Luke 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

Picking up where we left off yesterday, we see the reaction from the congregation where Jesus has just announced that they were witnesses to prophecy fulfilled. If I were to put this in today’s language it would sound like this; “Who does he think he is?”

Jesus was respected as a fellow Jew. His perfect life was no threat to the locals who had known Him all their lives. But now He has spoken the truth which they in no way were ready to accept, much less from one of their own. Prophets had been quite in Israel for 490 years. They were not used to hearing one speak as a prophet. Only a prophet could unravel the mysteries of the Word.

Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Israel was looking for the Anointed to come, but certainly not this carpenter they had known all His life. He didn’t fit their image of what a Messiah would be, a King. But they had only heard the scriptures read to them. They had no one to speak the truth to them out of scriptures to recognize who Jesus truly was. But Jesus had been reading the scriptures His whole life. When He read the scriptures He recognized Himself in the Word. What constraint He showed not to have said anything like this before the appointed time.

But now the time has come.

To be continued.

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Why was God pleased with Jesus here at His baptism? Jesus had yet to begin His ministry, Jesus had not done anything yet. Or had He?

Jesus lived for thirty years before His ministry began. Nothing much was revealed about that life, except that no matter what happened in it, He did not sin. That in and of itself should have been significant. As I ponder the possible perfect life I must say it should stand out as being special in observance to those around Him. Yet Jesus was not known for is absence of sin. The world was fine with who Jesus was as a man in their midst.

Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

The leader of the synagogue would never allow anyone to read before the congregation unless he was well known and proven himself before the leadership. Jesus was noteworthy enough to be given a voice in that place. So Jesus read from the scriptures, as was his custom. Nothing noteworthy there. Everyone was used to Jesus reading of the scriptures. So what changed?

Luke 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

This is the beginning. Jesus could live a perfect life and be known for all His works of the flesh, because up to this moment Jesus lived as a man. His efforts were seen to be flesh, His life was seen as attainable, His efforts appreciated, as long as they were seen to be of the flesh.

To be continued tomorrow.