And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
In the Nazareth synagogue Jesus announced Himself as the Anointed One sent to preach to the poor, heal the brokenhearted and free the oppressed, and after first wondering at His gracious words the hearers were filled with wrath. The wrath was provoked when He recalled that Elijah was sent only to the widow at Sarepta in Sidon and only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed, thereby rebuking their unbelief and teaching that God had turned from faithless Israel to favor Gentiles. Filled with wrath they rose, drove Him out of the city to the brow of the hill to cast Him down headlong, but He passed through their midst and went His way because heavenly power guarded Him and He would not use His own miraculous power to save Himself. Doubt admitted became open unbelief and unbelief turned to malice and rage, as prejudice, pride, stubbornness and self-righteousness quenched the Spirit, hardened hearts and opened the way for Satan to control minds. The verse is to be kept before the mind as a warning against hardening the heart in unbelief and pride, for refusing light when teaching cuts across ideas is rejecting Christ in the person of His messengers.
Setting and Immediate Provocation
The wrath broke out in the Nazareth synagogue during Jesus' first sermon there, where He stood and announced Himself as the Anointed One sent to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to captives and recovering of sight to the blind, set at liberty the bruised, free the oppressed, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The reception was so unfavorable that He made no stay at Nazareth but left to seek more fruitful fields and places where people would listen and receive His message. Prejudice and Satan's influence turned the people against Him even as He proclaimed Himself the anointed one.
At first all wondered at the gracious words that proceeded from His lips, felt the Spirit's powerful witness to His claims, and responded with joy and praise. As His divinity shone through His humanity they gained spiritual discernment and were nearly convinced that He was the Son of God. When He then spoke words that cut across their ideas they were filled with wrath, and the very ones who had wondered opened their lips in falsehood as His opposers.
What provoked them was His recalling that many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when heaven was shut up three years and six months with great famine, yet Elijah was sent to none but the widow at Sarepta in Sidon, and that many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, yet none was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. By those examples He rebuked their unbelief and exposed their unrighteousness, departure from God, and lost claim to be His people. His words cut across their ideas and were taken as a reflection on their lack of piety and loyalty to God.
The mention of blessings given to Gentiles stirred fierce national pride, for it taught that God had turned from faithless, unbelieving Israel to show favor to people in heathen lands. They could not tolerate the suggestion that people of other nations could be more worthy of God's favor, that the widow of Sarepta and Naaman had lived up to the light they received, and that the hearers themselves were no more favored by heaven than the Gentiles. This clashed also with their expectation of a Messiah who would lead armies and deliver Israel from oppression, whereas He had read Isaiah's description of the Messiah's work as preaching good news, healing, and freeing the oppressed.
Prejudice against His humble appearance as a carpenter's son blinded them to the evidence and to the blessing they could have received by accepting Him. From natural reluctance to acknowledge wonderfully admirable development in one who had lived unostentatiously in their midst and whom they had intimately known from childhood and youth, they refused to believe He was the Messiah and would not honor Him. Those same persons might have become wildly excited over the pretensions of a stranger and an adventurer, and attention to His human family helped divert them from the truth.
Violent Response and Deliverance
Filled with wrath, all in the synagogue rose up and drove Him from the synagogue and out of the city to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, intending to cast Him down headlong to kill Him. They seized Him in rage and unbelief, and angels protected Him and led Him to safety.
The mob tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, seized Him, drowned out His words, and hurried Him toward the eminence to cast Him down headlong. They pushed Him hither and thither and quarreled among themselves over how to stop His voice entirely, until presently they lost sight of Him and He was gone they knew not whither. Jesus remained calm while they were stopped only because angels guarded Him.
He passed through their midst and went His way because His mission was not finished, with heavenly angels and divine power and divine agencies guarding Him, preserving His life, delivering Him, and leading Him to safety so He could continue His work. God protected Jesus from their violence and from their wicked purposes even when rage became so violent they would have hurled Him from the precipice.
