The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 118

lle read the Word, expounded it, and made a reputation for himself as a popular Tea,;her. Of course, a.long with his teaching, there was a measure of miracle. But his wonderful works were merely to secure increased attention to his still more wonrlerful words. His expositions of truth were really the important element to which all else wa~ but sul,- sidiary. lt was, therefore, with an established reputation that he advanced to Nazareth to test hie countrymen as to their corrliality towards him. II. LET UB NEXT CONBIDEB HIS VISIT TO NAZARETH. (Vera. 16-21.) We a.re not informed on whe.t de.y of the Jewish week he came to Nazareth; but we are to!,! what happened on the first sabbath day after bis arrival. We shall notice the 8ignifi- cant facts e.s they a.re told us by Luke. 1. He shared in the public worship. If any one ever he.cl e. right to absent himself on the ground of knowing more than others could tell him, it was surely Jesus. Yet we find him subjecting himself to fan1ily training, and putting all honour he could upon social and public worship. Moreover, it was his "custom." The habit of waiting upon God e.t the sanctuary has thus the highest warrant. In this, as in all else, our Lord is the perfect Example. Bat: 2. He took part in public worsMp. The Jews in their synagngues seem to have encouraged greater freedom than Church forms now e.dm1t of. They welcomed the help of youn" men as readers, and took exhortation from stranc;ers when they happened to be present. Our Lord, then, took the place of reader on this occasion, and, as Isaiah's prophecy was handed to him, he selected as his text the notable passage about the mission of Messiah. The .Anointed One was sent to "preach the gospel to the poort etc. And here it is instructive to notice (1) the class Messiah gathers round him. Not those whom the world would choose, but the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the blind, the bruised, the imprisoned I What a policy to inaugurate I Again, (2) it is significant what treatment he gives them. He gives the gospel, not wealth, to the poor; healing, not freedom from trial, to the broken-hearted ; freedom from sin to the captives; the recovering of sight to the blind ; liberty to the bruised in spirit ; and acceptance and jubilee joy to all imprisoned ones. Jn short, it is spiritual comfort over and above physical which he brings to them I It is here that the world's wisdom fails. It may do something to alleviate physical distres~, but is as helpless as the doctor in Macbeth in " ministering to minds diseased." 3. He embodied and illustrated hia text. When he had read the text he gave the book back to the minister and sat down before the congregation, and proceeded to expound the passage. He had to speak of himself. He was the Person referred to in it. No wonder the eyes of all were fastened on him. The Anointed One was in their midst, and he was ready to heal the broken-hearted and to work the wonders in the spiritual realm which were so important. The expo- sition was really the embodiment of blessing in his own Person. The Healer was there, the great Physician of souls. III. LET us NEXT OONSIDEB THE EFFECT OF HIB SERMON. (Vers. 22, 23.) The first effect was wonder and admiration. He had evidently interested them by his si-,iritual exposition. No such sermon had ever been heard before in Nazareth. It was a case of ministerial joy at the glad reception of a message.1 But if these were the lights of joy in the picture, they were speedily followed by the shadows of ministerial disap- pointment. Their admiration gave way before familiarity. They began to say, "Is not this Joseph's Sou?" They knew his antecedents, and so will put the worst cnn- struction possible upon his work. But the contempt of familiarity was not their only danger ; they imagined that, as his countrymen, they were entitled to demand such miraculous credentials as he had given elsewhere. Ile had lived among them for the most of thirty years a sinless life, the greatest of all miracles in a sinful world; but they <lemand something more, and think that he will have but a sickly reputation if ho does not accede to their request. The physician who cannot cure himself will not be in much demand to cure others; so if Jesus will not, by a miraculous display at Nazareth, establish his reputation which familiarity is undermining, they are prepare,! to s1:1y it is because he cannot. The mistake they make is in forgetting that Nazareth had no right to the treatment )f Capernaum, since it had thirty years of the sinlessness of Jesu8, which the seaside town had not. 1V. CONSIDER OUR Lo1rn's SOVEREIGN REFUSAL OF TREIB DEMAND. (Vers. 24--27.) The notion of the Nazarenes was that they had a right to a miraculous dis_play frum 1 Cf. Gerok's 'Aus Ernster Zeit,' s. 147. 110 TTTE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. (oR. rv. 1--44.