Good News

Luke 4:14-30

14. Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the surrounding countryside.
15. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16. Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
17. and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and the regaining of sight to the blind,
    to set free those who are oppressed,
19. to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
    The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21. Then he began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.”
22. All were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth.
    They said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23. Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’ ”
24. And he added, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
25. But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years, and there was a great famine over all the land.
26. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
27. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
    yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28. When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage.
29. They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.
30. But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.

Version: based on NET Bible

Read v.14-21

• Every 50 years, according to the law God gave to the nation of Israel, there was a year of forgiveness and freedom
  • every debt was forgiven, every captive released, the poor were given back all the land they once owned
• Jesus said:
  • That ancient law was given to you as a picture of what one day would happen,
  • now it’s happening for real!
  • Then he began to heal and to free people from demons
• They had a choice:
  • believe him—and there was lots of evidence
  • or not accept him
  • to start with they believed him
  • then they said “hang on, this is just Joseph’s son...”
  • What’s special about Jesus?

Read v.22-24

• So how would you answer them if you were Jesus ??
  • Maybe do a miracle, or explain how although he was 100% human he was also God?
  • No! he made no attempt to convince them
  • He just told them a couple of stories which made them so angry they tried to kill him
    • And this was almost his very first sermon!

Read v.25-27

• Elijah was God’s prophet to the nation of Israel
  • They were very proud of him—the greatest of prophets
  • When there was a famine, he did a miracle to supernaturally provide food for a widow

Drought

Image source: Bert van Dijk

• So what do you think they thought of this?

Angry Crowd

Image source: Maggie Osama

• People reject Jesus for many reasons
  • These people rejected him because he pointed out two times when God favoured other nations above them
  • These other nations didn’t deserve God, they were wicked
  • What reasons do people have for rejecting him today?

Luke 4:31-44

31. So he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he began to teach the people.
32. They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.
33. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
34. “Ha! Leave us alone, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
35. But Jesus rebuked him: “Silence! Come out of him!” Then, after the demon threw the man down in their midst, he came out of him without hurting him.
36. They were all amazed and began to say to one another, “What’s happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
37. So the news about him spread into all areas of the region.
38. After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.
39. So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.
40. As the sun was setting, all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. He placed his hands on every one of them and healed them.
41. Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ the Messiah.
42. The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them.
43. But Jesus said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.”
44. So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.

Version: based on NET Bible

Read v.31-44

• Can someone summarize “the good news of the kingdom of God” for me?

• What is this “Kingdom” ??
• Jesus said that this kingdom had started to come
  • What will it look like when it is here ??

• Imagine an old Chinese woman who came to Canada when she was a girl
  • Never had the opportunity to go back to China until she is very old
  • And then at the last minute she is too sick to travel
  • She says to her son, “take my photo with you, and leave it in the village where I was born”
• If we trust in Jesus, he takes our photo with him
  • When he died, and rose again, he left this age and entered the new age
  • If we trust in him, then we died with him, and our life is now hidden with him in the new age
• This world is not getting any better
  • things are bad
  • society is very corrupt
  • the environment is deteriorating
  • people hurt each other
  • sickness gets you in the end
• Yesterday I watched a documentary about one of America’s most successful ever musicians
  • He died in 2003, at the end of an extraordinary glittering career
  • He made his last song as a goodbye to the world
  • The video showed him as an old man surrounded by wealth
  • There were clips of the highlights of his glittering career
  • And here are the words

• You can see the video and read a very good explanation of these lyrics here:
  • thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/08/20/johnny-cash-hurt/
• That’s what he called his life’s achievements: an empire of dirt
  • Do you have a better plan?

• There is a new age coming
  • Are you trying to build an empire of dirt?
  • or are you struggling in the dust?
  • either way it will soon be gone
  • and the new is so much better
• If you are already trusting Jesus, this is still just as relevant to you
  • We can still live as if this world is what its about
  • But this world is just a pre-amble, just the entrance lobby

lobby

Image source: amf

• My house has two doors as you go in
  • This life is just the lobby
  • Imagine if you spent all your time in there, telling me how nice it was
• The age to come is the real thing!
  • And Jesus is the doorway!

Updated on 2012-02-23 by Andrew Fountain