He did not use His own miraculous power to save Himself, for He had come to save others and to bear humanity's suffering. His life was preserved until the time came for Him to be betrayed and die.
After so unfavorable a reception He made no stay at Nazareth but left to seek more fruitful fields and places where people would listen and receive His message, preaching to ears that would listen and to hearts that would receive. That rejection began a lasting pattern of caviling, questioning, and doubt, including attributing His work to Satan.
The verse belongs to a life of persecution and insult, from being driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king to being condemned to death without cause at Jerusalem. Through three years of self-denying public labor of disinterested benevolence, purity, suffering and devotion, which was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer, He was ever touched by human woe. Healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, walking upon the heaving billows and the sea and by a word silencing their roaring and stilling the storm, casting out devils that in departing acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, breaking the slumbers of the dead and raising the dead, and holding thousands entranced by words of wisdom, He was driven from those He labored to save and with His few faithful followers found temporary asylum elsewhere, because hearts blinded by prejudice and insane hatred resolutely rejected the light He was unable to reach.
Spiritual Causes of Wrath
Admitted doubt hardened into open unbelief, and unbelief turned to malice, hatred and rage. Prejudice, pride, stubbornness, jealousy and self-righteousness quenched the Spirit, hardened the heart, and opened the mind to Satan's control. Though the Spirit had borne powerful witness and divinity had shone through humanity until hearers were nearly convinced He was the Son of God, yielding to doubt reversed the first joy and praise into a will to kill. In that unbelief they closed eyes that they would not see and ears that they would not hear, and darkened understanding that they would not be convinced by manifestations of the Spirit of God. Such blindness and infatuation was the ruler of darkness at work, and it is no light matter but dangerous to call the work of the Spirit of God the work of Satan.
Though they prided themselves on keeping the law, they rose in rebellion rather than accept reproof of self-righteousness. While supposing they were preserving dignity, freedom, and the right to think, act, believe or doubt for themselves, they were in bondage to Satan and closed the heart against Jesus. Part of the fury was the natural reluctance to acknowledge remarkable development in one intimately known from childhood, who had lived unostentatiously among them as a carpenter's son, whereas a stranger and adventurer might have excited them wildly. He came unto His own who received Him not, surrounded by religious enemies, because truth did not languish on His tongue and because He had not received instruction from the religious teachers, though He had perfect knowledge of the Jewish economy as represented in the Scriptures.
The warning in this was that God's chosen people were not secure while backsliding and rebelling, and faithful messengers could find no safety among them, for apostate Israel could not be trusted to protect God's servant. The widow of Sarepta in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian had lived up to the light they received and were counted more righteous than those who rejected greater light. Refusing truth turned blessing into a stumbling block and led to opposing further evidence, so that even mighty works later witnessed would not convince or bring to repentance and giving glory. Pride, jealousy and self-righteousness kept them from admitting mistake, and many were drawn into rebellion by others' misrepresentation without understanding what they were doing. His personal work remained confined in a small circumference to the Jewish nation because the heathen nations were not prepared for His work, and going to the Gentiles then would have closed the door whereby He could bear His message to the Jews.
Warning and Present Application
The wrath in the synagogue is an exhibition of the result of hardening the heart in unbelief and pride, to be kept before the mind as a warning. Doubt admitted becomes open unbelief, and unbelief drives away the Spirit of God and leaves room for Satan's suggestions, so that those whose words had exposed their spiritual condition were filled with rage and would have taken life then if they had been able. Hearts touched by God's Spirit can turn to unbelief and rage when the message cuts across cherished views, for prejudice, pride and stubbornness quench the Spirit and can lead even to violence. Terrible is the blindness that could become so enraged as to try to take the life of the Son of God while He stood as the divine Interpreter of the Scripture He Himself had inspired, announcing anointing to preach to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim deliverance to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to the bruised, and the acceptable year of the Lord, though hearts had responded to the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same scene illustrates how unbelief turns people against truth and gracious words, for the audience that wondered at gracious lips became furious when examples of help to Gentiles in the days of Elijah and Elisha implied God had favored those outside Israel, and drove Him out to kill Him. The very ones who had wondered opened their lips in falsehood as opposers, tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, hurried Him to the eminence on which their city was built to cast Him down headlong, and were stopped only because angels guarded Him, while the enemy took possession of them. That same spirit moves those who once acknowledge the testimony of the Holy Spirit and then turn back to speak against it and resist evidence.
