The Truth Enrages

Luke 4:15-29

Luke 4:15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.


:16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

This whole passage was amazing to me, Father.

After Jesus stood up and read from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue the religious leaders’ response was favorable toward Him….

: 22 all were speaking well of Him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips, and they were saying “Is this not Joseph’s son”?

They were all amazed UNTIL He spoke the Truth about them. In just a moment’s time…
: 28 “all in the synagogue were filled with rage” at Him.
He knew that they had heard of the miracles He had done in Capernaum and wanted to see the same in Nazareth, His own hometown. But when he reminded them that the OT said there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah…”yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon,

“And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eisha…and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian”
Luke 4:24 And He said, Truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his home town. He was telling them that even the prophets of O.T. went outside of Israel where the non Jews were to do miracles. The religious leaders had studied the scriptures and for Him to reprove them using the scriptures, was intolerable. It infuriated them. They hated Him for it. The Truth will stir up emotions and show one’s true heart.

This is true today.

Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

Many in the world hate Jesus and as stated above, a believer will be hated also for standing up for Truth. Truth makes people accountable. It enrages them just as it did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. Today, following religion and its burdensome duties instead of the person and Spirit of Jesus Christ will only lead to resistance to Truth and the liberty that only a relationship with our Lord Jesus can bring to our life.

Jesus is life; He is our path to freedom…freedom to live with joy, freedom to love unconditionally as He has loved us, and freedom to give ourselves as He gave Himself for our sake.

We need not be surprised that the world does not receive the Truth when the Holy Spirit speaks through us. It will cause some to hate us. But the seeds of Truth are never in vain.

The cost may be high in the way of relationships and popularity but His word never returns void.

Help me Lord to stand up for Truth no matter the cost.