“The rest of the story”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Luke 4:16-30 (Forward, p. 23) CEV p. 1060
Each of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tells the story of how the people of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, rejected Him. But each of them tells only a bit of the story. Mark and Matthew tell us that Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and taught there, but they don’t give us even a little hint as to what He taught. They do tell us that His fellow villagers were amazed at Him, and wondered how He could do all this. “Where did he get such wisdom and the power to work these miracles?” (Mark 6:2). We are told by Luke that these folks had already heard of the miracles He performed in Capernaum (see verse 23), so their mention of miracles make sense. But what about His wisdom?
Here Luke fills in the gap in our information, and also tells us, somewhat succinctly, why they got so riled up about it. We are told that He stood up to read from the Scriptures, but here we need to ask whether He did this of His own accord, or whether He was invited. Actually, it was quite normal and nothing out of the ordinary to the leader of the synagogue to invite someone of known reputation to read and then comment on the reading. We are told that Jesus was given the book of Isaiah to read from, but here we must wonder whether this particular passage—one of great importance—had been appointed for that day (as in a lectionary), a mere ‘accident’, you might say, or whether Jesus chose it deliberately Himself.
He stood up to read, and then sat down, which was entirely to be expected when someone was going to explain, expound or preach (see Matthew 5:1 for another example of Jesus sitting down to teach). But what was Jesus’ teaching about? Here’s where Luke fills us in. His words are based on the Isaiah 61:1-2, and He ‘goes out on a limb’ by telling them that this particular passage had been fulfilled in their presence that very day—which, by anyone’s reckoning, is a pretty audacious thing to say, seeing as this was generally regarded as a prophecy concerning the Messiah.
But actually, that wasn’t all. The text tells us that all eyes in the synagogue were upon Him. So, why was that? It would make no sense at all if He simply returned to where He was previously sitting in the synagogue. But, if He sat somewhere else, namely in the seat of Moses (see Matthew 23:2), it would certainly have raised eyebrows, for that seat was normally reserved for the very elite of rabbis—or the Messiah!
No wonder the locals were peeved. Here was a local boy, someone who’d grown up in their midst, someone who’d never really ‘shown that much promise’—at least not in this way—proclaiming by word and action that He was the Messiah. And then, to have the ‘salt rubbed in their wounds’ by Him reminding them that often God worked through, and blessed, outsiders, people who weren’t of Israel: no wonder their passions were inflamed to the point of trying to kill Him!
What this passage points to me is the matter of expectations: ‘What do we expect of God or of Jesus?’ And are our expectations solely based on what we ourselves have experienced or on what others have told us? Or have we allowed the Scriptures to provide us with ‘the rest of the story’ and enlarge our expectations? Jesus is, and can do, so much more than any of us has ever known or experienced, so why not give Him a try and let Him ‘Do His thing’ in our lives?
Forward notes: “And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him” (verse 20).
“Today’s Scripture involves a fair amount of detail, so much so that you can almost picture it. Jesus rises to stand. He unrolls the scroll and confidently begins to read the words of the prophet Isaiah. The scroll is rolled back up. Jesus sits. The crowd is silent and wide-eyed as they wait for Jesus to teach. Jesus simply says that the Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing. That’s it. After what is likely an awkward silence, some members of the crowd begin to ask questions of Jesus and his credentials.
“I can’t help but think of those who remained silent—those in the crowd who, upon hearing Jesus read Isaiah, understood his message. Luke
focuses the rest of the story on the noisy folks at the synagogue who want to drive Jesus away, but I choose to focus on those who quietly nod. These people internalize this experience on the synagogue steps with Jesus and commit to following him. These people bring about the fulfilment of this prophecy with their readiness for the gospel.”
Moving Forward: “Imagine you’re among the crowd in the synagogue. Would you be silently nodding or asking Jesus more questions?”
A concluding note: the hostile folks, the ones who disagreed with Jesus, did far more than simply ask Him questions, or want to know His credentials. They were so angry over what He claimed that they wanted to kill Him. They weren’t willing to give Him any space or hearing, and simply wanted Him out of the picture, shut up—for good! We may be inclined to want to do this with certain people, yes, but, with God? I would hope not.