see this narrative on our Lord's return to His home town, from different perspectives to get the full story.
The key to understanding this pericope is that the people of Nazareth had a stumbling block which got in the way of our Lord performing any miracles there, and that stumbling block was who is family was. He was born to lowly parents, a handmaid and a carpenter. They knew His family, and they weren't kings, or leaders, and of course, this is from whom the Jews thought the true Messiah would be, from a family of substantial standing. Therefore, we first see our Lord being despised by men, for whom He is not; for His humble existence.
In other words, they had heard of the miracles performed in Capernaum, but because of their reproach of Who He was, and on account of their envy of the works performed by Him in a Gentile region, they did not receive His works. Mystically speaking we see here the unbelief of the Jews, portrayed by the people of Nazareth, and the willing reception of the Gentiles, represented by Capernaum, which was in the land of the Gentiles. This is in a sense a foreshadowing of what would eventually take place, the Jews would reject our Lord Jesus, to the point of crucifying Him, but the Gentiles would gladly hear about the Messiah from the Apostles after His Resurrection and Ascension.
This is shown further by our Lord's exegesis of the Old Testament. For in both Elijah's day, and Elisha's day, the unbelief of the Jews towards the prophets prevented them from healing the Jews. Only the widow of Zarephath would receive the benefits of Elijah's preaching, on account of her belief. And only Naaman, the Syrian, would receive the benefit of Elisha's preaching, for only he was willing to do what the prophet asked. Therefore, we see from these examples from the Prophets, the unwillingness of the Jewish people to listen to and hear the Word of God. It is on account of their unbelief that many more wonders were not performed in their territory. As it was for the prophets Elijah and Elisha, so it is for our Lord Jesus in His own country. For our Lord was not the type of Lord they expected, nor wanted.
The same is true today, for many want our Lord to work many wonders and miracles, to show Himself in grand ways. They prefer rock bands, and laser light shows with fog machines blowing, and loud amplification systems blaring over all, for in their mind, they think this is the only way that people will listen. First of all, it is not the only way that people will listen, but secondly, and more important, it is not the way that our Lord portrayed Himself, nor came to His people. But He came to us in simple and humble means. He does this today as well. For He comes to us in the simple and humble forms of water, word, bread and wine. In these simple means He, through the working of the Holy Ghost, performs the miracle of forgiveness of sin. There are many today who despise and distain such simple means, after all they aren't as flashy as a big screen with words and pictures on it, and loud music.
But this is how our Lord has chosen to impart His miracles of forgiveness, life and salvation. All those who receive them in faith, trusting that our Lord does impart His gifts through them, gladly receive them, and they are strengthened through them. Those who reproach them, receive no benefit, and search after other false means, which lead them away from God, and into a theology of themself. And there is no salvation in one's self.
May God Almighty lead you to the One True Faith, and guard and keep you in that faith, unto life everlasting, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
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