To get a good feel for the early ministry of our Lord we must read the first 4 chapters of John because the other three writers of the Gospel open his ministry later than does John. Here in the 4th chapter of Luke Jesus has been ministering for the best part of a year in Galilee and in particular in the area of the city of Capernaum. Capernaum was a large city on a major trade route where a Roman legion was garrisoned. Thus news from Capernaum traveled far and wide. Jesus was returning to his hometown of Nazareth for the first and last time already well known for his ministry and miracles. He no doubt was viewed by his old neighbors as a local boy who made it big in the big city.
Luke records that on the Sabbath Jesus went as usual to the Synagogue in Nazareth to worship. Synagogues originally grew up in Babylon during the exile as there was no temple for worship. In Jesus’ time despite the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem synagogues persisted as a place to worship and as a religious school for boys during the week. Any village with 10 or more Jewish families could form a synagogue with a local Rabbi as the leader. And the local Rabbi would ask a visiting Rabbi to read Scripture and comment on it. So Jesus is invite to speak and he reads Isaiah 61:1-2a and comments that the scripture has been fulfilled in their presence. In so doing Jesus announced to them that:
1. He, Jesus, is the Messiah
2. He has come to fulfill the physical and spiritual needs of His Father’s people
3. He has come to bring to earth the Acceptable Year of the Lord. By omitting Isaiah 61:2b Jesus is saying that his first coming is for salvation and redemption and the day of the Lord’s Vengeance (Judgement) is reserved for his Second Coming.
Up to now things have gone well, but it is at this point as the people begin to question his authority that we approach our topic for today- Spiritual Warfare. I submit to you that like myself prior to God calling me into ministry, most Americans sitting in churches across America today either severely doubt or outright disbelieve that there is any such thing as Spiritual Warfare in our world today. In fact they do not believe in Satan as a person and the leader of the spiritual enemies of God and of you and me. Satan, they contend, is just an intellectual representation of the principle of evil, despite the fact that He is mentioned in the Bible over 130 times using various names. He is mentioned as the spiritual being who is doing all he can do to keep you and me separated from our Creator so he can have our souls and spirits for all eternity. That is like saying there is no God, no Christ and no Holy Spirit; they are just an intellectual representation of the principle of good.
Satan devotes little or no attention to nominal Christians who are not part of the battle to win souls for Christ, He has already lost the battle with the Holy Spirit for their souls and they are not a threat to save others so he leaves them alone and they remain unaware of the battle raging around them.
Let’s look at the rest of our Scripture for this morning. Jesus looks into the hearts of the listeners and sees their doubt of his authority, their envy and jealousy because he did miracles in other than their town and their failure to see and believe who he is and his mission. So he tries again by saying he understands it is hard for a prophet to be accepted in his home town. Then he confronts them with the reason they want him to do miracles. Finally Jesus reminds them that when Israel becomes hard hearted God will bless the gentiles and now all hell breaks loose. They now wish to kill Jesus and set out to do so. This sudden outpouring of rage and desire to kill Jesus is Satanic. Satan is in their midst. How did he get in?
The local minister or Rabbi invited a guest into the pulpit. The guest preacher or Rabbi brought a message that challenged their faith and patriotism. But is that enough to cause such rage and desire for physical violence? No, but Satan saw his chance. He tapped into a stiff necked pride that said they knew more about what God wanted from them than the messenger God had sent and a patriotism and love of country that overpowered love of God. Satan gave a sigh of relief that He found sin, no love or forgiveness for their enemies, and fanned the flames to make them see the rage and violence they were feeling was all the fault of the guest Rabbi and had nothing to do with their own spiritual short comings. This further enraged them and Satan used that rage to plug their ears and bind their minds so they would neither hear nor remember any message God had used the guest Rabbi to send to them.
The people put their plan for physical violence into motion and we get strong confirmation that we have been witnessing spiritual warfare. The Holy Spirit enters the battle and temporarily diverts the eyes of the mob to allow Jesus to walk away never to return to his home town again. Who let Satan in; the local Rabbi, the guest Rabbi or the congregation? AMEN.