21 April 2024
Jesus portrayed His Messianic mission as a Jubilee, not vengeance on the political enemies of Judea. When the audience in Nazareth outside the synagogue got hostile, He stated that no prophet was welcome in his hometown. Then He made some pointed comments (Luke 4:25-27).
Bailey lays it out in rhetorical analysis: ABCD,ABCD.
A. widows in Israel
B. during the days of Elijah
(Luke's parenthetical note on the famine for Gentile readers)
C. Elijah went to none of them
D. rather, to Zeraphath of Sidon
A. lepers in Israel
B. during the days of Elisha
C. none of them cleansed
D. rather, Naaman of Syria
Bailey speculates that this story from Jesus' ministry was handed to Luke as a document, composed in Hebrew style, and Luke felt compelled to add the note without realizing he broke the flow.
Bailey then recounts how pagans viewed reality in Old Testament times: National gods had power only in the territory their people held. This was a common notion in Israel during the Exodus up through their Exile. Thus, Jonah fled the land of Israel, but couldn't escape his God. Naaman wanted dirt from the land of the God who healed him. But the widow of Zeraphath had to make a serious leap of faith to grant Elijah's request in the land of Baal. (Make no mistake; Elijah's costume and fame marked him as the prophet of Israel.) But the Northern Kingdom had been subverted to worship her nation's god. Her faith in the God of Israel outstripped that of Elijah's mission audience.
Naaman exercised faith in the God of Israel, too, and was healed. The village of Nazareth stood in what had been a part of that Northern Kingdom where God's name was plastered on pagan idolatry. Two mighty prophets in succession sent to that kingdom offered few blessings from their God, but gave some to Gentiles. Jesus is reinforcing His lesson from the synagogue meeting: God cares about the nations, too. Israel was supposed to care about them enough to be faithful to God and demonstrate His ways. Israel got lost, and lost God. In order to experience the Messianic Kingdom, the folks in Nazareth would need to exercise the faith of Gentiles, not the lack of faith more common in Israel.
I can't count how many times foreign students at my Christian College, after some trip into the secular world off-campus, mentioned a desire to come back to the US as a missionary for the gospel. Bailey spends a good bit of text emphasizing the need for westerners to understand that obedience is part of faith. The widow and Naaman exercised faith on far less evidence and at far greater risk than most westerners would be willing to do.
So, the synagogue crowd tried to throw Jesus off a bluff that is still there on the southeast side of Nazareth. I wish you could see it. Don't romanticize; it isn't an actual cliff; the Greek word is ambiguous. Had they succeeded, Jesus would have rolled down a ways and they would have stoned Him where He landed on the steep slope. The area is covered in loose stones.
Luke doesn't say it was a miracle, so we have no idea how, but Jesus walked away from this confrontation. He had only just begun.
Comments
Jay DiNitto
"Bailey then recounts how pagans viewed reality in Old Testament times: National gods had power only in the territory their people held. This was a common notion in Israel during the Exodus up through their Exile."
This sounds like it was a part of the ANE feudal social structure, right?
CatRez
The feudal orientation was universal, applied to Creation itself, in their minds.
This document is public domain; spread the message.