Rejected | Sunday, April 20, 2025

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee... So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read... "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."... And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."... So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. (Luke 4:14–29)

On Resurrection Sunday, a look at how Jesus' rejection began in His own hometown—and how His empty tomb turns that rejection into our redemption.

An Easter Message from an Unexpected Angle

I know this isn't really an Easter passage of Scripture, but if you've been around Cross Connection for any length of time, you know I have a tendency to come at things from a different angle. Typically on Resurrection Sunday we'd read from a passage like Matthew 28, where the angel says, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; He is risen, as He said."

Instead, I've turned to Luke 4 for two reasons. First, because it's where we are in our regular studies through the Gospel of Luke, in a series I'm calling Meet Jesus. This is an interesting passage because Jesus goes to His hometown, to the people you'd assume knew Him best, and He almost needs a reintroduction to them—and they are not exactly receptive.

The second reason is that I think this passage demonstrates that the whole story of Jesus was never not going to go the way it did on Good Friday. From the beginning, that was the direction His life and ministry were headed.

Rejection from the Very Beginning

What do I mean by that? The rejections of Jesus began very early—at the earliest point of His ministry. In the Gospel of Luke, these are the first recorded words of Jesus. And here in Luke 4, the very people you'd assume would be most receptive to Him are not. So it was never not going to end at Calvary's cross.

Even though Jesus was, and is, the most important person who ever lived, from the very beginning His mission and His message were misunderstood. And not only was He misunderstood, He was consistently rejected. The story was always going to end on that hill we call Calvary, or Golgotha, the place of the skull, outside Jerusalem.

His own countrymen—those nearest to Him, who knew His family in the village of Nazareth—were the first to reject Him. And it was a village, not a big place. A tight-knit community northwest of the Sea of Galilee. They knew each other. They knew Jesus' brothers and sisters. That might be news to some of you, but Mary did have other children after Jesus; that's what the Scriptures teach. They knew His family. But they didn't really know who He was. And so in this first introduction of who He truly is, we have this incredible rejection.

The Hometown Boy Comes Home

When Jesus returned to Galilee, He went around the towns—Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum—and on the Sabbath He would go into the synagogue and be given an opportunity to read and speak. People were hearing Him preach powerful messages. But Matthew and Mark fill in the gaps and show that Jesus was already healing people and casting out demons. Mark tells us that Jesus raised from the dead the young daughter of Jairus, a synagogue ruler. You can be certain that news was spreading.

So the people who thought they knew Him well were probably a little perplexed by the rumors—but also a little proud. The hometown boy is making waves. Imagine their excitement when news spread that He was coming to Nazareth. On the Sabbath, they crammed into the synagogue, ready to hear Him, figuring that if He'd done great works elsewhere, He should do even greater works here—because we're His family, His people.

They handed Him the scroll of Isaiah, and He read from Isaiah 61: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me..." That's a powerful passage, especially for first-century Jews, because they knew it spoke of the long-hoped-for Messiah. How do we know it's messianic? Notice the word "anointed." The Hebrew verb is mashach; the noun is Mashiach—Messiah. In the Greek it's chrio, and the noun is Christos—Christ. They knew Isaiah 61 was about the Messiah they had been longing for.

"Today This Scripture Is Fulfilled"

In our day I stand while you sit and teach. In their day, when the teacher sat down, that's when they waited for the teaching. So Jesus sits, and they're waiting. He had just read this powerful messianic passage. Then He says, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Imagine the room. People looking at each other across the synagogue. Did He just say He's the Messiah? Isn't that Joseph's kid? Aren't those His brothers, James and Jude? But isn't the Messiah supposed to be from Bethlehem? And He's going to set the captives free—we've been captive to Rome, to Herod, to Pilate. I heard about miracles, wine in Cana. If He's done great things elsewhere, He needs to show us a sign here.

And then Jesus calls them out: "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'" He's saying, I know that's what you want—show us the signs. But then He gives them a word they will not like: "No prophet is accepted in his own country." He is telling them prophetically: you're going to reject Me. And in a matter of moments, they prove Him right.

Filled with Wrath

We're told that all those in the synagogue were filled with wrath. I assume "all" means all. That word—wrath—means passionate, fierce anger and rage. It's the same word Paul associates with the works of the flesh, the "outbursts of wrath" of our fallen human nature. And what did they do? They rose up and thrust Him out of the city.

