24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.
Somebody asked Mother Teresa if she thought she would ever go to the moon. She said, “If there were people there, I’m sure that I and my sisters would go.” That is the spirit that ought to characterize the people of God, for that is the Spirit of God himself. Wherever there are people who need the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and who need the Gospel of our Savior, we should be willing to go and meet that need. So tonight we are going to think together for a while about the all-encompassing Gospel.
Before we get there, let me give you a bit of background to this saying of Jesus that will shed some light on it. As we make our way to the passage, I want to make several points that I think might be helpful to you.
Jesus is now entering into his public ministry. In the previous chapter Jesus was baptized, and his baptism was a symbol of his acceptance of the calling and the responsibility that God had placed upon him of being the messiah. Understand that Jesus had a choice all of his life about either following or rejecting the will of God. Even unto the last moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, he could have decided not to do what God wanted him to do. He prayed in that garden, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
Early in his ministry he faced that same choice. “Will I do the will of God, or will I go my own way?” His baptism symbolized his yielding to the will of God. When he was baptized, the Spirit of God—the Holy Spirit—descended upon him to empower him for his work and ministry. The voice of God spoke from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
The fact that a person has committed his life to God does not mean that he has won all the battles in life. As long as we walk with God, and as long as we attempt to serve God, there are battles to be fought.
Immediately following this open and public commitment of his life and will to the purposes of God, Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted. The temptation that came to him tested the very point of his commitment. He had committed himself to be the kind of messiah God wanted him to be, and to do the will of God through his life. That is exactly where Satan began to tempt him, as he will begin to tempt you when you make a commitment of your life to God. Committing your life to the Lord does not mean the battle is over—it most often means that the battle has just begun.
Temptation came to Jesus. Perhaps he thought, “Will I use this fresh power that was bestowed upon me at my baptism to meet my own needs? Will I try to become a popular messiah—the kind that everybody wants to hear and wants to be around? Will I try to please people? Will I try to please God? Will I take the easy way out, or will I take the way of suffering and death upon the cross?” Jesus most likely struggled with all of those issues when he was tempted in the wilderness. As temptation tested the point of his commitment, so it comes to your life and to mine.
After he had successfully resisted the temptation (and you know that according to Hebrews he was at all points tempted even as we are, yet without sin), Jesus entered his public ministry. He began to teach and preach around Capernaum, and then in time he came to his own hometown, the city of Nazareth. This passage of scripture tells us something about that first visit of Jesus back to his own hometown after he had entered into his public ministry.
The end result of his visit to Nazareth is that the city would reject him. They would thrust him out of their city and would really want to kill him if had not walked away from them. By the sheer strength of his personality, he walked through their midst without anybody laying a hand on him. If that would not have happened, they would have cast him over the brow of the hill on which that city is built, and they would have killed him. They so rejected him that day.
The rejection of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry is but the first step in the ultimate rejection of Jesus by the entire nation of Israel. Opposition to him would grow and increase with every passing day and every passing month and every passing year until finally he would be rejected by the scribes, the Pharisees, and the leaders of Israel. Eventually he would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and he would be nailed to the old rugged cross to die for our sins. It all started the first time he went back to his hometown.
There are two or three things that I want to talk about just in passing through this experience of Jesus, and one question I’d like to ask at the end.
The Bible says in Luke 4:16, “As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day.” Jesus was faithful and regular in the place of worship. You are probably not the crowd that I need to remind of this, but I want to underscore it because you have a lot of influence and you make a lot of contact with people. The truth is that Jesus, the Son of God, made a habit of being in the house of God with the people of God on the day of worship. Now I’m sure there must have been many things that took place in that synagogue that he radically disagreed with. I think they must have done things in that synagogue that grated on Jesus as the Son of God from time to time. After all, he had insight, he had understanding, and he had spiritual growth and spiritual development that was far beyond anybody else there. But I want you to know that even though the worship in that synagogue was far from perfect, and even though there were things that happened there that must have grated on Jesus from time to time, and even though there must have been things with which he radically disagreed—still he was there. It suggests to me that all of us ought to find ourselves faithfully and regularly in the house of God on God’s day, with the people of God to worship him. We do not have to agree with everything that goes on there. Occasionally there will be things that happen that grate on you as they grate on me. But somehow by the grace of God, we must be able to put those things aside and go beyond those things that we do not particularly like and come face to face with God in the midst of the congregation to worship him.
