On Line Bible Study - For the week March 8-14, 2010

Lesson 430

Luke 4: ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.

²³Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "

The question in this text - and one that is so relevant for us as we head into Holy Week - is this: Is the crowd for Jesus, or against him?

They spoke well of him (or, another way to translate this: They were testifying about him...) doesn't seem to be in synch with the way Jesus responds to them. Verse 22 sounds positive; verse 23 sounds as if Jesus were threatened by them. A number of theories are suggested to explain the disconnect:

1. Maybe we have a mistranslation?
2. Perhaps Luke was working from several different sources and simply ignored the apparent contradiction.
3. Perhaps people admired Jesus' rhetorical skill but rejected the message, the way we might admire a lawyer's finesse at making a case even though we disagree with the conclusions s/he arrives at.
   

We are left right where so many people are left with regard to Jesus - a brilliant man, a great teacher, a powerful debater, but ultimately, not much more than that. And who does he think he is, anyway? You can read the rest of this section - Jesus' acknowledgment that prophets are not honored in their hometown. He shares a little of their own history with them as he reminds them that it was a Gentile named Naaman who was healed of leprosy, not an Israelite.

Such a hope-filled moment - the proclamation that God's Spirit had come in a new and wonderful way; the promise that the poor would hear good news, the blind given sight, the oppressed set free (see Lessons 428-429) - and now to have it smashed by skepticism, and maybe even jealousy.

Jesus anticipates the challenge they would put to him when he acknowledges their desire for him to do in Nazareth what he had done in Capernaum.

By the time this section draws to a conclusion, the people are running Jesus out of town, and hoping to throw him over a ledge.

What happened? Indeed ... what happened !

On Line Bible Study - For the week March 1-7, 2010

Lesson 429

Luke 4: ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me. . .

We began to discuss this passage in the previous study; it is important to note that Jesus chose the particular passage from Isaiah 61:1-2.

Hopefully you recall - or can refer to the passage from Luke 4:18 in front of you. (The text can be found at Luke 4.) It is interesting to note that Luke may be using another text from Isaiah in this passage:

Isaiah 58: ⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Without getting bogged down in textual difficulties and subtleties, one of the reasons for thinking Isaiah 58 may be part of the quote has to do with the fact that a line is missing in Luke from the Isaiah 61 text. Isaiah refers to binding up (healing) the broken-hearted... This is omitted in Jesus' quotation of the passage. Likewise, when Jesus quotes the line: ...to set the oppressed free ... this text is not found in Isaiah 61 - rather it is found in Isaiah 58.

This is but one of many examples of textual challenges presented to us in the Bible. While the tone of Luke 4:18 certainly captures what we read in Isaiah 61. why the change in language? One possibility is that Luke is summarizing - or perhaps even paraphrasing the Scriptures. One of the challenges to Biblical literalism is the reality of the fact that the Bible does not always literally quote itself. Luke 4:18 is an example of a New Testament Author who may have intentionally left a line out here, and inserted a line there - not for the purpose of changing the texts, but for the purpose of greater clarity with regard to the point they were trying to make.

Darrell Bock points to three important things Luke wants us to know:

1. Jesus is a bearer of the Spirit. He is not moving in his own power or under some human authority. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him.
2. Jesus is a prophet declaring good news for a future time. His message is eschatological in that it is not experienced in its fullest form in the present. What begins with his ministry on earth will be fulfilled at a future time.
3. Jesus is our freedom - our liberation. In other words, he is our messiah.
   

Jesus ushers in the Jubilee Year - when debts were canceled and slaves were set free. He is here to do God's work on behalf of the people. Do you see yourself anywhere represented in the list of Luke 4:18? And yet, the point is not only with regard to what Jesus has to offer you; it is also to make clear that those of us who claim to be Christ-followers also have to be willing to do his bidding. What the Spirit has anointed him to do we also have to be willing to champion.

On Line Bible Study - For the Week February 22-28, 2010

Lesson 428

Luke 4: ¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

The Gospel writers Mark and Matthew speak of Jesus coming into Nazareth; and John references Jesus as having come from Nazareth. But it is only St. Luke that tells us of this specific moment when Jesus is given the scroll in his hometown synagogue, and because of this exclusive telling there is a lot of speculation about the authenticity of the text. Did Jesus actually have this experience, or did Luke include it for his own purposes of evangelism?

Either way, the text is compelling - notice a possible chiastic structure that looks like this:

a The synagogue
b Standing
c Receiving the Scripture
d Opening the Scripture
e Preaching the good news
f Proclaiming release to the captive
g Giving sight to the blind
f Setting free the oppressed
e Proclaiming acceptable year of the Lord
d Closing the Scripture
c Returning the Scripture
b Sitting
a The synagogue

Whether that structure actually works or not, Luke presents Jesus in the synagogue proclaiming the good news to his own, both ethnically (the Jews) and geographically (in his home town). When we discussed Matthew we noted how important it was for that evangelist to show Jesus as the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. In Luke, Jesus himself proclaims this message - that today, the ancient Scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing...

As scholar Darrell Bock points out, Jesus' mission is light and hope to those who are both physically and spiritually downtrodden. Right from the get-go, there is no distinction, no dualism in the ministry of Christ. The work he is about has both future significance and immediate relevance and results, and it deals with body and soul.

One of the on-going challenges with relation to Jesus' ministry is this: Is it primarily to individuals, or as a critique of social structures? Before we answer too quickly, let's remember the times Jesus calls into question social injustice, especially when it comes to the religious systems of his day. At the same time, his passion is for the individual who is lost (Luke 15:3-10).

As you read the passage above, what is it that Jesus has to offer that you are most in need of right now? As you think about the people close to you, and the ones you work with - what do they need?

We'll continue to explore this passage in our next lesson.