Luke 4:21-30 Commentary

We really run the gamut of human emotions during Jesus’s first preaching assignment in his hometown. How does the congregation go from being amazed, all eyes fixed on Jesus, to so livid with him that they try to lynch him?

I emphasised the moment of the Holy Spirit at work as Jesus preached in the synagogue. This Spirit-filled moment is why the congregation begins in awe and speak well of Jesus. Notice the way they characterize Jesus’s Spirit-filled message: they are “gracious words” from Jesus’s very own lips. In other words, in this moment they are overwhelmed by God’s grace.

But as we so often happens within us human beings, acknowledging and recognizing grace can quickly make us uncomfortable. Why is this so? Is it because we immediately feel the vulnerability of receiving something we cannot provide for ourselves? Is it because we don’t like to be reminded of our shortcomings? Is it because we are nervous to trust that the grace we’ve received is real, dependable, and will last? Is it because the tempter whispers us toward despair?

For whatever the reason, the doubts and discomfort among the congregation break the Holy Spirit moment as they begin to come up with reasons why they shouldn’t believe the words Jesus has spoken about himself—or really, how they can justify rejecting the grace he reveals. They voice their reason to doubt: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Jesus helps us understand what they are implying. This isn’t just about knowing what Jesus was like as a kid. They are saying that they’d expect Jesus’s own status and situation to be different if what he’s saying was true. If Jesus has the power of freedom, then wouldn’t he be richer, more politically and socially powerful, able to make use of his miraculous abilities to get ahead? If what Jesus was saying is true, what’s he doing back in Nazareth?

I can’t help but wonder if Jesus also reveals a basic human pattern with his summary of the congregation’s thoughts. It’s easier for us to speak of power and strength, might and security, than it is to acknowledge our vulnerability and needs. Uncomfortable with grace, we fixate on what we falsely think is the opposite of our vulnerability—even if its someone else’s.

Jesus continues: “Next you’ll demand that I prove it to you—even though you still won’t believe.” Rejecting grace leads to anger and continuous denial. Once we start the charade, we can only stop by repenting and acknowledging what we’ve been trying to deny about our own needs, losses, sufferings, and pains. We’d rather pretend that we don’t need the help than tell the truth. It’s the trap of suffering that only grace can free us from. “But the truth is…” if only these words were on the congregation’s lips instead of Jesus’s!

“But the truth is…” Jesus explains that they are not the first to deny grace spoken to them by God’s prophets. Their history is full of it.

Jesus tells it slant: grace was always there—just look at how others accepted it when you (and yours) would not. The grace given to the widow at Zarephath and to Naaman the Syrian, that was offered to the people of Israel, but they rejected it, angry and afraid at what the prophet’s call to repentance might also cost them.

By drawing this comparison to their ancestors, Jesus implies another warning about rejecting his “gracious words,” of doubting he is who he says he is, of fooling ourselves with upside-down definitions of what freedom means. Our inability to be aware and comfortable with our vulnerability, and therefore our inability to believe in and receive God’s grace, doesn’t just impact us; it hurts and impoverishes others as well. There were so many widows among them, so many lepers who could have used healing. But because they as a people had established a culture of rejecting God’s purposes (full of grace and truth), many needlessly suffered.

This is the straw that breaks the angry camel’s back. Jesus has revealed layer after layer of their vulnerability and now he has insulted them by saying that foreigners were better. Of course, Jesus isn’t saying that the foreigners were better; he’s simply telling the truth that they were people able to acknowledge their needs and to gratefully receive God’s grace without shame.

It is likely because Jesus has hit on this shame that the congregation becomes “filled with rage” and intend to murder Jesus by throwing him off a cliff. We tend to do that with grace—vehemently deny and push it off the cliff instead of embracing or jumping into it. And instead of grace upon grace filling us up, it’s loss upon loss as we dig our own hole.

Textual Point

The story of Naaman the Syrian adds further depth to the rejection Jesus is describing. First, as his story is told in 2 Kings 5.1-27, when Naaman came to the King of Israel, fearing repercussions from the Syrian army, the King freaked out because he personally could not heal Naaman. In other words, it didn’t even occur to him that in his weakness he should turn to God or God’s prophet, Elisha.

Second, Naaman is at first offended and angry about the way the offer of healing is made to him. But like the original encouragement to go to Israel, someone else helps him confront his need with the truth: the ‘greatness’ of his own land and his own status has not rescued him from his leprosy. If he would do what a prophet told him to do with his strength, why won’t he do what the man of God tells him to do with his weakness?

Third, Elisha works the miracle as an act of complete grace, repeatedly refusing to receive any payment or reward from Naaman. And, the servant who decides this is a wasted opportunity and tries to take advantage of Naaman’s gratitude suffers for his sin.

Illustration Idea

Like last week, a poem came to the forefront of my mind this week. When thinking about how to approach our egos as we bring our vulnerability and God’s grace into conversation with one another, Emily Dickinson’s lines about telling it slant might be more true than I care to admit:

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —