First Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: Luke 4:21-30

[Most weeks, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Hopefully, it's helpful to others as well, since our Bible lesson is usually one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]

Luke 4:21-30
21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

General Comments
1. Because the incident narrated by Luke in this weekend's lesson continues the incident from last weekend, you may want to read the three passes and the message from last week. You'll find them here, here, here, and here.

2. In this weekend's lesson, the plot thickens. It begins with Jesus' announcement that today, the Old Testament prophecy about the mission and activities of the Messiah were being fulfilled in Jesus. The words today and now are important in Luke's Gospel. Its use signals the immediacy of God's Kingdom, that in Christ the reign of grace has invaded the world.

3. Luke's use of those words--today and now--has what the theologians call an eschatological meaning, not referring to the particular days on which the words were said, but to the end times which Jesus' ministry ushered in. Eschatology, to use a dictionary definition, is the branch of theology that deals with such "last..or final...matters...as death, the Judgment, the future state, etc." The word eschatology is a transliteration of a Greek compound, literally meaning word about the end.

"Today, now, in Me," Jesus was saying, "the ancient prophecies about God closing the book on sin and ushering in righteousness through faith in the Anointed One have been fulfilled. All these signs You've heard about me doing point to the fulfillment of God's intentions for His creation."

4. It's interesting that this incident, according to Luke, occurs near the beginning of Jesus' ministry. In last weekend's lesson, we saw that Jesus used the words of Isaiah to demonstrate that He was the promised Messiah and to describe His activities in that role. The progression of reactions exhibited by His fellow townspeople anticipates the reaction that will await Him as He takes His ministry beyond Nazareth. At first, the Nazarenes "speak well of Him" and marvel at the gracious words coming from His mouth. They even take joy from His being the hometown boy. But soon, they turn on Jesus, intent on killing Him.

The same progression will be seen at the end of Jesus' earthly ministry: On Palm Sunday, He will be welcomed by the crowds in Jerusalem. But in a matter of days, these crowds will cry for His blood.

5. Why the villagers in Nazareth--and the Jerusalem crowds--turn against Jesus will be explored in our verse-by-verse comments.

More tomorrow, I hope.

[UPDATE: One of the books I'm reading right now is a collection of essays on eschatology. In the opening essay, written by theologian Wolfhard Pannenberg, there's this:

...these are the traditional themes of Christian eschatology: resurrection of the dead, the kingdom of God, final judgment, and the second coming of Jesus Christ...

I thought that might be a good summation of what's meant by eschatology. A constant theme of Luke is that in Jesus Christ and in His people is that Kingdom of God is here and now, an invasion of this time- and sin-bound world by the eternal and sinless Son of God. This is seen in all four of the Gospels in one form or another, but is an obsession with Luke, along with prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.]