A strange thing is happening in America today. I read in the newspaper this week that while we are increasing in the number of believers in America, we are decreasing in the number of people that go to church. In fact the headline in the article said, “The gap between believers and church members is growing.” It indicated that in the past 10 years, the number of believers in America has increased dramatically. In fact, years ago, 78 percent of the people in America said they believed that Jesus Christ was God, or was the Son of God, and now 84 percent say they believe that. That’s an increase of six percent in 10 years of the people believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
But while the number of believers has increased, the number or percentage of people who go to church regularly has decreased. In fact the number of people who classify themselves as unchurched—meaning that they don’t go to church any more often than once every six months—has increased over that same period of time from 40 percent to 44 percent. An increase of six percent in believers with a simultaneous decrease of four percent in church attenders amounts to a strange phenomenon. It is especially strange when you realize that Jesus was faithful and regular in the house of God and the scriptures make it emphatic to us that as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day.
Church attendance ought to be so much a part of our lives that it becomes a habit, and when we come to the place of worship, even though we may not agree with or like everything that goes on, still there is something wonderful that happens inside of us if we bring the right spirit to the house of God.
President Calvin Coolidge was an avid church attender. He said on one occasion, “I have never heard a sermon that I didn’t get something from.” Then he added, “But I have had some mighty close calls.” You have had some close calls here and you will have some more. But if we come in the right spirit, somehow, something happens inside of us. God speaks to us through the music, through the praying, through the reading of the scripture, or through the sermon, and we meet him. Jesus needed that, and so do we.
There is a second thing I want to point out. After Jesus preached in the synagogue that day (and I preached a sermon on his sermon several weeks ago), the people said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” (v.22). That question probably suggests suspicion and hostility, but at the same time, the question also suggests to us that up until that time, Jesus had been a very normal, average, everyday kind of kid and man. They saw no reason to identify him in any way except, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” I say that because through the years people have developed ideas about the power of Jesus as a child. They have believed that he had miracle-working power and that he used that miracle-working power as a child to accomplish his own purposes and to satisfy his own needs. In fact there have been some false gospels that have been written throughout the years that painted that kind of picture of Jesus.
We have every reason to believe from scripture that Jesus was a normal baby, that he was a normal child, and that he was a normal teenager. When he worked in the carpentry shop, he was a normal carpenter. There was nothing about his life to suggest in any way that the people who saw him and knew him thought he was anything other than Joseph’s son. To them he was just the normal person until there came that full realization of who he really was and who he had always been—the Son of God. When he was baptized the Spirit of God descended upon him and endued him with that supernatural power to work miracles and to do all the great and mighty things that he did thereafter. But until that time there was nothing to suggest that he was anything but the son of Joseph and Mary.
After Jesus had preached his sermon, the people asked that question: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” The very question suggested suspicion and hostility. They were saying in essence, “How could this be?” He had just read from the scriptures that talk about the Messiah and he said to them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). Basically, he was openly and publicly declaring, “I am the Messiah, I am the Savior, and I am the son of God.” And the people began to ask, “How could this be? Where did he get this wisdom? How can he make such a claim that he is in reality the son of God?”
Jesus knew their thoughts. He could read their minds. He could hear the whispers on their lips. He knew of their unbelief and their unwillingness to accept him as the Messiah and Savior that he had just claimed to be.
Now Matthew tells us more emphatically of their unbelief and of their rejection of Jesus on this occasion. He says concerning this experience, “Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief.” Previously in Capernaum, he had done many wonderful works and the news of his miracles and his power had spread all throughout the countryside. The news had even spread to Nazareth. When Jesus got there, he had found such rejection and unbelief on the part of the people that he could do no mighty works because of their unbelief.
The whole thrust of the passage I read a few moments ago is that the key to God’s working in your life and in my life is that we be people of faith. If we do not believe in him, if we do not trust him, and if we reject him, we close the door to God’s working in our lives.
Jesus could see and sense that they did not believe. They would not accept him as the Messiah. So he made this statement: “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country” (Mark 6:4). Then he told two interesting stories that give insight into what I’m saying.
He tells the story about Elijah. That story is found in the Old Testament in the book of 1 Kings 17. It was in a time of great famine in the land. In fact it hadn’t rained for three and a half years. You think we’ve had some famine and some drought in the United States in recent months, but in Israel it did not rain for three and a half years.
One day God said to Elijah, “I want you to go to the city of Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, and you will find a widow there. She will feed you during this time of famine.”
So Elijah made his way across the borders of Israel, went to the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon, and he found a widow out gathering sticks. He said to her, “Would you give me a drink of water?” She said, “Yes.” She went to fetch him a glass of water, and while she was in the house he said, “While you are in there, why don’t you just bring me a piece of bread? I’m hungry.”
The widow came outside and said, “Sir, we have but just a little bit of meal and just a little bit of oil that would be used to cook that bread, and I have not enough to spare. In fact I’ve been gathering these sticks and these roots out here off of the ground because I intended to boil them and make a broth so that I and my son would have something nourishing in our bodies so we can live. We are destitute. We have only a small portion of meal, very little oil to cook it with, and that’s all we have.”
