Words of Grace Make People Mad -- Luke Four

"And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

"And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

"And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" (Luke 4: 20-22)

Gracious words indeed came forth from Jesus, who came to us full of grace and truth:

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1: 14)

The passage that Jesus read, from Isaiah 61, was filled with grace:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

"To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4: 18-19)

The Gospel to the "meek" reads the original Hebrew, not just poor in terms of money, but poor in Spirit, no longer depending on one's own efforts, one's own righteousness. This Messiah comes to heal us, to deliver us bondage, to recover us where we lack in every way -- this is Grace, man!

Yet this grace means that it comes upon those who do not merit it, earn it, or deserve it:

"23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4: 23-27)

We do not receive grace if we trust in our efforts, in our bearing, in our possessions. We do not even grace for who we are of for what family we are born into. Being a Jew, or a Gentile, does not qualify a man for blessing before God. Here, Jesus referenced two miracles which blessed Gentiles, men and women from enemy lands. This drove the crowd in the synagogue to a fury:

"And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

"And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

'But he passing through the midst of them went his way." (Luke 4: 28-30)

Imagine a rage so intense that men and women would throw the son of  a well-respected carpenter off a cliff? Insane rage, to say the least!

What would make them so mad? The Word itself testifies that God does not bless us according to our works, to our bearing, to anything that we have done. In fact, God even does good to our enemies, as He does not want one wicked man to perish (Ezekiel 33: 11).

In fact, God's grace is revealed to all men (Titus 2: 11).

This grace makes people mad, those who think or why try to deserve it. Such were the Israelites in the Old and New Testaments.

The gracious words of Jesus which nearly sent Him to his death over a cliff, save everyone who receives the same by faith!