Title: TURN YOUR EYES TOWARD JESUS
Focus: Look at Jesus! He is the Christ, the hope and Savior of the world.
Function: to move the people to turn to Jesus as our Savior and only hope in the world.
Text: Luke 4:14-30
Jesus Christ is a controversial figure. His name stirs up all kinds of reactions. Some people praise him to the sky; others curse him till they are blue in their face. Many people try to ignore him; others pay lip service to him; and again, others try to marginalize him in their lives. But you can’t get rid of him. He keeps coming back, knocking on our doors, trying to catch our attention. Some would say that Jesus is a “pest.” I say that he is controversial. One thing is for sure: you can’t ignore him.
Oh, I know. We keep trying. Jason, for example, grew up in a Christian home; he learned about the Christian faith; he knows the stories of “Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.” Jason even has made a public profession of faith when he was 17 years old. But today, Jason finds himself studying at the university. He is drinking from the well of sophisticated, enlightened, secular progressive thinking. And Jason is now living the lifestyle of an unbeliever—a lifestyle geared toward self, pleasure, and doing your own thing. No longer does Jesus have a place in Jason’s life.
But here’s the weird thing: Jesus keeps showing up in Jason’s life. When Jason wakes up on Sunday morning with a headache from drinking last night, he hears a still small voice within him. “You know better, Jason.” When his parents call him on Sunday night and tell him of their day, Jason hears this voice in his head: “Where were you today, Jason?”
At the weirdest moments, just when Jason thinks that he owns the world and is his own man, Jesus has a way of showing up: “him again!”
Jesus is a controversial figure. Look at him! Don’t take him for granted. He is the Christ, the hope and the Savior of the world. Yes, him again!
We find the Lord Jesus entering his hometown, Nazareth. Having preached good news in the region of Galilee, and having performed a number of miracles there, Jesus has developed a reputation. As Luke tells us in the story: “…and news about him spread through the whole countryside.” Water into wine, healing for the sick; strengthened muscles for the lame; new eyesight for the blind—this man Jesus enters Nazareth with a reputation. All eyes are on him.
Jesus also enters Nazareth “in the power of the Spirit.” There’s something different about this carpenter’s son. He speaks with authority; he is unafraid, unassuming, yet, all eyes rivet on him when he speaks; all ears perk up when he proclaims good news.
So, it’s no wonder that the people of Nazareth flock to the synagogue on the Sabbath day to hear their “local boy” read the Word of God.
What does Jesus do? He reads the Scriptures. The assigned Scripture reading for that Sabbath day is from Isaiah 61. The leaders of the synagogue honor Jesus by handing to him the scroll with the word of the prophet Isaiah. In his prophecy, Isaiah speaks of a glorious future for all God’s people—a future that God will usher into our world by way of his Anointed One, by way of the Messiah or the Christ.
Listen: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus reads that scripture passage and the people stand, listening spellbound to Jesus. Luke says that “the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.”
What does Jesus do? He applies the passage to the present. And as Jesus explains Isaiah’s prophetic words, he summarizes the passage in a one-line sentence: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Now this one-liner is a bombshell. All other interpreters and teachers of the Law and the Prophets have always pointed toward the future: Get ready for the coming of the Messiah; get ready for the year of the Lord, when God’s rule will break into our lives and set us free from bondage and oppression. But Jesus says: the future has arrived. It’s today: “Today this scripture is fulfilled….” Not only that. “This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus applies the passage to the present.
What does Jesus do? He creates controversy. Note what Luke says: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” In other words, this Jesus is a good speaker. He knows how to spin a yarn and inspire his audience. But then the tide turns. The people let Jesus’ words sink into their hearts and minds.
You see, they want to take seriously the Word of God, but can they take seriously this Jesus? “Is not this Joseph’s son?” You know? Isn’t this Jesus from ordinary stock? Isn’t he one of us, the offspring of a blue color worker? What credentials does he bring to the synagogue and to the scripture reading of Isaiah 61?
