Speaker: Brent Kercheville.
We are looking at the regrettable decisions people made when they encountered Jesus. Last week we noticed the person who interrupted Jesus’ sermon with his concern about receiving his portion of the inheritance. We are going to look at another encounter with Jesus. Open your copies of God’s word to Luke 4 and we are going to consider Jesus’ encounter in the town of Nazareth. You will notice that Jesus has begun his ministry and he goes to the synagogue in the town where he grew up (Luke 4:16). We know that Jesus is about 30 years old when he starts his earthly ministry (Luke 3:23). So Jesus has grown up in the town of Nazareth and the people in the town would know who Jesus is. Further, you will also notice that Jesus goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath which was his custom. For the whole of his life, every Sabbath Jesus has gone to the synagogue. Think about the people that you would know if you were going to the same church for 30 years and how familiar you would be with those people. The synagogue was a place for worship, teaching, and learning. It is worth noting as we begin that Jesus did not look down on the idea of going to the synagogue. If we would say that there was someone who did not need to go to the synagogue for worship, teaching, and learning, it would be Jesus. But Jesus went to the synagogue, as it was is custom, even as he began his earthly ministry. There are many aspects to a synagogue service. One of those aspects was a reading from the Law and the Prophets. Jesus takes this opportunity to read from the scriptures. Jesus unrolls the scroll and finds a place in Isaiah that we know as Isaiah 61 and reads from it. Jesus reads from the scripture that speaks about the arrival of the Christ who will proclaim the good news of the Lord’s favor. But after reading this prophetic scripture, what Jesus says next would have been stunning. Look at Luke 4:20-21…
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