94. Beginner Bible Course: Jesus preaches back in his home town, Nazareth (Spoiler alert...it does not go well)

EPISODE 94.  The simple Bible overview of… JESUS PREACHES BACK IN HIS HOME TOWN, NAZARETH

...You grow up in a little hick town, graduating class of 27, like many of your classmates, you head off to a trade school or university. Then you decide on medical school, your mom brags you up and you get a lot of attaboys. When you're back home, visiting the parents, you get a job as a doctor out of state. And about 10 years later, you hit the national news through your work with patients and personal research. You've come up with a unique treatment for a very common and lethal disease. You're awarded that year's Nobel prize for medicine now known worldwide as a medical wonder and hero. What's it going to be like the next time you come back to your hometown, we're going to see what happened to Jesus.

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00:00:47

The first time as a rabbi with a growing reputation returns home to Nazareth, where he grew up as a kid, Jesus' reputation was spreading quickly, partly because of that clearing the temple thing. Many from his home area of Galilee and even his hometown of Nazareth were in Jerusalem for that national holiday. Many locals saw live the local boy, go off on the abuse of merchandisers, taking advantage of people under the guise of worship. Some had likely heard about what he had done four miles away in Kayna at a wedding turning 180 gallons of water into vintage wine. After spending two days with the Samaritans in sidecar, Jesus travels through Kayna on his stop.

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00:01:33

There a court officer probably of Harrods from the city of Capernaum, grabs him and says, sir, my son is sick. Come clearly. He'd heard about Jesus power. Jesus must have perceived something in his heart or the tone of his voice. He challenges him. If I don't do a sign, you won't believe will you. The officials tone perhaps changed, sir, please come before the child dies. At the very least, he'd heard Jesus was a prophet. Any Jew would have known about Elijah and Elisha, both possessors of God's healing power. Jesus simply says, go home. Your boy will be fine.

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00:02:13

Now the official has a decision to make. You'd have to look far and wide in the old Testament to find a prophet who healed someone from afar that didn't work for Elijah in a live shot, but give this guy credit. He trusts Jesus, the rabbi and turns and heads home to his son. John tells us on the way he meets his servants and they're thrilled to tell them your son has made an immediate recovery was a coincidence or the healing power of Jesus. He quickly discovered it wasn't coincidence. It was at the exact hour. Jesus said the word your son will be well that healing from a distance only fan the flames of excitement about Jesus. The rabbi Jesus then arrives home in Nazareth, his little town in the Hills.

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00:02:59

None of the gospel writers tell us what happened immediately. But several of them talk about what happened on that first Saturday, the Sabbath Jesus headed for their synagogue. Let's take just a moment to talk about synagogues. You'll find that word come up over and over in the new Testament, it was the local church synagogues developed in the Babylonian captivity. Solomon's temple had been destroyed completely, and the people hauled off to exile there in the vast territory of Babylon, the little clumps of Jewish people found places to gather, to read the scriptures, to pray and even to educate their children. Now regathered gathered back in the land.

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00:03:39

These Jewish people found a common building where they could do the same archeologists have dug up these synagogues all over Israel and all over the Mediterranean area where the Jews spread out after 70 a D when the Romans destroyed the next temple Herod's temple synagogues were larger than homes, but not really big. Their function was a combination of today's churches and town halls. Lots of things were done. Their weddings conducting business, even public punishment, but their primary purpose was to gather on the Sabbath to read the old Testament scriptures, pray and discuss the things of God.

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00:04:20

Unlike the temple that were run by priests with the lay people just sort of showing up and doing what they were told. Synagogues were participative just about. Everyone could get involved in some way, reading the scriptures, preaching and praying. So it's no surprise on this first Saturday, this first Sabbath, back in Nazareth, they asked Jesus the hometown hero to read the scriptures and preach the books were expensive. Synagogues had at least the old Testament. They were in a selection of scrolls. When it came time for the reading of scripture, Jesus got to pick his passage. He asked the attendant to bring Isaiah's scroll.

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00:05:02

As we learned in our old Testament study, Isaiah scroll was a big one. Just the fun little fact on scrolls. Hebrew is written from end to beginning, bottom to top. Can you picture that you're holding the big squirrel stick in your left hand and you're pulling on the other stick in your right hand. Rolling it out. They also read from bottom to top. There were no chapter verses in the original scrolls. We put those in there to find our way around. We have Isaiah broken into 66 chapters. So when Jesus started pulling out that scroll with his right hand, he was at chapter 66. He didn't have to pull very much.

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00:05:43

He pulled it to our chapter 61. Jesus decided to keep it short. Here's what he read the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free. Those who are downtrodden and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. If you were rating prophetic passages of the old Testament regarding the coming King and what he would do this passage would get a rating of 9.9 at least great selection for a church service Jesus well done. Jesus then rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to the attendant who then put it back into the niche with the other scrolls in the synagogue wall.

