Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country

T'oros Roslin Gospels, Canon Table with Isaiah, 1262.   Hromkla scriptorium, Cilicia/Walters Ms. W.539, fol.5v, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

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 broken-hearted,

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 not this 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 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 own way.

 

 - Luke 4:14–30 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan after His Baptism 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 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.  Luke tells us once more of the direct role the Holy Spirit has in this beginning of Christ's ministry (see also Luke 3:16, 22; 4:1).

 

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 broken-hearted, 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 comments here that Christ, being the eternal Son of God, did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It notes that it was Christ who spoke through Isaiah who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1).  Christ does note say that "the Spirit has come upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His Baptism (see Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people. 

 

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."   Christ explains that Isaiah's proclaimed acceptable year of the LORD is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).  

 

 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this 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 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 own way.  My study bible comments that this double response in which the people both marveled and also rejected Him occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see also Luke 11:14-16, John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country is a fulfillment of the rejection of Old Testament prophets such as Elijah, and also Elisha (both of whom Jesus mentions here), and it foreshadows Christ's rejection by the whole of the Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 9:14-15).  Christ accepts death according to the will of the Father, and not at the will of the people or the religious leaders.  Here, the hour of His Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  

Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  This is such an important statement that all four of the Gospels include it (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).  Jesus brings to mind, by way of explanation to His townspeople, the stories of Elijah and Elisha, in which they were not sent by God to perform miraculous signs and healings except to foreigners, and not to their own people.  Indeed, Matthew and Mark explain that Jesus could not perform any great signs in Nazareth because of His fellow townspeople's lack of faith (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6).  They just can't believe that Christ could be anything except the person they remember as Joseph's son.  They marvel at the gracious words He speaks which apparently are a kind of surprising revelation to them.  But they have also heard of the works He's done elsewhere by this time, and Jesus anticipates that they will demand such among themselves as a kind of proof of this new status He's gained:  "Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country."   But consistently throughout the Gospels Jesus refuses to produce signs and "proofs" on demand.   The manifestations of His divine power happen in response to faith.  In giving the examples of Elijah and Elisha, this is what Christ has attempted to explain to the townspeople.  Rather than comprehending and considering what He's telling them, they respond with an outrage predictable to those familiar with the Gospels and Jesus' ministry.  How dare He tell them that the lack of proofs, or manifestation of signs, has something to do with them, something lacking in them?  Their outrage is indicative both of their lack of faith and their lack of recognition of any kind of authority in Jesus, and reflects the greater rejection that is to come in Jerusalem for similar reasons.   Psychologically, this outrage is a reflection of what is commonly called "projection," in which our own internal darkness or ignorance -- a lack of knowledge about what is within ourselves -- results in the projection of our own flaws onto others.  The darkness within us acts as a kind of mirror, where what we accuse others of being is a reflection of something within ourselves.  In this case, Jesus tells them the truth about themselves.  Rather than possessing the ability to look within in an honest way, and trusting in the words and motives of Christ, they respond with a predictable outrage at the Person they perceive as accuser.  Repeatedly, Jesus says in the Gospels that those who love the Father will also be able to "hear" Him.  In John chapter 8, Jesus says to those among the Pharisees who wish to kill Him:  "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John 8:42-47).  He also speaks of this phenomenon of projection when He teaches that we don't dare correct or condemn someone when we haven't dealt with our own bigger flaws:  "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-4).   In today's reading, the townspeople of Nazareth come off as quite judgmental and set in their ways.  The way their society has viewed and understood Jesus and His family has to be the correct one, and nothing can happen that upsets this perception, unless it is flattering to the townspeople.  One cannot help but wonder at the ways in which the lives of Mary and Jesus might have been difficult, except for the fact that the humility with which we understand them to have lived their lives serves as a kind of protection against conflict with the arrogant.  But now, in the setting of our reading, is the time for truth to be revealed, for Jesus to reveal Himself, and for the manifestation of the Kingdom.  As Jesus says, reading the prophecy of Isaiah, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.   The outrage and rejection of God's truth only serves as judgment against those who refuse it.  