This is striking. The people who thought they knew Jesus best are the first to reject Him. By kicking Him out of the synagogue, they effectively excommunicated Him. They removed Him from the village He grew up in—He was about thirty, so He'd spent three decades there. There is no indication in the rest of the Gospels that Jesus ever went back to Nazareth. You wonder if this is a living application of what He'd later teach His disciples: if a city rejects you, shake the dust off your feet and keep going.

But worse than expelling Him, they led Him to a hill to throw Him down over the cliff. I've been to this place; there's a cliff there in Nazareth. Point number one: from the start, those closest to Jesus rejected Him. The road to Golgotha began in Nazareth. The mission of Jesus was rejected before it even fully began, by the people who knew Him best.

Rejected Throughout His Ministry

This foreshadowing runs throughout the Gospels. Jesus was rejected by the people of Gadara in Matthew 8. He was rejected by religious leaders in Capernaum after healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath in Mark 3. A large group of disciples abandoned Him after a difficult teaching in John 6. A crowd took up stones to stone Him in John 8. The story of Jesus is littered with rejection—sometimes individuals, sometimes whole crowds.

Why? Because by their actions they were saying, "You are not what we are looking for." They had in their minds who and what the Messiah would be. Isaiah 53 says, "He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." That, too, is just as much a messianic prophecy as Isaiah 61. But the Messiah of Isaiah 53 is a suffering servant—and that's not what they wanted.

They wanted a conquering king, a miracle-working master who would reestablish Israel as the kingdom above all kingdoms and deliver them from Rome, Herod, Pilate, and a religious establishment they despised. They did not want a confrontational, convicting messenger or a suffering servant.

The Palm Sunday King They Wanted

They wanted the guy who rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, where they laid down palm branches and cried, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" But then that same guy went into the temple and cleansed it, ruffled the feathers of the religious leaders, and called them out with a challenging, convicting message. He did not forcibly set Himself up as king.

Some Bible teachers believe Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus thinking it would kickstart the program—prime the pump, force the Messiah to act. Some believe Peter drew his sword in Gethsemane thinking he was triggering the revolution, that Jesus would have his back. Whether or not that's true of Judas or Peter, instead of the conquering king, that Palm Sunday guy ended up arrested in Gethsemane, on trial before Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate. He didn't challenge them or overthrow them. Just as Isaiah 53 predicted, like a lamb led to the slaughter, He did not open His mouth.

Point number two: in the end, everyone said, "Crucify Him." The same people who said "Hosanna" on Palm Sunday said "Crucify Him" on Good Friday. Not all of them—Peter, James, Thomas, and the rest didn't; they fled and hid. Of the twelve, one had betrayed Him, and of the eleven remaining, only one—John—was there at the cross. The other ten were hiding.

The Road to Emmaus

After Jesus' death and burial, two of His followers were seen leaving Jerusalem on the Sunday after the crucifixion—even though some were saying the tomb was empty. Their attitude was, "Yeah, right." They were heading to a town called Emmaus, about seven miles away, the first stop on the way home, because He didn't show up as they'd hoped.

On the way, a mysterious man—the risen Jesus—began walking with them. He asked why they looked so sad. One named Cleopas answered, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem who hasn't heard the things that have happened?" When He asked "What things?", they spoke of "Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him."

And here's the key, verse 21: "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel." We were really hoping. We heard that years ago He went to Nazareth and said He was the Messiah. But now He's dead, and our hopes are dead with Him. The Messiah they hoped for was in a grave. But the Messiah they—and we—truly need had risen.

Rejection Turned to Redemption

Point number three: the resurrection turned rejection into redemption. The answer to "Is He the one to redeem Israel?" is yes—but it's even bigger than that. In Isaiah 49 there's a fascinating exchange that seems to reveal the internal emotions of the humanity of the Messiah after His rejection. The Messiah says, "I have labored in vain." Have you ever felt that—worked hard for something and watched it all fall apart?

I imagine that's what went through the heart and mind of the humanity of Jesus when the crowds cried, "Crucify Him!" And then God the Father answers in Isaiah 49: "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob... I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." The resurrection turns rejection into redemption—not just for Nazareth, not just for that crowd, but for all people, Jew and Gentile.