Refusing the light is rejecting Christ in the person of His messengers, and pride in one's own judgment with prejudice leads to unbelief and spiritual confusion. The anger was unbelief stirred by pride, prejudice and bondage to Satan, closing the heart against Jesus while supposing to preserve dignity, freedom, and the right to think, act, believe or doubt for oneself. Those who have taken the course of the men of Nazareth in controversy are given a second opportunity after excitement and confusion are over to accept gracious light of truth from the divine Messenger, and to then harden the heart in prejudice and pride is final rejection of the message that would work salvation.
People now are less excusable than the Jews because they have before them the example of the rejection of Christ and His apostles and have been warned not to fall after the same example of unbelief, yet like despisers in apostolic times they wonder and perish. The rejection carries lessons for teachers, for studying and understanding God's Word would have shown the Nazarenes they had neglected lessons of eternal consequence and were therefore unfit to teach others. Their example, which began a lasting pattern of caviling, questioning and doubt even to attributing His work to Satan, warns against resisting the Holy Spirit's work and rejecting the light God gives.
The difference between claimed love for Christ and willingness to accept His teaching is exposed when teaching that cuts across ideas is met with wrath, as those who thought they loved Him became enraged when taught they were no more favored by heaven than Gentiles, and dragged Him from the synagogue to throw Him from the hill. Prejudice and hatred kept His own people from receiving the light despite compassion, mighty works and words of wisdom.
In the Nazareth synagogue Jesus announced Himself as the Anointed One sent to preach to the poor, heal the brokenhearted and free the oppressed, and after first wondering at His gracious words the hearers were filled with wrath. The wrath was provoked when He recalled that Elijah was sent only to the widow at Sarepta in Sidon and only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed, thereby rebuking their unbelief and teaching that God had turned from faithless Israel to favor Gentiles. Filled with wrath they rose, drove Him out of the city to the brow of the hill to cast Him down headlong, but He passed through their midst and went His way because heavenly power guarded Him and He would not use His own miraculous power to save Himself. Doubt admitted became open unbelief and unbelief turned to malice and rage, as prejudice, pride, stubbornness and self-righteousness quenched the Spirit, hardened hearts and opened the way for Satan to control minds. The verse is to be kept before the mind as a warning against hardening the heart in unbelief and pride, for refusing light when teaching cuts across ideas is rejecting Christ in the person of His messengers.
Setting and Immediate Provocation
The wrath broke out in the Nazareth synagogue during Jesus' first sermon there, where He stood and announced Himself as the Anointed One sent to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to captives and recovering of sight to the blind, set at liberty the bruised, free the oppressed, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The reception was so unfavorable that He made no stay at Nazareth but left to seek more fruitful fields and places where people would listen and receive His message. Prejudice and Satan's influence turned the people against Him even as He proclaimed Himself the anointed one.
At first all wondered at the gracious words that proceeded from His lips, felt the Spirit's powerful witness to His claims, and responded with joy and praise. As His divinity shone through His humanity they gained spiritual discernment and were nearly convinced that He was the Son of God. When He then spoke words that cut across their ideas they were filled with wrath, and the very ones who had wondered opened their lips in falsehood as His opposers.
What provoked them was His recalling that many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when heaven was shut up three years and six months with great famine, yet Elijah was sent to none but the widow at Sarepta in Sidon, and that many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, yet none was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. By those examples He rebuked their unbelief and exposed their unrighteousness, departure from God, and lost claim to be His people. His words cut across their ideas and were taken as a reflection on their lack of piety and loyalty to God.