 

 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord

 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 Elish 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 after Jesus' Baptism,  He, being filled with the Holy Spirit, 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 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.  The text tells us about Jesus' spreading ministry in Galilee, and His growing fame.

 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 . . . "  As Christ is the eternal Son of God, He did not become the world's anointed Savior, my study bible says, but rather He has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It was Christ who spoke through Isaiah, who writes, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1).  We note that Christ does not say that "the Spirit of the Lord has come upon Me."  When the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Jesus at the Baptism (3:22), this was a sign that revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people.

" . . . To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."  The time of the Incarnation is the acceptable year of the Lord, 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 Elish 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.   My study bible notes that the double response to Christ of both marveling and rejection occurs frequently in those who encounter Him (see 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Being rejected in His own country fulfills the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha, whom Jesus mentions, and foreshadows the rejection that is to come by the whole nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Christ accepts death in accordance with the will of the Father, not at the will of the leaders of the Jews.  Here, the hour of Christ's Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).

Christ is rejected in His hometown.  His words make them angry.  He simply won't reproduce miracles and marvels and signs they've heard happening elsewhere in Galilee on demand.  He refuses to "prove" that He is Messiah.  The people are indignant and incredulous.  How can this be the same person that they remember and know as the son of Joseph?  But He anticipates their demands, and He won't produce the signs they've heard about which have happened elsewhere.  Instead, He goes even further, and reminds them Elijah and Elisha weren't believed in their own country either, and were sent instead to Gentiles to give their signs from God.  It's as if, from the beginning, Jesus is aware of the pattern of rejection He is going to face, and He's prepared for the ministry that lies ahead of Him.  Predictably, the people respond with outrage; so much so, that they wish to throw Him off a cliff.  This won't be the only time that Jesus avoids death at the hands of those whom He's outraged, strangely "passing through the midst of them" (see, for example, John 8:59).  The Gospels give us an understanding that somehow there is a process happening which, despite the free will choices all have to accept or reject Christ, is unfolding in which the "hour" of His death -- which He calls His glorification -- is already known.  Things will unfold in a particular way.  Jesus' deep psychological understanding of those with whom He comes into contact reflects this awareness of human thoughts and responses.  Yet He presses through, because the message He brings and the ministry that is His is more important than pleasing and convincing His audience.  He has a truth to tell, to bring into the world, and that truth means more than persuasion.  It must be presented a certain way, and the choices that people make in response to Him must reach into the heart, beyond a point of mere outrage or initial emotional feelings.  It is those who can reach to that place of reckoning who will find faith in Him.  In our lives, to make good decisions, we're asked to reach beyond the conventional and accepted, and to find that place where real faith dwells.  It's a place that's like a bedrock in the heart, and yet so elusive.  It comes to us perhaps in single moments that suddenly stand apart from conventional awareness and experience of waking life.  It is a place that may be hidden deeply in the heart.  But it is with the spiritual eyes and ears capable of receiving that we suddenly are in that place of faith -- and this moment of understanding is one that occurs despite everything else going on around us and the visceral emotional cues we may receive from others.  Jesus wants that kind of faith, the faith that takes root deep in the good soil of a heart that's ready to hear that truth (see the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-23).  We should ask ourselves if that is the place we want to find and cultivate as well.  That's the place where He asks us to plant a seed that bears fruit, and continues to do so throughout our lives.  It's what He will ultimately sacrifice His life for.   Jesus quotes Isaiah, saying that the Spirit of the Lord has come to send Him to preach the gospel to the poor, 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.  These are those who hearts desire the wealth of spiritual riches He presents, whose broken hearts call for the balm of God's grace, whose freedom is only found in spiritual liberty, whose blindness cries for spiritual sight.  This is the proclamation of the acceptable year of the Lord, for all of us who recognize our need for what He gives, and truly desire what He has to offer.   Christ's mission establishes once and for all time, for all of us, that this acceptable year is always here and now.