EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/14/2026 9:02 PM
My
Worship Time
Focus: PT-2 “The Reaction”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
4:22-30
Message of the verses: “22 And all the people were speaking
well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from
His lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s
son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you
will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the
miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here
in Your hometown as well.’” 24 But He
said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his
hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many
widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three
years and six months, when a severe famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah
was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in
the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And
there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and
none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the
Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the
synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and
they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to
the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they
could throw Him down from the cliff. 30 But He passed
through their midst and went on His way.”
I want to continue where I left off
in this mornings SD: Now we know that
Jesus had the power to read the minds of those that He came into contact with,
and so Jesus said to them, No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, ‘Physician,
heal yourself!’” In other words, prove your claims to us. Jesus knew they were thinking He should
reveal His power and were ready to challenge Him to verify His messiahship
miraculously. These were not the only
people who challenged Jesus to perform miraculous as it will happen a number of
times during His ministry on planet earth. They were thinking, “Whatever we
heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” Now I want to remind you that Jesus had
been ministering for a while before He came back to His hometown and this can
be seen in the early chapter of John’s gospel.
Now if He wanted them to accept His claim to be the Messiah, then let
Him perform the same signs that had reportedly been done in nearby Capernaum.
MacArthur writes “The question,
however, was not lack of evidence, but hardness of heart. There were never enough miracles to
satisfy. No one in Israel, not even the
leaders (John 11:47), ever questioned the reality of Jesus’ miracles, but
neither would they accept what they proved.
Rather, they continually demanded more signs as a condition of their
belief (Matt. 12:38; 16:1-4), or else attributed His miraculous power to Satan
(Matt. 12:24). No amount of miracles
would convince those whose minds were hardened. ‘But through He had performed
so many signs before them,’ John wrote, ‘yet they were not believing in Him’
(John 12:37).
“Jesus understood that, humanly
speaking, it was difficult for them to accept that someone they were so
familiar with could really be the Messiah.
Acknowledging that , He made the now proverbial truism, Truly (amen;
a word used to introduce important statements) I say to you, no prophet is
welcome in his hometown (cf. Matt. 13:57; John 4:44).”
Next Jesus made a brilliant
transition. In effect He said to them, “Speaking
of unwelcome prophets, what about Elijah and Elisha?” Now the phrase I say to you in truth actually
reiterates the importance of what He was about to say next. The Lord then reminded them first that there
were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. Now Elijah prophesied during the reign of
Ahab, one of Israel’s most wicked kings, the one who had even a more wicked
wife, who “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of
Israel who were before him’ (1 Kings 16:33). “33 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.” Influenced by his pagan
Gentile wife Jezebel, Ahab was a worshiper of the Canaanite deity Baal, and
under his influence Baal worship was flourishing in Israel.
MacArthur then writes: “As God’s
judgment on the apostate nation, Elijah announced a drought, and the sky was
shut up for three years and six months (cf. James 5:17), as a result of
which a great famine came over all the land.
The severe conditions were especially hard on widows, since the
people who were responsible to care for them (cf. Ex. 22:22; Deut. 14:29;
16:11, 14; 24:17-21) were unable (or unwilling) to do so. Yet despite the proliferation of
widows in Israel, Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in
the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
This was not a story that the Jewish people like to be reminded
of. Jesus’ hearers no doubt began to get
uncomfortable, or even angry at Him for bringing it up. It was bad enough from their perspective that
Elijah ministered to a Gentile widow instead of an Israelite. But the land of Sidon was the homeland
of the wicked queen Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31).” “31 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.” “This particular widow,
however, was a believer in the God of Israel (1 Kings 17:12, 24).” 12 And she said, "As the LORD your God
lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil
in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and
prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.’” “24 And 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.’” “Jesus’ point, which must have shocked and outraged the audience, was
that God would save an outcast Gentile woman who admitted her poverty, bondage,
blindness, and oppression (1 Kings 17:18), not a Jew who would not. The implication was that if they refused to
abandon their self-righteousness and admit their desperate spiritual need they
could not be saved.”
5/14/2026
9:52 PM
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