Local Carpenter Wows Them at the Nazareth Synagog

Luke was a historian so he built his Gospel on historical evidence that proved Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. Luke skipped some of the miraculous stuff that was reported in other Gospels like the wedding at Cana. Luke looked for the legal proof, it may sound that he was being legalistic but he was being legalistic. This is because he was living in a legalistic society and early Christianity was merely another facet of Judaism, so it made sense to concentrate on actual proof based on prophesy.

Luke covered the prophesies involving the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus then covered the actual births and circumcisions of both. Luke skipped the flight to Egypt, and I guess this is because even though it's an important narrative, it does nothing to advance the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and legitimately the Messiah.

What could be more beautiful than Luke's coverage of the Baptism of Jesus, explaining how Heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a Dove and God spoke aloud “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” The only time the Trinity is mentioned together in the text of the Bible

Then Luke traced Jesus linage back from his legal father Joseph to David, and on to Adam proving legally that Jesus was of the linage of David, a needed item in the checklist of identifying the Messiah:

5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’ (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

After being tempted by the devil in the desert Jesus returned to Nazareth and entered the Synagogue. The bible says that this was his custom, so we know for a fact that Jesus was a church going man. He stood up to read so we know he was an accepted teacher. He was handed the scroll of Isaiah. We know that Isaiah was an individual scroll because Isaiah was found in the dead sea scrolls as a single scroll. Jesus opened Isaiah to chapter 61, the books weren't separated into chapters but he knew exactly where to turn. And he read:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

If you notice, he didn't finish Isaiah 61:2 ...and the day of vengeance of our God - it wasn't time to bring up punishment, he was here to discuss salvation. I don't know if he emphasized "Me" but it's interesting to think he did, because he stopped here, rolled up the scroll and sat down. These days sitting down means that you're done. But back then sitting was what a teacher did when he was teaching. He simply said “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” I'm sure that raised a lot of eyebrows, but what really got their goat was when Jesus reminded them that that during the great drought, God sent Elijah to Zarephath in Sidon. Keep in mind that Sidon is not in Israel but in Lebanon. He then reminded them that the only leper that God cleansed in the time of Elisha was Naaman the Syrian, also not a Jew. The reaction was sudden and predictable

28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. (Luke 4:28-29)

And Jesus reaction?

30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. (Luke 4:30)

Here was a crowd bent on murder, they wanted to kill Jesus because he first claimed to be the Messiah, then reminded them that God loves people outside of the Jewish community. These were highly skilled rioters, The Roman Empire subdued angry people from England to Persia, from Germany to the Upper Nile, but Judea was always a difficult thorn in their side, which is why they had to obliterate the nation in 70 AD.

But what did Jesus do when faced with certain death? He simply walked through the crowd and went on his way. To me this is one of the most incredible miracles He performed. Here's the Son Of God who who changed water to wine, fed the multitude with a few barley cakes and a few trout, walked on water, and rose from the dead. He could have done any number of barely imaginable things, yet instead he chose to walk away, and his path led him right through his attempted murderers.

To me this is one of the greatest of miracles, yet one that I've never heard mentioned. To me it shows the love and the gentleness of the creator of this world. My Lord and Savior who saw me fit to call "brother".