Jesus' Ministry in Galilee

Despite the account of His birth and the testimony of John, the townsfolk who grew up with Him generally believed Jesus was Joseph's firstborn. Compare Luke 3:23, "being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph." Joseph's trade of carpentry would typically have become Jesus' trade--and it was (Mark 6:3)--and is likely why people did not expect Jesus to be well-spoken.

Note that these names are all Bible names in this devout Jewish family. For the sake of transliteration and cultural considerations, we see many variations of these Hebrew names in our English translations.

Jesus' Earthly Family Names

English Translation	Hebrew Equivalent
Jesus	Joshua
Mary	Miriam
James	Jacob
Simon	Simeon
Judas, Jude	Judah

Although the gospels show His brothers initially did not believe in Him, we do see Jacob and Judah eventually come to believe and to author books of the New Testament.

Galatians 1:19

I saw none of the other apostles except James [Jacob] the Lord's brother.

Jude 1

Jude [Judah], a servant of Jesus [Joshua] Christ [Anointed] and brother of James [Jacob]....

We count 5 brothers and "all" the sisters, which indicates at least 8 children in this family.

The conclusion that He cannot know God's truth because He's a carpenter by trade and well known personally is false. What does it say about the teaching being done in the synagogues of Galilee that everyone wonders where He got the truth?

At its root, an "offense" (σκάνδᾰλον) is "a trap or snare laid for an enemy." Specifically, it is thought to indicate the trap spring or trigger, that is, what a person trips on that sets off the trap.

1 Peter 2:6-8

It stands in Scripture:

"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"

and

"A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense."

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

John 4:44

Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

Or, because of their distrustfulness.

Our Lord hopes for and looks for the best in us.

Genesis 6:5-6

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Genesis 18:20-21

Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know."

Isaiah 53:10-11

When his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous....

Romans 5:5-10

...Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

When an opportunity to advance God's mission is presented, take it.

The year of the Lord's favor is the fiftieth--the Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:10

And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

Leviticus 25:23-25, 28

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land. If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property...,
If he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

Leviticus 25:39-41

If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers.

This and the previous verse together tell us "the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him" not just at the moment He had finished reading, but that this was the start of His conversations that day with those present.

Everyone knew this was a pregnant moment, as evidenced by their intent gaze (verse 20), and the Lord very clearly tells them they are entering a new era. Centuries have gone by since Isaiah penned these words, and the Lord says "today" is the day they are realized.

Why did this famine come? Because Ahab, king of Israel, was using his authority to do evil.

1 Kings 16:29-33; 17:1

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word."

This widow comes to believe in God through Elijah.

1 Kings 17:24

The woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

Why didn't Elijah stay within the borders of Israel? Ahab had put a price on Elijah's head, as well as all the Lord's prophets.

1 Kings 18:1, 4, 10

After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth."

When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

[Obadiah told Elijah,] "As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, 'He is not here,' he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you."

When Ahab and Elijah finally do meet, Ahab accuses Elijah of wrongdoing instead of acknowledging his own guilt.

1 Kings 18:17-18

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals."

Jesus' use of this example therefore follows the outline of John, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham" (3:8).

Jehoram follows Ahab, and Elisha follows Elijah. The situation is not much better, with Jehoram not respecting the Lord.

2 Kings 3:1-3

In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

Naaman the leper, however, comes to the conclusion there is only one God--the God of Israel.

2 Kings 5:1, 6-8, 14-15

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria..., was a leper.

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy." And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me." But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel."

Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel...."

If only Jehoram had acknowledged this!

This "wrath" (θυμός) is hot anger. Jesus' words inflamed the people.

Quite a quick reversal from verse 22, "All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth."

The difference is sometimes termed "application," or applying the principles. We can find great agreement by avoiding any specific instances of what we're talking about. But in so doing, we fail to achieve any discernible goal. What if the prophet Nathan had failed to specify that King David was the subject of his parable?

2 Samuel 12:1-9

And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.'"

In the same way, Jesus is being rather specific about ancient Israel's history of rejecting the messengers of God. He is warning this generation they may well do the same. This becomes a theme through the New Testament.

Acts 13:40-42, 44-48

Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: "'Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'" As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Jesus' time has not yet come. Like Samson of old, He is protected by God from calamity until the proper end.

Judges 15:12-14

They said to [Samson], "We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves." They said to him, "No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.