Elijah replied to this woman, this foreign lady, this non-Jew, this widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon, “If you will cook me some bread using that meal and that oil, I tell you in the name of God that the meal will not be diminished and the oil will not be used up.”
The widow believed him. She took her meal and her oil and she mixed it up and she cooked him a piece of bread, and to her amazement the meal was not diminished at all and the oil was not depleted at all. She had as much meal and as much oil as she had when she started. She cooked for Elijah day after day and she always had enough meal and oil for herself, for her son, and for the prophet of God. That miracle came because she believed the prophet and acted upon what he said.
Then Jesus told the story about Naaman, the leper from Syria. This story is found in the book of 2 Kings 5. Naaman was the captain of the host of the king of Syria, and he had leprosy—a dreaded and deadly disease that was thought to be incurable. One day a young lady suggested to him that he should see the prophet down in Israel by the name of Elisha. Syria was a non-Jewish nation, and this man—a captain in the army of Syria—was a Gentile, a non-Jew, and an unbeliever. The young lady said, “There is a prophet down in Israel, and if you will go to him, he could cure you of your leprosy.”
This man Naaman had desperately tried all the doctors, all the hospitals, all the miracle cures, and even the crack cures of that day. He made his way down to the prophet Elisha, hoping to find healing. When he arrived at Elisha’s house he knocked on the door. But Elisha the prophet of God wouldn’t even come outside the house to greet him. Instead he simply sent word by his servant to tell Naaman, “You just go down to the Jordan River and bathe yourself seven times in it, and you will be healed.”
You have to understand that Naaman was a top government official in the land of Syria—the captain of the host of the army—and this prophet of God wouldn’t even come outside the house to greet him. That absolutely infuriated Naaman. He said, “Why doesn’t he just come outside? I don’t want to go down to the river and get wet. Why doesn’t he just come outside and he can pray to God and wave his hands over me and I’ll be healed? Besides that, I’ve driven all this way to get down here and he tells me to go out there to that Jordan River and to dunk myself in it seven times! We have two rivers in the land of Syria, and the water there is cleaner and fresher and better than the water down in the Jordan River. Why couldn’t I just dunk myself seven times in one of those rivers?”
He was very angry about the instructions of Elisha the prophet telling him to go down to the river and dunk himself seven times, but one of his servants spoke wisdom to him. He said, “Master, if the prophet of God had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. Now, he has told you to do something rather simple. Why don’t you do it?” So Naaman the leper chose to believe the prophet. He went down to the Jordan River, he dunked himself in it seven times, and he came up whole.
The whole meaning of those two little stories is that the widow of Zarephath and the captain of the host of Syria’s army believed the prophet of God. And because they believed him they saw God’s power in their lives. Jesus was saying to these people who in their very hearts and minds were rejecting him that they were guilty of the kind of unbelief that he was talking about. He was saying to them that regardless of a person’s sex—whether they are a man, or a woman like that widow, regardless of a person’s nationality—whether they are Jew or a Syrian, regardless of a person’s profession—whether they are a housewife or a high government official, regardless of a person’s status in life—whether they are a humble person like the widow with no standing in the community or are one of the world’s most powerful and influential people, it matters not. Unless they have faith to believe, they cannot see the working of God in their lives.
Jesus read their hearts and minds well. When he suggested that the good news included everybody—the widow of Zarephath and the captain of the host of Syria, as well as the Jews—and when they heard him suggest that God’s blessings and power can be upon anybody and everybody regardless of who they are, they could not stomach it. They thrust him out of the synagogue and took him to the ridge on which that city was built. But for the sheer force of his personality they would have thrown him headlong over the cliff to his death, simply because he ventured to suggest that the good news is all-inclusive—that it is for everybody.
It took the church of Jesus Christ a long time to come around to that. They were very slow to come around to it. Even after Jesus died on the cross, the Lord had to send an angel to instruct Simon Peter to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, and preach the Gospel to him.
While he preached there, the Holy Spirit fell as it had fallen on the Jews at Pentecost, and there was a clear demonstration that what God has for the Jew he also has for the Gentile. But it was with the greatest reluctance that the church came around to believing that the Gospel is all-inclusive. The first response to the good news of Jesus Christ was not a response of faith. It was not a response of, “Lord, I believe.” Instead it was rejection. They thrust him out and would have killed him if they could.
Ultimately and finally, it is only as we believe, as we take God at his word and act upon it, that God can bless us and work in our lives in a mighty way.
The question for every one of us is, will we reject Jesus as did the city of Nazareth when he first visited them in his public ministry? Will we believe the Lord Jesus, or will we thrust him out?