Luke 4:28-30 28When And all the people in the synagogue were filled with wrath when they heard these things, 29and after they rose up, they drove him out of the town and brought him to the cliff edge of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might throw him down; 30but passing through their midst, he went away.
These sad words capture the response of many people towards Jesus. Jesus knew what the Jews in the Nazareth synagogue were thinking. They were amazed at what he said, but their amazement was not positive but curious skepticism. Amazement and marvel is not always a positive thing unless it is followed up with faith and action. Why did Jesus choose the passage from Isaiah to read at his hometown “church”? The passage offered the people hope, but they could not get past their pre-conceived ideas about him. Their vision of Jesus was clouded by him being “Joseph’s son” (verse 22). They had the wrong identity for Jesus.
Jesus’ rebuke of their lack of faith in verses 23-27 gave them the opportunity to change their minds. As the stories in the Gospels show about him, he confronted those with hardened hearts to give them an opportunity to see past their unbelief and be woken up to their need to repent and believe. Many Jews, especially the Jewish leaders, refused to soften their hearts in this way but instead, rejected him and eventually crucified him. They had the same response as the crowd in the synagogue: wrath (thymou), a word that means passionate anger or rage.
All those in the synagogue acted on their intense anger. This crowd was volatile to act in this way. It was one thing to harbor a bitter attitude, but they went further and responded with violence by trying to kill Jesus. Some evil possessed their thinking to respond to one of their own sons in such a small village. The saying in John 1:46 that nothing good came from Nazareth could have been based on a negative reputation about the people of this town. Their rejection of Jesus was explosive and finite. Their actions proved what Jesus had just said about them. Their attitude began with curiosity, went to wonder with skepticism, to wrath and a desire to kill. This pattern can be repeated by those who turn their back on the light and hope of the gospel. What causes a person to be like this?
The first miracle of Luke is implied in verse 30. The people were about to throw him off a cliff with the intent to kill him but Jesus walked right through them. It was not time for his death and in that manner. Jews with a similar attitude would later be the cause of his death, but he had much ministry yet to do. This episode in Nazareth becomes symbolic for the type of response people give to Jesus and his call to become a disciple. The most crucial issue all people must answer is what to do with Jesus.
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