Jesus is the Savior?! Unbelievable!

4th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/3/13
Luke 4:20-32


Jesus is the Savior?! Unbelievable!
I. Literally unbelievable for some
II. An amazed statement of faith for others


It’s full of amazing stuff. I’m referring to what you can find out there on the internet. Almost every day you can hear at least one media outlet describing something amazing that someone video recorded and placed on the internet for all to see. Little children saying and doing amazing things, animals doing the craziest things, humans doing amazing feats of athleticism. It’s all there for your viewing pleasure and, if you take the opportunity to watch a clip or two, you’re likely to respond, “Unbelievable!”

And then there are those still photos that you receive in your email inbox. You click on them and some are astounding, some are hilarious, many of them are unbelievable. In fact, you may say to yourself,” There’s no way that picture is authentic. It had to be altered. It’s unbelievable.”

Centuries before videos or photos were invented, the Jews in Galilee were hearing about and actually seeing some amazing things, unbelievable even. We heard about one in last Sunday’s service—how Jesus changed water into wine, his first miracle. The fact that we call it his first miracle indicates more followed. And that’s exactly what occurred. Every one of those miracles pointed to the truth that Jesus was the promised Savior.

That’s exactly what Jesus declared himself to be on this Saturday in the synagogue of Nazareth as related to us by Luke. Jesus read a prophecy from Isaiah about the Savior, rolled up the scroll and then sat down in the common position of a rabbi prepared to teach the people. Luke tells us, “He began by saying, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” With those words Jesus tells the people what his miracles indicated, that he was the promised Savior. And the reaction of the people? Unbelievable! Jesus is the Savior?! Unbelievable! I invite you to join me in examining that reaction from two very different perspectives this morning.

Part I.

There was a congregation in our synod about 50 years ago that grew to the point that it needed a second pastor. The pastor of this congregation had a son who was a young pastor, and so the congregation decided to call him as its second pastor. They thought it would be a good idea. Father and son would know each other well and would get along like a father and son should. The son knew the congregation well, having grown up in it, and so the learning curve in getting to know the members and all the nuances of the family relationships would be short. The son accepted that call. As their second pastor arrived and was installed, the congregation looked for good things to happen. But how do you think it turned out? You’re right. It wasn’t long before the father, his son and the congregation realized that this wasn’t a good idea. No prophet is accepted in his hometown.

Not even if your name is Jesus. Jesus spoke these words to the people of his hometown, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”

In what sense wasn’t Jesus accepted? Well, the citizens of Nazareth were willing to grant that he was a great prophet, just like some of their prophets of old, men such as Moses and Elijah and Elisha. Every one of those men had done miracles, just as they had heard Jesus had performed.

And for that reason, they were willing to acknowledge his greatness. Luke says it like this, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” They even enjoyed listening to him. But only up to a point. It didn’t take long before they realized what he was saying. He had read a portion of Isaiah that was messianic. It spoke about what the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Savior would do. Jesus was claiming to be the One sent by God to be the world’s Savior from sin. And that’s something they just weren’t willing to accept.

Their amazement with what Jesus said and did was balanced by their familiarity with him. Immediately after Luke describes their amazement with him, he writes this comment which reveals the exact opposite opinion of him, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” The people in the synagogue that day had possibly grown up with Jesus. They knew who he was, where he had lived, what he had done for a living with his father Joseph. Perhaps Jesus and Joseph had done some carpentry work for these people. And now, suddenly, they were supposed to believe that Isaiah’s prophesy regarding the coming Savior pointed to Jesus? Unbelievable!

As far as we know, they didn’t state, “unbelievable,” but they didn’t have to. Jesus could read their hearts. He knew they rejected his claim that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. He knew they didn’t want to hear another word about it.

They just wanted to be amazed by some miracles. They were paying attention to Jesus in order that they might see a show. You can almost hear them say, “Turn some more water into wine, Jesus! Maybe there’s someone here that you can heal. Raise your hand if you need healing. We don’t want you to be our Savior; we want you to be our miracle-worker.” These were people to whom God had promised to send a Savior. These were people who would claim to be looking for that Savior to arrive. But when he does arrive, he’s not what they wanted.

So Jesus went on the attack. He spoke about the great prophets Elijah and Elisha performing miracles and his point was where those miracles were performed. Not in Israel, among the Jews, but in Gentile territories, among the heathen. Now why would God allow them to do that?

Because the Jews, God’s people, were rejecting their God. Their hearts were hard. They wouldn’t believe. Jesus silently asked the people in the synagogue to draw their own conclusion and realize they were doing the same thing.

And that was too much for them to bear. An unbelieving crowd turns into a murderous crowd. Unbelievable! They run him out of the synagogue and out of Nazareth and intend to push him off a cliff. Unbelievable! And all because he claimed to be their Savior from sin.

Their reaction was, “Jesus is the Savior?! Unbelievable!”

You and I would like to think that, had we been in that synagogue that day, we would have believed what Jesus said about himself. And I hope that’s true. But we need to realize that the same demand for miracles lurks within us, just as it did in them. We’d rather be amazed by miracles then saved from hell. We’d rather have Jesus fix our lives than shed his blood for our eternal life. And when he doesn’t do what we want him to, maybe we don’t get so angry that we want to push him off a cliff, but our confidence in him takes a hit, self-pity sets in, and we wonder what good our faith in Jesus is. People, thank God that Jesus didn’t satisfy their demands for miracles that day. If he had, you and I wouldn’t have a Savior from sin, we’d only have a ego-maniac, miracle worker. Instead, he perfectly carried out his work as our Savior, even sacrificing himself on Calvary’s cross. Jesus is the Savior, your Savior and mine?! Absolutely!

Part II.

In addition to walking right past them and thwarting their attempts to murder him, just does something else amazing. Actually, you might say it’s what he doesn’t do. He didn’t immediately rain down fire from heaven and destroy these people of Nazareth. Would we have blamed him if he had? Rejecting what someone has to say is one thing; wanting to kill them for it is another. But Jesus doesn’t destroy them. Unbelievable!

And just as amazing, he doesn’t quit. He didn’t throw his hands up in the air in frustration and exclaim, “If that’s how things are going to go even in my hometown, forget it! I’m not going through with this!” Instead, what do we read? “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.” He went right back to what he had come to do. He taught the people. He revealed himself as the promised Savior of the world.

And the people were amazed. They were stunned by this Jesus from Nazareth. We know that Jesus made Capernaum his base of operations. He would soon perform many miracles there. Why there and not in Nazareth? Because they believed him. The people of Capernaum didn’t oppose Jesus as the citizens of Nazareth had.

They recognized his authority. No one had ever declared God’s word to them the way Jesus did. That’s because Jesus is God himself. Here they had the Savior, the Son of God standing in front of them and they believed what he was saying. That’s unbelievable too.

I say unbelievable, because there was no good reason in these people of Capernaum just as there is no good reason in us for us to be people who trust in Jesus as our Savior. There’s no good reason that Jesus should make the effort to be our Savior and to carry out his work. It’s unbelievable that he should not only want to do that for us but would also let nothing stop him from doing that for us. Now that’s unbelievable. But by God grace, we do believe it.

Jesus is the Savior?! By God’s grace that‘s completely believable to us. May it ever be so! Amen.