The mention of blessings given to Gentiles stirred fierce national pride, for it taught that God had turned from faithless, unbelieving Israel to show favor to people in heathen lands. They could not tolerate the suggestion that people of other nations could be more worthy of God's favor, that the widow of Sarepta and Naaman had lived up to the light they received, and that the hearers themselves were no more favored by heaven than the Gentiles. This clashed also with their expectation of a Messiah who would lead armies and deliver Israel from oppression, whereas He had read Isaiah's description of the Messiah's work as preaching good news, healing, and freeing the oppressed.
Prejudice against His humble appearance as a carpenter's son blinded them to the evidence and to the blessing they could have received by accepting Him. From natural reluctance to acknowledge wonderfully admirable development in one who had lived unostentatiously in their midst and whom they had intimately known from childhood and youth, they refused to believe He was the Messiah and would not honor Him. Those same persons might have become wildly excited over the pretensions of a stranger and an adventurer, and attention to His human family helped divert them from the truth.
Violent Response and Deliverance
Filled with wrath, all in the synagogue rose up and drove Him from the synagogue and out of the city to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, intending to cast Him down headlong to kill Him. They seized Him in rage and unbelief, and angels protected Him and led Him to safety.
The mob tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, seized Him, drowned out His words, and hurried Him toward the eminence to cast Him down headlong. They pushed Him hither and thither and quarreled among themselves over how to stop His voice entirely, until presently they lost sight of Him and He was gone they knew not whither. Jesus remained calm while they were stopped only because angels guarded Him.
He passed through their midst and went His way because His mission was not finished, with heavenly angels and divine power and divine agencies guarding Him, preserving His life, delivering Him, and leading Him to safety so He could continue His work. God protected Jesus from their violence and from their wicked purposes even when rage became so violent they would have hurled Him from the precipice.
He did not use His own miraculous power to save Himself, for He had come to save others and to bear humanity's suffering. His life was preserved until the time came for Him to be betrayed and die.
After so unfavorable a reception He made no stay at Nazareth but left to seek more fruitful fields and places where people would listen and receive His message, preaching to ears that would listen and to hearts that would receive. That rejection began a lasting pattern of caviling, questioning, and doubt, including attributing His work to Satan.
The verse belongs to a life of persecution and insult, from being driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king to being condemned to death without cause at Jerusalem. Through three years of self-denying public labor of disinterested benevolence, purity, suffering and devotion, which was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer, He was ever touched by human woe. Healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, walking upon the heaving billows and the sea and by a word silencing their roaring and stilling the storm, casting out devils that in departing acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, breaking the slumbers of the dead and raising the dead, and holding thousands entranced by words of wisdom, He was driven from those He labored to save and with His few faithful followers found temporary asylum elsewhere, because hearts blinded by prejudice and insane hatred resolutely rejected the light He was unable to reach.
Spiritual Causes of Wrath
Admitted doubt hardened into open unbelief, and unbelief turned to malice, hatred and rage. Prejudice, pride, stubbornness, jealousy and self-righteousness quenched the Spirit, hardened the heart, and opened the mind to Satan's control. Though the Spirit had borne powerful witness and divinity had shone through humanity until hearers were nearly convinced He was the Son of God, yielding to doubt reversed the first joy and praise into a will to kill. In that unbelief they closed eyes that they would not see and ears that they would not hear, and darkened understanding that they would not be convinced by manifestations of the Spirit of God. Such blindness and infatuation was the ruler of darkness at work, and it is no light matter but dangerous to call the work of the Spirit of God the work of Satan.