The people hear Jesus say that he has come to fulfill Isaiah’s words. The people rightly hear Jesus say that he has come to usher in the “year of the Lord,” the age of salvation. They hear Jesus say that the glorious future promised by God through Isaiah has come to the present through Jesus himself. The words of Jesus are gracious; but the content of Jesus’ word is hard to swallow.
Now if Jesus had come into Nazareth with a blazing trail of miracles, the people might have been much more open to Jesus’ claim that the future has arrived. And even though Jesus has already developed a reputation out there in Galilee, his own people in Nazareth have seen nothing to that effect. This ordinary bloke called Jesus is just like them. And the people aren’t ready to buy what he says in the synagogue.
It’s like this: suppose a homeless person or beggar comes up to you and offers you all kinds of riches, saying: “Trust me, I am going to make your life fabulous, free from trouble. I’m going to give you insights, wisdom, and lots of hope to face every day of your life.” Would not you be skeptical? Would not you be inclined to say: “well, if you want me to listen to you and take my cues from you, what are your credentials? You offer me a life of roses, but your own life is filled with thorns and misery!”
No, the people of Nazareth have problems with Jesus’ origin. Jesus’ problem is that he came to Nazareth, his hometown, without the fanfare of miracles, without the glamour of a famous prophet like Elijah or Elisha. And thus Jesus creates controversy with his gracious message but humble origin. The lack of miraculous deeds in Nazareth undercuts Jesus’ words.
But Jesus knows his audience. So he says to them: “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.” Thus Jesus exposes their thinking.
But then Jesus drives home his point and issues a warning to his people: Turn your eyes toward me. Put your hope in me! Do not be like your ancestors.
Listen to Jesus: “I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet none of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
Bull’s eye! Here Jesus equates himself with the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Who does he think he is? Here Jesus makes an outrageously offensive statement to the people of Israel—namely that the year of the Lord, the era of salvation, the Christ is for all the people of the world—Jews and Gentiles alike. Here Jesus says that the glorious future hope and salvation promised by God through Isaiah the prophet is for all the nations of the world.
The people can’t stomach their own local boy’s claim. They are ready to throw him off Nazareth’s cliff. But Jesus, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, walks right through the frenzied crowd and went on his way. His time to die has not yet come.
There he is! Him again. Fully in control, doing his heavenly Father’s will, ushering in the age of salvation. Turn your eyes toward Jesus.
Why?
Jesus is the Son of God. Did you notice in the text that Jesus applies the words of the prophet Isaiah to himself? In doing so, the Lord Jesus aligns himself with God the Father and the Spirit. Listen: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me….”
The reason why you can’t dismiss the Lord Jesus is because Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is one of a kind. Unique. And because he is God, truly divine, he keeps coming to you and me. He is the hound of heaven. You can fight him, dismiss him, ignore him, wish him away, but he keeps coming after you. He is knocking on the door of our hearts. Will you let him come in? Will you yield your life to him? He is the Son of God. Surrender to him!
Why?
Jesus is the Savior of the world; our only hope. Creation is beautiful, but it’s in turmoil; all human beings are created in the image of God, but the image is broken; sin has spoiled and stained our relationship with God; and sin affects our ability to mirror God’s holiness and purity, God’s will and perfection in our lives.
In fact, the human condition is one of bondage—bondage to the powers of sin and death. By our selves, by our own light, we are blind and cannot see the truth; we think that we can create our own happiness, solve our own problems, if only we have more knowledge, education, money and the like. Apart from Jesus, we are blind and cannot see the truth.
But Jesus has come. The year of the Lord’s favor has begun. Jesus died that we may live; Jesus paid the price for our sins; Jesus rose from the dead, so that we may enter eternal life; Jesus has reversed the curse of death; now we may face the future with confidence and hope. In Christ Jesus, we are reconciled with God; we are a new creation. Therefore, turn your eyes toward Jesus. He is our only hope, our only Savior in this world.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.