Luke 4:14-44

This universe is broken. It is a mess! Because of the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God, and because of the fall of man, powerful, malignant, destructive, evil and deadly forces shattered the universe and were released against man. The world and humanity was cursed. We became subject to death. We became slaves of sin. We were sold into the satanic slave market of sin and death. The whole world of human beings now lies under the power of the evil god of this world. We are headed to death, not life; the first death – physical death, followed by the even worse Second Death – eternal death in Hell, Gehenna, the Lake of Fire.

Mankind has been devastated by these forces. Our connection to our wonderful Creator, our souls, our spirits, our minds, our emotions, our bodies, our will, our sexuality, our relationships with one another, our relationship with the Earth and its creatures and our environment, have all been severely damaged.

But, there is hope! All the damage done by sin and death, all the mighty power of Satan and the fallen angels, can be overcome! But, we can’t overcome the damage, destruction and devastation on our own. Our ablest politicians can’t do it. Our best economists can’t do it. Our most capable educators and psychologists can’t do it. Our smartest scientists won’t be able to do what is needed. Our greatest entrepreneurs, even using the most efficient use of capital, won’t be able to do it.

We need something bigger, something greater, something more powerful. We need better help, more profound and deeper healing. We need help from outside. We need help from God! And, that help has already come! That Help has come to us in the form of a Person – Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. The Savior has come! He has arrived bringing lost and dying mankind the help that we so desperately need! And, that is what Luke is trying to tell us.

Luke began his book by telling us that the way of the King of Israel had been prepared by a special prophet and forerunner – John the Immerser. The God-Man Himself had been prepared. He had been brought up in a godly, Jewish, Torah-centered home. At age 30 He had been immersed. He had been anointed by the Spirit. He had been affirmed by God. He had been tested in the Judean wilderness by the most powerful source of evil in the universe, and succeeded where all others had failed.

We are in deep darkness. A very deep thick darkness covers the peoples of the world. We are very confused, full of chaos and death. Isaiah told us that a great light would rise and shine first in Galilee. Yeshua is the Light and He first started shining among the Jewish people in the northern part of Israel. Now Yeshua returned north to the Galilee in the power of the Spirit, close to God, close to the Spirit of God, and full of divine power.

The power of the Spirit in Yeshua was seen by the way God used Him to teach the Word of God and by the miracles God used Him to accomplish. He began teaching in the synagogues of northern Israel, and everyone who heard Him teach was very impressed with the wisdom of the young carpenter of Nazareth, who was not trained by the great rabbis in Jerusalem. The power of the Spirit was also seen by the way God used Him to heal people of various physical illnesses, and to heal people by removing demons from them.

This powerful teaching ministry and supernatural healing ministry made a tremendous impact on the towns and cities of northern Israel, especially since there had not been a great miracle-working prophet among the Jewish people in hundreds of years. Now, here was one, doing great things that helped us and healed and; here was one who was teaching us a clear pure word from God.

Luke gives us an example of His powerful teaching. It took in the synagogue in Nazareth, where Yeshua had been brought up. Now, we might think that in His home town, Yeshua would do the greatest miracles there, the greatest miracles there, and give the most profound teaching there; and be praised and loved the most there, from those who were closest to Him and knew Him best. But, that did not happen.

And as was His custom, Yeshua entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him (not Second Isaiah, or Third, Forth or Fifth Isaiah, but simply the unified book of the one Isaiah). And He opened the book and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed (from mashach – messiahed) Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. That is from Isaiah 61:1-2. And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

In other words, Yeshua said: This part of the divinely inspired Holy Scriptures, which Isaiah wrote 700 years ago, which predicted the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah, the very special human being who would have the Spirit of God on Him in a very special way; the Messiah, empowered by the Spirit of the Lord who was on Him, would bring a message of hope and good news to afflicted humanity – especially the poor of poor, afflicted humanity; the Messiah, empowered by the Spirit of God, would begin to reverse the curse, and begin to heal damaged human being, who are captive to the dominion of darkness and the overmastering forces of sin and death; the Messiah, empowered by the Spirit of God, would begin the spiritual and physical healing of humanity. Now is that very special, long awaited time that Isaiah told us about! And, I am that very special man, anointed and empowered by the Spirit of God. I am the Messiah!

Wow! That is powerful! That is bold! Amazingly simple, yet so profound! The long awaited Messiah, the ultimate Prophet, Priest and King was finally here among us! The answer to our greatest problems, the Redeemer, the Savior, the Healer of Body and Soul, was here! Everyone, the whole world, especially the Chosen People, should deliriously welcome the King!

I am not sure that everyone in the synagogue understood what Yeshua was saying. But still, it was obvious that what Yeshua said was profound. Luke gives us the initial response of the people at the synagogue of Nazareth to this powerful teaching. The people were  impressed. They were impressed by the things He said; they were impressed by the reports they had heard about miracles that had heard that He had done in other places. But their initial positive impression was followed by unbelief and rejection.

They were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” In other words: “We know Yeshua and His father the carpenter; He is from here. He was not trained to be a rabbi. So, anything Yeshua says and does can’t be that important”. Their familiarity bred contempt, and Yeshua knew it.

How very sad that He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. Those who were closest to Him, who should have loved Him the best and accepted Him the most, rejected Him. This tragic rejection of Yeshua by the majority of the people of Nazareth will foreshadow a greater rejection  – the rejection of the majority of the nation of Israel, and tragic rejection of the Son of God that has resulted in such devastating consequences for so many centuries for the Jewish people.

