“Walking With Jesus”

Lesson Objectives:

God’s plan will not be thwarted!

Jesus reveals Himself as the promised Messiah by reading from Isaiah.

Jesus faces rejection in His hometown.

Jesus is an expert in crowd (mob) control!

Lesson Commentary

024 - Jesus is Rejected!
How to Deal With Rejection

Do you recall a time when you were a child and the other children played “Keep Away” from you? Did your peers ever call you names? Have you ever felt rejected by others who you wanted to identify with? No one likes to be rejected. We all want to feel that we fit in, are respected by those around us and have something significant to offer the community.

We are in Luke 4:16-30. Jesus is human (as well as God) and is subject to the same emotions and struggles that we face. How does He deal with rejection?

Life Involves Taking Risks! – Luke 4:16-19

Jesus returns to visit the town where He grew up. Nazareth is about 15 miles WSW of Tiberius. He seeks to tell them about the Messiah, but they aren’t open to believing Him. They develop an attitude towards Jesus that hinders their accepting Him for who He is. They want to think of Him only as the carpenter’s son, not a rising spiritual leader or Messiah.

What would the people from your hometown say about you today? Have you ever gone somewhere and felt rejected by those who were there? Why did you feel rejected? Would you be willing to risk being rejected (or even risk your life) to stand for Godly values in an ungodly environment (work, government, etc.)?

Use Your Gifts to Glorify God! – Luke 4:20-21

Like any proper Jew, Jesus attends the worship service at the synagogue every Sabbath. In fact, He has started to gather a following and the accompanying attention. He often reads the Scripture in many of the Sabbath services. When you are traveling, do you make it a point to worship at a local church on the Lord’s Day?

Jesus gets to choose the passage that He will read. He rolls to what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2 (They didn’t have chapter divisions back then).After reading the Scripture, Jesus explains it in one sentence. Some sermons today should be so short. Jesus concludes His comments by stating that this prophecy has now been fulfilled. In this, He is declaring that He is the Messiah!

His authority is the Spirit of God who has qualified Him to proclaim this truth. His mission is to release captives from the sin in their lives. Luke leaves out “heal the broken hearted”. He only uses “heal” for physical ailments. What has God qualified you to do for His Kingdom?

Jesus’ concern is for the spiritually poor more so than for the physically poor. He offers us freedom from sin that is far more valuable than healing of any and all physical maladies or material affluence. In all of Jesus’ miracles, He does not make anyone rich! He does compensate Peter for the use of his boat, a couple of times, but any material reward is limited. Life is not about wealth, but a relationship with God!

Confront Those Who Oppose You! – Luke 4:21-27

Most of the people of Nazareth remember Jesus growing up as a child. It is hard to tell if their reaction to Him is in amazement or resentment. They appear to have a hard time accepting Him as anything but a carpenter’s son. Rather than investigate the evidence, they are stereotyping Jesus into something other than what He is. On the one hand, they marvel at His words, but still, they don’t want to accept His claim. Have you ever been guilty of stereotyping someone because of their race, place or profession and being wrong in your assumptions?

Jesus reads their response and answers their unasked question. This same skepticism hinders Jesus from doing very many miracles. He cites two prophets in the Old Testament who went to foreigners because the Jews rejected their ministry. Elijah helped a foreign widow when his own countrymen were also going hungry. Later, Elisha cured Naaman, a Syrian (Israel’s enemy) of leprosy.

Trust God to be in Control! – Luke 4:28-30

This wasn’t any more pleasing to the Jews than Jesus’ words were earlier in this account. They know that He is speaking against them and they are enraged by their own guilt. It is beyond them that Jesus could be the Messiah.

Do you attend church to worship God or because you like the preacher? Put yourself in the shoes of a citizen of Nazareth. How many times have you wanted to ease your guilt by stopping the person who is reminding you of your wrong doing? Have you ever been wrong in an argument and have to apologize?

CONCLUSION

Elijah and Elisha not only ministered to the Jews, but also to outsiders. In similar fashion, Jesus offers salvation to Gentiles, not just the Jews. Our challenge is to not let rejection keep us from seeking to reach out to non-Christians. We don’t want to reject anyone else whom God has called. Who knows, you may be instrumental in bringing someone to Christ who will be the next Martin Luther, John Wesley, Billy Graham, Bill Bright or some other significant Christian leader.

Next Week: Jesus goes fishing. What is He going to catch?