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00:06:31

Then Jesus sat down, not in the pews, but up front on the res platform to us, this would mean he was finished, but to his listeners, that meant I'm now about to preach. They did that setting. It was more authoritative. He was now going to give the sense of what he just read. And here's what he said today. This passage has been fulfilled in your hearing. The 9.9 rated messianic passage about the coming King of David who had set up his eternal kingdom has been fulfilled today in this synagogue, you've heard it with your own ears. They knew it. He meant he was claiming to be the promised Messiah of the old Testament.

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00:07:13

They did pretty much what the citizens of that little town would do to the local boy who won the Nobel prize for medicine. They reminded him of his roots. Can you picture that doctor Sunday school teacher coming up and going, Oh, I remember changing your diaper in the nursery. Thank you Mrs. Larson. It's nice to see you again. Only Jesus hadn't won the Nobel prize for medicine. He was claiming to be the eternal son of God, the Messiah, the descendant of David, the one coming from Abraham, who would bless all nations. The seed of the woman who had stomped Satan, an end, the curse of sin.

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00:07:54

There was no tweaking Jesus cheek and patting him on the head. Mark tells us while his hometown residents were astonished by his words and his works in claiming to be the Messiah. He'd gone way too far. Jesus hears them murmuring. Isn't this the carpenter. We know his mother and brothers and sisters, Mark, even ads. They listed off the names of his brothers. Four of them, Jesus still seated. Silences the murmuring with two statements. A prophet is not without honor, except for in his hometown. Then Jesus summarizes their comments with this. A local proverb physician heal thyself.

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00:08:35

That's Jesus' way of telling them, you're saying, prove it big shot. Show us what you got. Now run back the tape real quick. There's that voice of God coming out of heaven at his baptism, the spirit like a dove descending and remaining on him. John, the baptizer saying behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin, the world, Jesus claiming in clearing out the temple that they turned his father's house into a den of thieves, assorted miracles in the Jerusalem area that caused many to believe the miracle of creating wine from water at a wedding and healing. The officials child from afar. Now they're saying, prove it big shot, local boy, Jesus won't have any of it.

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00:09:18

Instead. He rebukes them. He reminds them of what happened with the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, these powerful spokesman of God. During a three-and-a-half year, drought, God sent Elijah to Sidon to be cared for, not to Israel. The nation that triggered God to bring the drought. Then he reminded him during the prophet Elijah's time. There were many lepers in Israel, this wicked nation where Galilee now sat, but Elisha only healed the leprosy of naming a Syrian who visited him from out of state, openly rebuked. These nice church goers in the synagogue on that Sabbath day became furious and turned into a mob.

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00:10:00

This mob pushed Jesus out of the synagogue and pushed her, carried him up the large Hill to a cliff intending to push them off. When they got to the brow, Jesus simply pass through them. And that could have been a miracle paralyzing them as it were. If he could unparalyzed people as will shortly see certainly he could paralyze them or it could be something about the sheer power and authority behind him. A similar incident happens at his arrest. The gospel writer, Mark adds about his trip to his hometown. Jesus could do no miracles there except for healing, a few sick people. And he marveled at their unbelief.

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00:10:40

I find that kind of funny Mark's parentheses except for healing. A few people that other statement he marveled at their unbelief is telling familiarity, bred contempt, not faith. Jesus then moves on North and East to the town of Capernaum on the shore of Lake Galilee. The sea of Galilee was in the former territory of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali for at least the first year, perhaps two of Jesus' ministry. Jesus made this not Nazareth, his home base. You wonder if he did that on purpose to specifically fill another prophecy of Isaiah this one way back at the beginning of the Isaiah scroll chapter nine, there Isaiah prophesies that the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali that would be full of Gentiles.

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00:11:30

Those people in darkness would see a great light. Those in the land of the shadow of death would have a light Dawn that sounds awfully familiar to John's gospel trailer. His prologue in him was life and he was the light of men. And that light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overwhelm it. It's here in Copernum. The Jesus runs back into Simon, Peter and his brother, Andrew he'd met them earlier and visited with them. Now we seized them at this Lake, casting their nets in Peter. Andrew, come with me, come fish for men. They immediately dropped their nets and start following Jesus.

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00:12:11

But as they're walking away, Jesus sees another set of fishermen, young brothers mending their nets in the boat. Any calls to them come join us. They do. And their names are James and John, the John who writes the gospel. We've been studying now with his tagalong group of disciples, growing Jesus steps on the gas in Galilee for the rest of his first year of ministry. He travels energetically preaching and what's he preaching the same thing he did in the synagogue, in his hometown. I'm heralding good news. I'm here to restore the broken hearted and broken in bodied. I'm here to deliver captives of sin and Satan and Jesus puts his ministry power where his mouth is.

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00:12:55

We're going to see this good news of Jesus. The Messiah applied to the broken hearted, broken bodied and captives in our next episode.