An Exegetical Approach to Luke 4:14-30 Part V

Jesus compares himself to the Old Testament prophets. 23-27.

The message Jesus has just given would have inevitably demanded that Jesus perform a miracle verifying his claims. Jesus then operates as a prophet by saying to the people, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, Physician heal yourself. What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” While there are various interpretations of this proverb most conservative scholars agree that what the people want is for Jesus to verify his claims, the proverb carries a “you profess, so now produce” mentality. Jesus has asked the townspeople to believe he is the Messiah and they are hesitant until he shows them a sign.

In verse 24 Jesus is clearly presenting himself as a prophet by his remarks. In the Old Testament God’s prophet was often rejected by the people, Jesus is saying that he is no different. It is interesting to note that Jesus read in verse 19 that this Messiah (which he understood to be himself) would proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, yet he as a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. The local rejection at Nazareth is but a picture of the greater rejection Christ will face. Jesus in verses 25-27 cites a low point in Israel’s history in which Old Testament Israel ignored the preaching of Elijah and Elisha. To better understand Jesus’ point one must examine the Elijah and Elisha narratives in their context.

In the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17), the word of the Lord comes to Elijah telling him to go to Zarephath which is in Sidon, and stay with a widow and her son. Upon arriving Elijah begs the woman for a drink of water and some bread. The widow is angered at his request because of her and her son’s own starvation she explains to the prophet that her barrel of flour is almost empty and only has enough for her and her son to have one final meal and then starve to death. Elijah tells her to provide bread for him and then her family and in return the Lord will fill her barrels with enough flour to last through the drought. The woman responds in faith and makes bread for Elijah and then some for her and her son, in return the Lord remains faithful to his promise and continues to fill the barrels. The same widow comes to Elijah when her son dies and begs him to cry out to the Lord to raise him. Elijah takes the child and lays on him and prays to the Lord, the Lord hears him and raises the child back to life.[1]

Next, Jesus turns to the story of Elisha and Naaman (II Kings 5). Naaman is a commander in the Syrian army suffered from leprosy. During one of the Syrian raids in Israel the army carried off a little girl who becomes a servant to Naaman’s wife. The little girl encouraged her master to tell Namaan to go to the prophet Elisha in Israel to be healed. The king grants Naaman permission to go to the king of Israel and be healed. The king of Israel tears his clothes when he realizes that the king of Syria thinks that he has the power to heal Naaman. When Elisha hears of the matter he has Naaman come to him, he orders Naaman to go and dip in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman is outraged and decides to leave but is convinced to do as Elisha said by one of his own servants he dips himself in the Jordan seven times and is healed of his leprosy.[2] What is the point of these two passages in light of Luke 4? In each story the prophet of God who is sent to preach to the nation of Israel ministries to people who are Gentiles, people who were outside the covenant. Why? Israel had hardened its heart against God and his messenger so God in return sought to display his glory among Gentiles rather than his own people. The Jews would have understood the magnitude of these narratives, God chose not to bless his covenant people but rather he gave his blessing to pagans who responded to him in faith! Therefore, Jesus uses these narratives as a testimony against the people of Nazareth. Here Jesus is saying that they to will miss out on God’s salvation because they have refused to accept him, therefore, like Elijah and Elisha Christ will seek to minister elsewhere. The comparison to this dreary time in Israel’s history certainly warns that the consequences for rejecting Jesus may involve God’s rejection.[3]

[1] Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Everyman’s Bible Commentary: First and Second Kings (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), 94-96.
[2] Ibid, 154.
[3] Darrell L. Bock, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Luke Volume 1: 1:1-9:50 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 418.

Go And Pollute No More

Unless you have been living with the Amish, you are aware of the current discussion about global warming. Regardless of which side you fall down on, concerned Christians should attempted to think from a Christian worldview about the environment. I have been reading on the subject recently and to be honest, there is wealth of trash out there, no pun intended. However, sometimes while searching, you find a pearl in the field. I have listed below two articles from a Christian point of view that I found helpful. I encourage you to read them, go, and pollute no more!

An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation

Do Evangelicals Need a Biblical Environmental Position?

Francis Schaeffer Speaks to the Problem of Ecology

Prayer For The Week

I Kings 8:55-60

Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statues, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God, there is no other.

Prayer For The Week

I want to include a prayer of my own. When I personally pray, I often follow the A. C. T. S. method. A is for Adoration, C is for Confession, T is for Thanksgiving, and S is for Supplication. This has been a helpful guide for me and I hope it is for you too.

A
God you alone are the true God. You have made all things and you alone sustain them.

C.
I confess to you that I live my life as if I sustain myself.

T.
Yet I thank you for what you have done. You sent your Son to die for my self-sufficency. He was dependent when I was not, and for that I am grateful.

S.
Grant me to trust in you. Grant me to walk by faith and not by sight.

For the sake of Christ my King I pray,
Amen

What I Am Theologically

My favorite Christian of all time is Martyn Lloyd Jones, the Calvinistic Methodist preacher from Wales. I guess his Calvinistic Methodism influenced me more than I know... or these quizzes are rather dumb.

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Reformed Evangelical 79% Fundamentalist 68% Neo orthodox 68% Emergent/Postmodern 64% Charismatic/Pentecostal 50% Roman Catholic 39% Classical Liberal 25% Modern Liberal 0%

Prayer For The Week

A praise for guidance and grace.

O Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We pray you allow us never to stray from you, who are the Way, nor distrust you, who are the Truth, nor to rest in any one other thing than you, who are the Life. Teach us, by your Holy Spirit, what to believe, what to do, ad how to take our rest.

Erasmus

Creeds And Confessions?

In case you are unaware, I would consider myself a "creedal/confessional" Christian. That is, I believe that what I and other Christians I am united to, believe the Bible teaches needs to defined. Creeds and confessions are helpful tools to aid in that process.

Now if you are a good Bible thumper like myself, you will be saying, "Why do you think that anyone needs those creeds? All you need is the Bible to express what you believe." To that I would say that the Bible is the ultimate authority of the church! I completely agree! The problem with the, "no creed but the Bible" view is that heretics use the Bible to come up with their ideas too.

For example, when talking to a Jehovah’s Witness, you will notice that they will quote the Scriptures to defend their claim that the Son is not divine. We both use the Bible, but we are saying completely different things about matters with eternal significance. I came to see the usefulness of confessions while serving in a local church.

A number of years ago now, I taught a series of classes on what particular cults and religions believed and how to witness to them. What I learned very quickly from teaching the material and witnessing to other people is this: people must define what they mean when they say things like "God", "Salvation", "Jesus Christ", etc. When a Mormon says that he believes in God, he does not mean the same thing as when I say it. I was continually saying to the people I was teaching, "You must ask these people what they mean when they say 'salvation by grace' or 'God'."

It was from this context I came to see the great need for a clearly defined statement of faith for the church. During this time, I began to study some church history where I learned that Christians in the past were dealing with the same theological problems that I was addressing in my day. The results of these debates and events were creeds: a concise statement of what Christians believe the Bible teaches about a subject matter.

Confessions of faith are not meant to replace the Bible. They are not to have authority over the Bible. In fact, the church, through her studying of the Scripture, may need to restate or reject things in a confession because it does not accurately reflect the teachings found in the Bible. Nevertheless, they are helpful tools which can be used to spell out clearly what Christians believe to be true.

I have listed below some helpful thoughts on this subject.

Hold Fast Your Confession by the Exiled Preacher.

Why Creeds And Confessions? by Jay Rogers.

Are Creeds Appropriate For Bible Believing Baptists? by Tom Nettles.

Confessional Christianity by D. Matthew Allen.