Jesus Is Rejected At Nazareth
JESUS IS REJECTED AT NAZARETH
LUKE 4:23-30
The people’s reaction changed, as the significance of what he said sank in.
Luke is often a master of succinct irony. Look at his quiet description of the crowd at Ephesus (Acts 19:32). The same hand wrote 4:22. Charmed in their despite, the folk of Nazareth wondered at the gracious words of Christ. Then in an upsurge of bitter jealousy they realized that he was one of them, “Joseph’s son,” who worked with plane and saw along the street. The utter irrelevance of the thought is the center of its tragedy.
So it comes about that those nearest to the proffered blessing fail often to lay hold of it. Others—the Phoenician widow, the Syrian soldier—receive it. And it is here evident why Luke, the associate of Paul, who shared the great apostle’s vision of a global gospel, chose to set this incident in the forefront of his story. Here was the Jewish response to the evangel, which was repeated with monotonous regularity throughout the ministry of Paul, revealing its tragic shape thus early in the ministry of Christ. The mention of Zarephath and Naaman suggested the appeal to the Gentiles.
This prospect was revolting to the nationalistic Jew. The Lord had refused an idle demonstration of his power in Nazareth. That is what they demanded, and the explanation of his words in 4:23 lies here. Matthew 13:58 remarks that their unbelief prevented his doing such deeds among them. And now his reference to the faith of Gentiles supplied the spark. In a flame of hate they thrust him to the cliff-top with murder in their hearts. Nazareth lies in a hollow in a ridge of hills. The Mount of Precipitation, a likely enough site, presents a precipitous face to the Esdraelon plain. A score of biblical sites ring the vast landscape. The Nazarenes added another. Compare Acts 13:46,50; 22:21-22.
The Lord departed, as he departed from Gadara. It is possible to reject salvation in the very presence of Christ. And with fatal finality. He never came back to Nazareth. Carefully compare the story in the other two Gospels.
Notes There is no contradiction between 4:22 and 4:28. When the crowd began to talk, the evil words of the jealous (4:23) gained control. The morality of a crowd tends to be that of its lowest components. 4:29: “throw him down headlong”—a form of stoning, the punishment for blasphemy.