The Point Where Many Reject Him

Interestingly, the resurrection is the very point at which most people are tempted to reject Jesus, because it seems impossible and improbable. And it is—to all of us. You probably know someone who has died and not come back. This isn't some modern, 2025 objection because we're so smart and progressive. People in the first century thought the same. The Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection at all; they arrested Peter and John in Acts 4 for preaching it. When Paul preached the resurrection in Athens in Acts 17, they mocked him.

So many people say, "I'll accept Jesus as a good guy, a prophet, a good teacher—a cultural Christian." Richard Dawkins, the great atheist, called himself a cultural Christian last year. I was listening to another atheist, James Lindsay, who said he's "repenting of his atheism." A lot of Christians got excited—but not so fast. He says there's a lot of great truth in the Bible and Jesus said good things, but he can't grasp the resurrection because it seems impossible. So he'll call himself a cultural Christian, but not believe Jesus rose.

But if you can accept the resurrection of Jesus, that's where you find redemption—the only place you find it. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be not raised, we have no hope. Our only hope of redemption is His resurrection, which guarantees our future resurrection and redemption.

Accept or Reject

Jesus knew and predicted He would be rejected. In Luke 9:22 He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed"—and every time, He added, "and be raised the third day." He also warned that rejecting Him is equivalent to rejecting the Father, and rejecting the Father invites judgment. "He who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16). "He who rejects Me... will be judged by My word on the last day" (John 12:48). There is an eternal consequence to rejecting Jesus.

So we're all left in the same place: we will either accept or reject Him. If you accept Him, you accept Him as He has revealed Himself—the resurrected Redeemer. You can't, as C.S. Lewis highlights in Mere Christianity, say the crazy thing that He's merely a good teacher or prophet. You either accept Him as Lord or reject Him as a liar or a lunatic. He has revealed Himself to be the resurrected Redeemer. Reject Him, and you miss who He truly is—with eternal consequences.

God Had the Final Word

From the earliest point of His ministry, Jesus was rejected by His own—first in Nazareth, then before Pilate, then by the crowds crying "Crucify Him!" His disciples fled and hid, thinking their hopes had been buried with Him. But then God had the final word. On the third day the stone was rolled away, and the angel proclaimed, "He is not here; He is risen. Come, see the place where they laid Him."

I've had the privilege of going to Jerusalem five times, visiting both sites believed to be the historic tomb—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Gordon's Calvary. I've seen with my own eyes that the tomb is empty. On the door at Gordon's Calvary it says, "He is not here; He is risen." You can contest whether He rose, but His fleeing, hiding disciples were radically transformed by the resurrection.

On Friday I spoke the opening words of the earliest creed of the church, dated to within about a month of the resurrection, recorded by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." That's all I said Friday, because it was the day of His death. But the creed continues: "He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and He was seen"—by a long list of witnesses, many still alive when Paul wrote, many of whom died proclaiming they had seen the risen Lord. The two on the Emmaus road said, "Did not our heart burn within us... while He opened the Scriptures to us?" Their despair turned to rejoicing. And the same Jesus who met them is alive and offering redemption to anyone who will turn to Him today.

Rejected So That He Might Redeem You

Let me wrap it up this way. Some of you this morning can identify with Jesus in His rejection because you have felt rejection—from people near and close to you, friends and family who turned their backs, fled, or thrust you out. Maybe you've felt led to a cliff, mocked, beaten, hung out to die.

Know this: Jesus suffered rejection and suffered on the cross to take all of your guilt, shame, sin, and suffering upon Himself—and to give you His mercy, grace, love, forgiveness, salvation, and every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. He was rejected so that He might redeem you.

So we're presented with a choice: accept or reject. And what do we accept when we accept Him? We accept Him as He revealed Himself in Luke 4:18—the Spirit of the Lord upon Him, anointed to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. "Today," He said, "this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." We celebrate that Jesus is alive and the tomb is empty—because He was rejected on the cross and died in our place so that He might redeem us. That is the good news of the gospel.

Closing Prayer

God, thank You for the testimony of the Scriptures here in Luke. Lord, thank You that You suffered rejection on our behalf. You suffered on the cross, rejected by those we would have thought would have received You. You suffered rejection so that You could redeem us. We praise You, Lord. We thank You for Your grace, Your love, and Your mercy. And Lord, I pray that this great good news of redemption and grace would so transform us that we could not help but declare it to others. God, pour out Your Spirit upon Your church, and help us shine brightly with Your love, mercy, and grace wherever we go today and this week. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those who agreed said, "Amen."