01302022 – Luke 4. 21-30
This is “about the day,” the inclusive guy, decided to be a little bit “exclusive.”
I did “a little bit of research.” “A little bit of searching.” “A whole lot of playing” with the scriptures. And a lot of thinking and looking at the geography of the area…And this is my conclusion:
Starting with the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verses 21-34… (did you hear that? I said, Chapter 1. Verses 21-34) Jesus is already in the city of Capernaum. Capernaum by the Sea.
As a matter of fact, it is Mark who tells us, that Jesus has “a home” in Capernaum. He moved there. Settled in. Got a permanent residence. Established himself. Capernaum is going to be “his home-base-camp.”
Everything that happens will” begin from Capernaum” and Jesus will always “end up back there in Capernaum” …it was “Home Sweet home.”
It is from Capernaum that we know, he calls his first disciples.
So, Capernaum is home to Jesus. It is his “new digs.” It is where he feels the most comfortable. The most accepted.
Mark places Jesus there at the beginning, from the onset, of his ministry.
Matthew the second gospel to be written, tells us that Jesus left Nazareth behind, in the dust as it were…And guess where he went?
Yep. He went to “good old Capernaum!”
Jesus was in Capernaum “way before” he called out to his first disciples, and said, “Hey!” “Follow me!”
If, we turn to the Gospel of John, the last to be written…John’s gospel has Jesus going to Capernaum immediately following “the first of his signs” at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Interesting, right?
It seems almost certain that, by the time Jesus addresses “the Nazareth congregation,” he is living in Capernaum rather than Nazareth…and has been for some length of time. Capernaum has been his home for a while. THAT is an “interesting twist” to the entire narrative.
It is ONLY the gospel of Luke, that tells us – that following his baptism and his temptation in the wilderness, that Jesus returns “home to Nazareth.”
So, that should tell us, that Luke has “other interests and concerns” and geography and Jesus’ home in Capernaum IS NOT one of them.
But it does shed “new light” on “the hostility” that Jesus is confronted with…
Not only has Jesus left mother, and other family members, friends and relatives…But he also left Nazareth…the village itself…BEHIND. And “all the people of that village.”
For whatever reason, (which no one in Nazareth could fathom) he had PREFERENCE of “Capernaum over Nazareth.” HE HAD simply MOVED ON…
And then, he made the erroneous decision “to go back home.” And, to make “a spectacle of himself” in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day.
Getting up and reading. Thinking he was really something. Something special.
The “Nazarene” returned home. The great teacher. The rabbi.
And you had better believe – that they had all heard “the rumors,” and “the idle chatter” about “Jesus of Nazareth” and all the “wonderful things” that he was doing in Capernaum.
Great teachings…many signs and wonders…unbelievable miracles…and healings…too!
The people of Capernaum “could not get enough of “Jesus of Nazareth” …he was a wonder-worker…a healer…a prophet. And, so much more…
And now, he is at home. It is Friday night. It is the Sabbath. And he is in the Synagogue, as was his custom.
And now he is going to teach THEM? The people he left behind? The family, and friends, the relatives, and the village, HE LEFT BEHIND? Such audacity. How dare he. Just who does he think he is?
The only good thing…is that maybe, just maybe, he will do some of the things, that he “is said to have done” in Capernaum, right here in his own FORMER HOMETOWN.
In the gospel of Luke people got angry at Jesus…their tempers flared. They got a little bit excited!
They wanted him to be their “exclusive property.” They wanted him to “exclusively heal and do miracles for them.” They wanted to see for themselves what all “the hub-bub was really about.” They wanted to judge for themselves. They wanted to see firsthand. But Jesus would have none of their “exclusive mentality.”
His ministry was going to be “inclusive and involve ALL peoples,” but WHAT he did and WHERE he did it, was going to be reserved for him to decide…and not the people of Nazareth.
And they REALLY meant to do him harm.
And as only he could do, he walked right through the midst of them, and was completely unscathed. There were simply “other people” he needed to see. Amen.