MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2026
9:42 AM
My Worship
Time Focus: PT-3 “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.”
In this morning’s SD I want to
finish this section which will also finish the 23rd chapter in John MacArthur’s
first commentary book on the gospel of Luke.
Jesus was not through in his talking
to these people of His hometown. To the rising
anger of those gathered in the synagogue at such an indictment, He then added
another familiar and somewhat distasteful Old Testament story, and this one
involved Elija’s protégé and successor, Elisha.
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet
and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. This was probably a bigger shock to His
hearers than the first story that He told to them about Elijah’s ministry to
the Gentile widow. Naaman the Syrian was
not only a Gentile, but also a leper, and hence doubly an outcast. The
following verses from the Old Testament speaks of this: Numbers 5:2 “2 "Command the people of Israel that they
put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who
is unclean through contact with the dead.”
2 Kings 7:3-4 “3 ¶ Now there were
four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one
another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the
famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also.
So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives
we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.’” As if that was not enough, he was also an
enemy military commander, the “captain of the army of the king of Aram” through
whom “the Lord had given victory to Aram” (2 Kings 5:1). “1 ¶
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to
Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.” Now when Elisha told
him he would be cured of his leprosy if he bathed in the Jordan River, Naaman
was at first unwilling (vv. 10-12). “10
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the
Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be
clean." 11 But Naaman was angry and
went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me
and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over
the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not
Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away
in a rage.” Now later, however, he
humbled himself, obeyed the prophet’s word, was cured, and acknowledged the God
of Israel as the only true God (vv. 14-15. “14
So he 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. 15 ¶
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; so accept now a present from your servant.’”
Now back to what Jesus’ point was
here as it was clear and unmistakable that God has brought salvation by His
arrival—but, as always, it is only for those who know they are spiritually
poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed.
Unless His hearers were willing to humble themselves like that outcast
Gentile widow and that Syrian leper terrorist did and admit their spiritual
need, they could not be saved. MacArthur
writes “That was too much for their nationalistic pride and self-righteousness
to bear, and consequently and suddenly all the people in the synagogue were
filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out
of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been
built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.
They were an out of control lynch mob, intent on killing the one
whom they knew so well and who had taught them the truth of God’s Word. But Jesus’ time had not yet come (cf. John
7:30; 8:20), so passing through their midst, He went His way.”
(cf. John 7:30; 8:20)
30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no
one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”
“20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he
taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet
come.”
“At least,
the mob got a miracle, if not the one they were looking for, as Jesus
super-naturally escaped their attempt to murder Him (cf. John 7:30; 8:59;
10:39).”
(cf. John 8:59; 10:39)
59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but
Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
“39 ¶ Again they sought to arrest him, but he
escaped from their hands.
“The proud people of Nazareth never
did humble themselves, despite the Lord’s miraculous escape from their
grasp. When Jesus returned some time
later, ‘He wondered at their unbelief’ (Mark 6:6; cf. Matt. 13:58). Their refusal to admit their spiritual
destitution, bondage, blindness, and oppression stands in stark contrast to the
repentant Gentile widow and leper. It is
a striking illustration of the truth that ‘God is opposed to the proud, but
gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6).
“By all considerations, our Lord’s
approach in the synagogue was not ‘seeker friendly,’ but bold, confrontive,
denunciatory, and infuriating to the religious crowd—to the severest
degree. They were so outraged they tried
to kill Him. The truth about the sinner’s
condition is always least acceptable to the religious hypocrite.”
Spiritual
Meaning for My life Today: I desire to trust the Lord’s plan, whatever
it is, in the case of the cancer that my wife has. I certainly do not know the outcome, but
think it is my duty as her husband to do all I can to help her get rid of this aggressive
cancer that has invaded her body.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting in the Lord’s plans even
if they are not my plans for He is God and knows the beginning from the end.
5/15/2026
10:20 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment