28 When
they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping
up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town
was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he
passed right through the crowd and went on his way. It's the first respond
we as humans have when we don't understand something. Anger. We need to take
the time to dig a little deeper at times.
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John Burnett:
25 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. 26 Yet
Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region
of Sidon. 27 And
there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the
prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All
the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.29 They got up, drove him out of the
town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in
order to throw him off the cliff.30 But
he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. They
did not listen to Elijah and they were not listening to Jesus. Jesus
always spoke the truth and people do not always like to hear the truth.
The same is true today. When you talk to people about repentance of sins
and Jesus, they get upset and say you cannot judge me. We are not to
judge people as less or worse than ourselves because we are all sinners.
Love is blind, and throughout time the worlds love of their sin had blinded
them to their need of a Savior to save them from their sin.
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Pat Bell: 25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in
Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a
severe famine devastated the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent
to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the
land of Sidon. 27 And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of
the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”
28 When
they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping
up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town
was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he
passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
People are the same now as they were then. One negative voice
can lead them in the wrong direction. Thank you my Lord for your Grace!
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Commentary:
None
of them was cleansed - This verse is to be understood as the 26th; for Naaman,
being a Syrian, was no leper in Israel. The meaning of these verses is, God
dispenses his benefits when, where, and to whom he pleases. No person can
complain of his conduct in these respects, because no person deserves any good
from his hand. God never punishes any but those who deserve it; but he blesses
incessantly those who deserve it not. The reason is evident: justice depends on
certain rules; but beneficence is free. Beneficence can bless both the good and
the evil; justice can punish the latter only. Those who do not make this
distinction must have a very confused notion of the conduct of Divine
Providence among men.
Passing
through the midst of them - Either he shut their eyes so that they could not
see him; or he so overawed them by his power as to leave them no strength to
perform their murderous purpose. The man Christ Jesus was immortal till his
time came; and all his messengers are immortal till their work is done. The
following relation of a fact presents a scene something similar to what I
suppose passed on this occasion: A missionary, who had been sent to a strange
land to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and who had passed through
many hardships, and was often in danger of losing his life, through the
persecutions excited against him, came to a place where he had often before, at
no small risk, preached Christ crucified. About fifty people, who had received
good impressions from the word of God, assembled: he began his discourse; and,
after he had preached about thirty minutes, an outrageous mob surrounded the
house, armed with different instruments of death, and breathing the most
sanguinary purposes. Some that were within shut the door; and the missionary
and his flock betook themselves to prayer. The mob assailed the house, and
began to hurl stones against the walls, windows, and roof; and in a short time
almost every tile was destroyed, and the roof nearly uncovered, and before they
quitted the premises scarcely left one square inch of glass in the five windows
by which the house was enlightened. While this was going forward, a person came
with a pistol to the window opposite to the place where the preacher stood,
(who was then exhorting his flock to be steady, to resign themselves to God,
and trust in him), presented it at him, and snapped it; but it only flashed in
the pan! As the house was a wooden building, they began with crows and spades
to undermine it, and take away its principal supports. The preacher then
addressed his little flock to this effect: "These outrageous people seek
not you, but me; if I continue in the house, they will soon pull it down, and
we shall be all buried in its ruins; I will therefore, in the name of God, go
out to them, and you will be safe." He then went towards the door; the
poor people got round him, and entreated him not to venture out, as he might
expect to be instantly massacred; he went calmly forward, opened the door, at
which a whole volley of stones and dirt was that instant discharged; but he
received no damage. The people were in crowds in all the space before the door,
and filled the road for a considerable way, so that there was no room to pass
or repass. As soon as the preacher made his appearance, the savages became
instantly as silent and as still as night: he walked forward; and they divided
to the right and to the left, leaving a passage of about four feet wide for
himself and a young man who followed him, to walk in. He passed on through the
whole crowd, not a soul of whom either lifted a hand, or spoke one word, till he
and his companion had gained the uttermost skirts of the mob! The narrator, who
was present on the occasion, goes on to say: "This was one of the most
affecting spectacles I ever witnessed; an infuriated mob, without any visible
cause, (for the preacher spoke not one word), became in a moment as calm as
lambs! They seemed struck with amazement bordering on stupefaction; they stared
and stood speechless; and, after they had fallen back to right and left to
leave him a free passage, they were as motionless as statues! They assembled
with the full purpose to destroy the man who came to show them the way of
salvation; but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. Was not the
God of missionaries in this work? The next Lord's day, the missionary went to
the same place, and again proclaimed the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin
of the world!"
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Tomorrow’s reading for Luke 4:31-37.
31 Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there
in the synagogue every Sabbath day. 32 There, too, the people
were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority.
33 Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon—an
evil[g]
spirit—cried out, shouting, 34 “Go away! Why are you
interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who
you are—the Holy One of God!”35 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further.
36 Amazed, the people exclaimed, “What authority and power this man’s words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!” 37 The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.
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