Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"
23 He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'" 24 Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."
28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. NKJV
The people that heard Jesus read the scripture concerning Himself as the Christ or The Anointed One, went from awe and amazement, to disbelief and denial, to rage and attempted murder all in a matter of a few minutes. When they heard his gracious words they were amazed and they bore witness with Him, but as soon as their natural reasoning kicked in they could only see Joseph’s son standing there. They allowed the flesh and blood of Jesus to over rule what they sensed in their hearts a few moments earlier.
One day Jesus asked His disciples, Matt 16:15 "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. NKJV
A revelation of the Christ will not come through looking at flesh and blood but by hearing the heart of the Father. Those who heard Jesus speaking in the temple that day were hearing from heaven, but as soon as their antennas were tuned back to earth they lost sight of the Christ. When Jesus saw their minds turning away in disbelief He said that a prophet is not honored or accepted in his own country. Wherever there is familiarity it is hard to see beyond the flesh and blood. One of the most amazing parts of the gospel accounts is how these people went from being in awe at His words, to attempted murder in a matter of a few moments. Israel had a history of rejecting the prophets of God and Jesus knew He would be treated the same way. Even though they were in awe at Him for a moment they followed in the footsteps of their forefathers.
There were many widows in the land of Israel during the time of Elijah when there was no rain for three and a half years, and great famine was in the land; but Elijah was sent to none of them. Instead he was sent to a widow in Zarephath. There were also many lepers in the land of Israel during the days of Elisha and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Jesus emphasized the affect of Israel’s lack of honor toward those anointed and sent by God. They had to go outside of Israel to find someone who would receive their ministry.
On another occasion recorded in Matthew 13, Jesus was unable to do mighty works in His own country because they were too familiar with Him and His family. Again they allowed the flesh and blood of Jesus to disqualify Him as the anointed one. Jesus comes to us today in the flesh and blood of those He has called and chosen to carry on His ministry. Let’s not do as they did and dishonor the anointing by not receiving the package it comes to us in.
The anointing can cause offence. Jesus said in Matthew 11:6
“And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." NKJV
John being in prison, sent a messenger to Jesus to ask if He was the “One” they had been waiting for or if they should continue looking for another. Jesus did not answer yes or no, but He pointed to the miraculous works of the anointing. He closes His statement with
“And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."Many were offended at Him and His words. They could not get past His humanity to see God at work.
The anointing also destroys the yoke of bondage. Jesus came to set the captive free. Bondage comes in many forms; sin, sickness, disease and infirmities, and even religious bondages are broken by the anointing. Probably the greatest opposition Jesus encountered came from the religious people. They hated Him because He set people free from their control and released people from their power.
Is it possible we could be suffering some of the same affects in the church today as Israel did because of a lack of recognizing and honoring the anointing? Are we looking at the flesh and blood that Jesus the Christ chooses to show up in? Have we grown up and become familiar with a Jesus who did no miracles in our midst?
I remember back in the early 1950’s there were several well known evangelists with powerful healing ministries. At that time I had not yet given my life to Christ but I remember overhearing Christians explaining away the miraculous claims of healings reported in their meetings. One report of a person who was healed then later lost it, proved to them that the healing was never real to begin with. Though there has been much growth and maturity in the church since then, we still constantly hear reports about all the miracles that take place in Africa and other far away places, yet not in America? It could be compared to Jesus’ home town, where He was only able to heal a few sick folks because of the prevailing unbelief and lack of honor for the anointing.
Matt 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" NKJV
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