Though they prided themselves on keeping the law, they rose in rebellion rather than accept reproof of self-righteousness. While supposing they were preserving dignity, freedom, and the right to think, act, believe or doubt for themselves, they were in bondage to Satan and closed the heart against Jesus. Part of the fury was the natural reluctance to acknowledge remarkable development in one intimately known from childhood, who had lived unostentatiously among them as a carpenter's son, whereas a stranger and adventurer might have excited them wildly. He came unto His own who received Him not, surrounded by religious enemies, because truth did not languish on His tongue and because He had not received instruction from the religious teachers, though He had perfect knowledge of the Jewish economy as represented in the Scriptures.
The warning in this was that God's chosen people were not secure while backsliding and rebelling, and faithful messengers could find no safety among them, for apostate Israel could not be trusted to protect God's servant. The widow of Sarepta in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian had lived up to the light they received and were counted more righteous than those who rejected greater light. Refusing truth turned blessing into a stumbling block and led to opposing further evidence, so that even mighty works later witnessed would not convince or bring to repentance and giving glory. Pride, jealousy and self-righteousness kept them from admitting mistake, and many were drawn into rebellion by others' misrepresentation without understanding what they were doing. His personal work remained confined in a small circumference to the Jewish nation because the heathen nations were not prepared for His work, and going to the Gentiles then would have closed the door whereby He could bear His message to the Jews.
Warning and Present Application
The wrath in the synagogue is an exhibition of the result of hardening the heart in unbelief and pride, to be kept before the mind as a warning. Doubt admitted becomes open unbelief, and unbelief drives away the Spirit of God and leaves room for Satan's suggestions, so that those whose words had exposed their spiritual condition were filled with rage and would have taken life then if they had been able. Hearts touched by God's Spirit can turn to unbelief and rage when the message cuts across cherished views, for prejudice, pride and stubbornness quench the Spirit and can lead even to violence. Terrible is the blindness that could become so enraged as to try to take the life of the Son of God while He stood as the divine Interpreter of the Scripture He Himself had inspired, announcing anointing to preach to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim deliverance to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to the bruised, and the acceptable year of the Lord, though hearts had responded to the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same scene illustrates how unbelief turns people against truth and gracious words, for the audience that wondered at gracious lips became furious when examples of help to Gentiles in the days of Elijah and Elisha implied God had favored those outside Israel, and drove Him out to kill Him. The very ones who had wondered opened their lips in falsehood as opposers, tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, hurried Him to the eminence on which their city was built to cast Him down headlong, and were stopped only because angels guarded Him, while the enemy took possession of them. That same spirit moves those who once acknowledge the testimony of the Holy Spirit and then turn back to speak against it and resist evidence.
Refusing the light is rejecting Christ in the person of His messengers, and pride in one's own judgment with prejudice leads to unbelief and spiritual confusion. The anger was unbelief stirred by pride, prejudice and bondage to Satan, closing the heart against Jesus while supposing to preserve dignity, freedom, and the right to think, act, believe or doubt for oneself. Those who have taken the course of the men of Nazareth in controversy are given a second opportunity after excitement and confusion are over to accept gracious light of truth from the divine Messenger, and to then harden the heart in prejudice and pride is final rejection of the message that would work salvation.
People now are less excusable than the Jews because they have before them the example of the rejection of Christ and His apostles and have been warned not to fall after the same example of unbelief, yet like despisers in apostolic times they wonder and perish. The rejection carries lessons for teachers, for studying and understanding God's Word would have shown the Nazarenes they had neglected lessons of eternal consequence and were therefore unfit to teach others. Their example, which began a lasting pattern of caviling, questioning and doubt even to attributing His work to Satan, warns against resisting the Holy Spirit's work and rejecting the light God gives.
The difference between claimed love for Christ and willingness to accept His teaching is exposed when teaching that cuts across ideas is met with wrath, as those who thought they loved Him became enraged when taught they were no more favored by heaven than Gentiles, and dragged Him from the synagogue to throw Him from the hill. Prejudice and hatred kept His own people from receiving the light despite compassion, mighty works and words of wisdom.