Yeshua understood that the people in the synagogue had rejected Him. But, instead of trying to make nice, and maintain a relationship with them that was based on Yeshua-Rejection, which is so utterly destructive to human life, Messiah tried to bring into focus their rejection, and to show them how serious their rejection of Him was, and to overcome their rejection. And so, still in the synagogue, He responded as follows:

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Familiarity often breeds contempt, and in this case, because of their unbelief and rejection, Yeshua couldn’t and wouldn’t do many miracles in His hometown of Nazareth.

Yeshua continued teaching them their that their rejection of Him, which limited His desire and ability to do miracles in Nazareth, was a very serious and damaging thing, and was similar to the rejections of some of our great prophets by the majority of Israel at other times, which therefore limited their ministry among the Jewish people:

But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” Yeshua was like Elijah and Elisha, and the majority of the people of Nazareth were like the apostate Jewish people of the northern Kingdom of Israel during the time of those great prophets!

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. Their spiritual darkness, and their lack of confidence in Yeshua, and their unbelief, and their rejection of Him, accompanied by this clear, stinging rebuke, resulted in a murderous rage. If left to themselves, they would have put to death the greatest of the prophets, and the Messiah, and the Savior of the World, and the Son of God!

But, it was not Yeshua’s time to die, and God protected Him. But passing through their midst, He went His way.

And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.

And, here is an example of the authority that accompanied His wise teaching: In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Yeshua of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”

Demons are real. They are pure evil. They surround humanity. They to a large degree, control humanity; and under the right circumstances, they can possess and control individual human beings. This was one of those human beings. And, when a demon possesses and controls a human being, it is very difficult for other human beings to free that demon-possessed human from the unclean spirit’s control.

But Yeshua could! Easily. With power. With authority! Yeshua rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.

And, what Yeshua was able to do with this one demon-possessed individual, one day He will do on are larger scale for all humanity. He will crush the head of the serpent, freeing humanity from the dominion of darkness!

The people in the synagogue of Capernaum understood that something very special, something very unusual, something very powerful, something very good, was happening with Yeshua. Good things can happen when you are at a good synagogue, so come regularly to Shema!

And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

And, this was not an isolated incidence. Yeshua didn’t help and heal and remove demons from just one or two people in Capernaum, but many! He didn’t heal just strangers, but friends and relatives of His closest friends and followers.

Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her. And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them. While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Messiah.

The mighty heralding angel Gabriel declared that Yeshua is the Son of the Most High, and the Messiah. He is the unique God-Man.

Zachariah the priest, the father of John the Baptist, proclaimed that the King Messiah was about to bring salvation and redemption – and Yeshua is that Messiah.

The angel sent to the shepherds told them that Yeshua is the Lord Messiah, and the Savior of Israel.

Old Shimon made a blessing, and stated that Yeshua is the Lord’s Anointed Ruler, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel.

Yeshua told his parents, even from an early age, that God was His Father, and that He was the unique Son of God.

At Yeshua’s baptism, God the Father declared with a voice from Heaven that Yeshua was His beloved Son, with whom He was pleased.

The Holy Spirit of God voiced His approval of Yeshua when He descended and remained on Him.

These declarations of truth about Yeshua were true and were welcome, because they came from good sources.

The declarations of truth from the demons, that Yeshua is the Son of God, and the Messiah, were true but unwelcome and were silenced by Yeshua, because they came from an evil, demonic source. That is a warning that we are not to have contact with, or listen to that which has it source in pure evil.

Yeshua was welcome and popular and loved in Capernaum. He could have stayed there, and enjoyed an easy life among them. But, He didn’t, because He had a greater mission. His popularity in one city and His comfort did not motivate Him. His great mission did.

When day came, Yeshua left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Here, in the beginning of His ministry in the Galilee, Yeshua gave the Jewish people, and humanity, a taste of what He will do.

He healed many. One day when He returns, He will heal all!

He cast out quite a few demons. One day when He returns, He will cast out all!

He taught some. One day when He returns, He will teach all!

He is mankind’s true and hope of hope of for complete healing of body, soul, spirit and mind.

Yeshua was accepted by some, but rejected by many. The closer we are to Yeshua, the holier we will become, and the more different we will be from the world, and more rejection we will experience. But the more useful we will become, and the more the Lord will use us. And, He will protect us until our time is finished.

Yeshua was accepted by some, but rejected by the majority, even by His hometown. The closer we are to Yeshua, the more rejection we are likely to experience by those who are closest to us. But, the more grace we will receive to endure and know that our present rejection will be worth future reward.

On Shabbat, Yeshua regularly went to synagogue, as was His custom. The closer we are to Yeshua, the more we will understand the importance of gathering together with God’s people for teaching and prayer and service, and build this important spiritual discipline into our lives.

Yeshua was and is full of the Holy Spirit and power. Yeshua taught with wisdom and with authority – and He still does. The closer we are to Yeshua, the fuller we will be of the Spirit, and the more power we will have to help people. The greater ability we will have to understand, apply and teach the Word of God with wisdom and with authority.

Yeshua had a great purpose – to transfer humanity, under the control of the cruel and deadly kingdom of darkness, to the Kingdom of God – the good and beneficial rulership and lordship of God. Everything else was of less importance. The closer we are to Yeshua, the more sense of this same purpose we will have. The less important everything else will become.

It is so simple! Get closer to Yeshua!!! If you are having problems doing so, or don’t know how, make an appointment to meet with me, and I will help you.