Why the rage?
“When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove [Jesus] out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” (Luke 4:28-29)
In Jesus' early Galilean ministry, we encounter an odd and disturbing emotion: rage. The people of His own hometown (Nazareth) had received His gracious sermon on Isaiah 61:1-2 with wonder and approbation. And moments later, they were filled with rage and ready to execute Him by throwing Him off a cliff!
What happened? And why were they so filled with rage? I think there are two possibilities relevant for us. The first possibility is that they were offended by Jesus' claims to be the foretold Messiah (the anointed one) of Isaiah 61 and a prophet in line with the famous miracle-working prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha. The people of Nazareth knew who Jesus was. He was the son of Joseph. (Luke 4:22) They had seen Him grow up in their neighborhoods. He had played with their children. He had sat by them on the synagogue pew. He had helped Joseph make their tables and benches and frame their houses. They might have thought that it was nice for their hometown boy to make it as a successful rabbi. But to claim to be a prophet and the longed-for Messiah was too much.
Martin Luther once wrote, “I believe that by own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel....” These fabulous stories we have about Jesus' identity in the New Testament are unbelievable from a human point of view. But we dare not dispense with them in a fit of rage nor attempt to de-mythologize them to fit into our own preconceived notions about God and humanity. Instead, we ought to open ourselves to the Spirit's power to believe and embrace Jesus as He is – the Messiah, a miracle-working prophet, the Son of God.
The second possibility is that they were filled with rage because Jesus was suggesting that the fine synagogue people were not to be the recipients of His grace and power. Who was to receive Jesus' work? He lists the poor, the blind, the prisoners and the oppressed in His citation from Isaiah 61. In His sermon, He refers to a pagan widowed woman from the capital of Baal worship (Zarephath) and to a pagan leper from Syria. Those who would receive His grace were not the clean and pure, not those at the top of the ancient Mediterranean status hierarchy. Instead, He came to serve those in the margins, those whom fine society despised. Later on in Luke, Jesus says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)
It is a hard lesson for us to learn that God wants to be with those who need Him. We dare not be filled with rage over being passed by, but instead understand our own need as sinners for His grace (“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” - Psalm 51:17) and then follow Him into the gaps of human need and compassion where we might make ourselves useful to Him and the world.
Dear reader, May you find in Jesus the answer to your need and the example of your life and ministry in the world! Amen.
- Pastor Dean Apel, Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lindsborg
