Luke 4:14-30

Summary: You can well imagine Nazareth abuzz with anticipation that the boy they’d known from his childhood would be leading the Sabbath worship in the synagogue this week. And in fact, all seems to be going wonderfully as Jesus begins his sermon from Isaiah 61…until Jesus addresses the proverbial elephant in the room. Citing two Old Testament examples where the blessing of God passed over Israel and was given to Gentiles, Jesus identifies the heart-hearted expectations of his listeners. They wanted Messianic miracles and deliverance, but they did not want a Messiah who meddled with the darkness of their hearts…especially not someone whom they had watched grow up. Yet that’s precisely what the Messiah had come to do; release them from a bondage far more sinister than the Roman Empire…the bondage sin. Jesus was almost always rejected by those who didn’t want to admit their sin; but for all who come in humble repentance, he is everything the prophet Isaiah said he would be.