The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me

 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

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.  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:

"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;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

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.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  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?"  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.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  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; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.   And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 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.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

- Luke 4:14-30

Yesterday, we read that Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit (after His baptism by John), returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Now  when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Jesus' ministry has just begun, and what we notice is the work of the Holy Spirit through all things.  It was the Holy Spirit whose power sent Him into the wilderness to be tempted (yesterday's reading), and by the power of the spirit He is returned to Galilee to begin His ministry.  Nothing begins without the power of the Spirit.  In the Eastern liturgical rites, all begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit.

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.  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:
"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; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  My study bible tells us that the words of Isaiah are inspired by Christ to begin with.  He is the eternal Son of God and therefore has always been; He did not simply become the anointed Savior, but has been so from the foundation of the world.  Isaiah writes, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1) as it was Christ speaking through him.  Jesus does not say, "The Spirit has come upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended on Christ at His baptism (3:22), it was a sign revealing an eternal truth to the people, not a temporal occurrence.  This is an essential moment in His ministry; Luke tells us that Jesus specifically chose this verse to read in His hometown synagogue of Nazareth.  The acceptable year of the LORD is the time of His Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).

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.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  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?"  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.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  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; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.   And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 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.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  We see the response of those in His hometown to His ministry!  My study bible points out that this double response of the people of both marveling (v. 22) and rejection (v. 29) occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see 11:14-16; John 9:16).   Being rejected in His own country is a fulfillment of the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elijah whom Jesus mentions here.  It foreshadows His ultimate rejection by the Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Christ accepts His death according to the will of the Father, not of the authorities or the crowds.  We note that here, as elsewhere, He passes through the midst of them; the hour of His Passion has not yet come.

Right from the beginning of His ministry, we hear of confrontation.  Jesus has great good news that people can't accept.  They know Him, they know His family, they know where He is from.  How can He be the Person He says He is?  By this time of His preaching in His hometown synagogue at Nazareth, He's already well-known.  His ministry has become well-known.  But the people cannot accept the authority in the ministry and the Man; they assign to Him the place they think they know.  This statement made by Jesus, "No prophet is accepted in his own country," is mentioned in all four Gospels.  As my study bible points out, He is rejected as the prophets were rejected.  This 'microcosm' of His hometown is a reflection of what will happen eventually with the authorities and the stirred crowds at the Passion.  But Jesus has a response for them.  He is the Prince of Peace, but this doesn't stop Him from fully defending the authority by which He is sent into the world, and the work of the ministry that will continue when He is gone.  He speaks of the continuing action of God, via the Holy Spirit, in which the Good News of salvation will also be a light to the Gentiles.  He warns the people here in Nazareth with examples from Israel's past, from the Old Testament Scripture, about who is chosen and who is not.  It is an echo of the words of John the Baptist to those who came from Jerusalem to be baptized, not to rely on the ancestry of Abraham for salvation, as "God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." To whom is the message carried? It is carried to those whose hearts are receptive, to those with ears to hear and eyes to see, to refer again to words from Isaiah.  The reality of the Spirit once again reminds us of the power and authority of God that supersedes worldly institutions and "truths," that gives us an eternal truth and not a temporal one to believe in.  How are we all linked in Spirit to believers in other places and other times?  What is "sonship" all about?  How is it conveyed?  All of our temporal assumptions and certainties are called into question by this Good News of Christ, His salvation.  He doesn't shrink from confrontation nor from defending the role the Father has given Him -- even if it provokes outrage among those who've known Him all of His life.  Where is your loyalty?  What teaches you?  The quotation from Isaiah is all about liberty from oppression, setting free the captives, giving sight to the blind, healing the brokenhearted, giving good news to the poor.  What really sets you free?  What would real freedom mean for these who reject Him in favor of what they already know?