Messianic Prophecies from the Old Testament: Today This Scripture Has Been Fulfilled in Your Hearing

Luke 4:16-28New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Footnotes:

Luke 4:27 The terms leper and leprosy can refer to several diseases

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

That the quoted text (from Isaiah 61:1-3) is a Messianic prophecy is evident because Jesus Himself used it in this way.

The scholars who insist that Jesus never identified Himself as the Messiah obviously never read this passage. Why else was the synagogue so quickly filled with rage? They understood exactly what He meant and they believed that He was speaking blasphemy.

Verse 28 says they “were fiiled” ἐπλήσθησαν  with rage. This is from the verb πλήθω I am filled (to the top; to full capacity. )  Strong categorizes the word ἐπλήσθησαν (e-plees-the-san) as V-AIP-3P (verb-aorist indicative passive- third person plural).

In English and many other languages, tense has primarily to do with time. In Koine Greek, tense has primarily to with the type of action. The aorist tense expresses action without any further definition. It carries the idea of sudden action. The people were suddenly filled with rage

What Does It mean?: "Raca"

In Matthew 5:21-22, the word "raca" remains untranslated in most versions.  It is an ancient Aramaic term of contempt which means "worthless," or "empty," and comes from a word,  רק
("raq") , meaning "to spit." Raca probably meant that the one to whom it was directed was "a piece of spit."


Jesus is pointing out that we are concerned about "big" sins, like murder or theft, but ignore our own multitude of "little" sins.  Here's a news flash: sin is sin, any sin is a missing of the mark, Αμαρτία.  Any sin renders us unworthy to approach the Holy God.  Our only hope is to be covered by the blood of the Lamb.  When God looks on his people, He sees the blood, He sees His Son.

What They Think of Us: Brief Bible Blunders #10

This is a video posted on You Tube in which an anti-Christian laughs at our "stupidity." He (she?) thinks this is a "gotcha" in which Jesus contradicts Himself. Well .... no.


In the first Bible quotation (Matthew 5:21-22), Jesus does one of His "but I say ..." clarifications in which He equates belligerent and belittling behavior toward another person with murder. Jesus took the Hebrew Scriptures and traditions and reinterpreted them. He placed His statements on a par with them. This is one of the reasons the Jews of his time thought He was a blasphemer. Only God could do what He did.


In the second quotation (Matthew 23:17), Jesus calls a group of religious leaders "fools." Did he violate his prior statement? If He was, as the world believes, just a man, yes. If he was, as Christians believe, fully Man and fully God, then, no. He was merely speaking the truth as He did in other situations.

"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Luke 12:20

Go Ahead! Poke Me!

The other day I saw a rather corpulent young man wearing a tee shirt bearing the image of the Pillsbury Doughboy and the slogan, "Go Ahead!  Poke Me!"  The Doughboy is an advertising icon for the Pillsbury Company, a company which sells pastries, rolls, bread, etc.  In commercials featuring him, a finger pokes him in his round belly and he giggles.

That's not what the young man I saw had in mind.  From the scowl on his face it was obvious that he was daring someone, anyone, to say something about his size.   He looked as if he were carrying around a cloud of hostility, a  pervasive dark attitude, simmering belligerence.

The Bible doesn't deny the emotion of anger, Jesus became angry; His anger was Holy and justified.  The Bible does have something to say about unreasoning generalized bile and about true ill-wishing directed at another person.

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." Matthew 5:21-22.


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Concerning "Raca ," the word means "empty head," something like "idiot" or "stupid."

What Does It Mean?: Psalm 137:9

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Is a recurrent segment in this blog. The meaning of certain Biblical verses is not always readily apparent to modern readers. Sometimes the answer to the problem is cultural, or linguistic, or philosophical. Sometimes no one knows what it means and we have to accept that full understanding will only come when we meet the Lord.

“Happy [shall he be], that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”
 Psalm 137:9

That is in the Bible? Yes, it is, in a psalm about the grief and rage of exiles snatched up by the Edomites, “daughters of Babylon,” and carried away to a strange land. The exile’s homeland has been raped and destroyed.

This psalm is an accurate representation of the feelings of the defeated and brutalized Israelites crying out in rage to God, asking Him to give them vengeance against their oppressors. The final two verses, 8 and 9, are hateful curses directed at the oppressors. The psalmist is crying and screaming but has not yet received an answer from God.

There is disagreement among scholars as to whether the next Psalm (138) is related to 137 or not. Psalms may be a collection of totally unrelated poems and songs, but 138 is a prayer of thanks for an answer which God has provided. Those who believe that the Psalms are a collection might see the placement of 138 after 137 as the work of an editor or collector.