Jesus Gospel of Divine Particularism (Lk ) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella

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1 Jesus Gospel of Divine Particularism (Lk ) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" 23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." 24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 2 and 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 lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away. Introduction After reporting on our Lord s baptism and His temptation in the wilderness, Luke summarizes the ministry of Jesus in the synagogues of Galilee: 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all ( ). He gives this background to emphasize the Lord s teaching in the power of the Spirit in the synagogue of His hometown: 1 And he came to Nazareth (4.1a). There, the first specific look that we have regarding the actual teaching of our Lord is limited to nine words: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (4.21). What did Jesus teach at Nazareth? He taught that His words fulfilled the promise on record in OT Scripture. He taught those present that on that very day the prophecy of Isaiah had been fulfilled in their ears. Thus, Luke directs us to Jesus who, by where he stopped reading, taught the coming of the messianic era, and a time between the blessings of the gospel and the Day of Judgment. These teachings help us understand all that He taught in the wholeness of His accomplished work on earth for us on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor 10.11). But there is still more to our Lord s teaching and preaching in His hometown synagogue because the commentary on Isaiah is only half of the story. The entire narrative directs our thoughts to Jesus gospel of divine particularism. We can see this gospel in the commentary on Isaiah and in the commentary on Elijah and Elisha. 1A. Jesus gospel of divine particularism in His commentary on Isaiah By teaching fulfillment in terms of the Isaiah passages, Jesus shines a bright light on His gospel. What is the good news, the gospel, according to this specially selected narrative of Jesus preaching and teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth? 1) First, it is the gospel of grace Note the use of the word proclaim in the Isaiah text that Jesus applies to Himself: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Lk ). The repetition indicates that proclaim the gospel or preach the gospel can be put in front of each item in the list. All the proclamations come together in the single proclamation of the year of the Lord s favor and grace, which is the presence of the long anticipated tenfold Jubilee of jubilees. It is an understatement to say that this text emphasizes the preaching of the gospel of grace by our Lord Jesus Christ. 2) Second, it is the gospel of the freeing power of grace There is power in His preaching indicated directly by Luke and Isaiah (Lk. 4.14, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and Isa 1.1, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound). Consider what this is telling us. Nothing is said here

2 about the duty of sinners to respond in faith and repentance. It is not the case that Jesus is saying if you believe, if you repent, then I will set you free. Of course, other passages teach if you believe you will be saved. But here it is clear that Jesus announces the power of grace in which prisoners are set free from their inability to follow Jesus in faith; they are set free for faith and repentance. His word is a word of power that bestows freedom to the bound, hearing to the deaf, and seeing to the blind. This is the miraculous power of the gospel. The power of His proclamation is such that He tells prisons to go forth, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear. The bound go free, the deaf hear, and the blind see by the gracious power of the gospel. 3) Third, it is the gospel of gracious covenant realization This has two deep-rooted aspects. a) The gospel He preached announced the fulfillment of the OT covenant-promises. Isaiah s promises are typical of the promises of the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom. b) The gospel He preached announced the fulfillment of the eternal covenant of redemption as manifested at His baptism. There, Jesus committed Himself to the Spirit and the Father in prayer as the representative of the new Israel. The Spirit descended upon Him as a sign of His blessing to enable Jesus to do the work set before Him, and the Father spoke from heaven indicating His approval of our Lord s commitment to suffer for the sins of the new children of Abraham (Lk ). Thus, Jesus taught and preached the good news of gracious covenant realization. 4) Fourth, it is the gospel therefore of divine (trinitarian) particularism The implication of particularism is unmistakable. If the salvation that Jesus is preaching is the work of the triune God according to the pactum salutis (the eternal covenant of redemption) that powerfully, efficaciously, and graciously frees slaves who are bound and blind in sin, then the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit save each and every person that they covenanted together to save. The realization of the plan of the triune God cannot fail in any detail. Therefore, the tenfold good news of Jesus gospel is particularistic. Jesus saves the particular people that the Father sent Him on mission to save by the power of the Holy Spirit. 2A. Jesus gospel of divine particularism in His commentary on Elijah and Elisha Our Lord is the Preacher of the gospel par excellence. That means that He proclaims good news, but it is not news devoid of hard realities and sobering truths. This fact initially gives one pause, but it ultimately grounds the welcome that His preaching ought to have in our hearts. To get a handle on the weighty, but truly balanced gospel of Jesus, and to get a handle on our tendency to react to it in a negative way, we need to look closely at the rest of the story of what happened in the synagogue at Nazareth. It is important to recognize that the commentary on Isaiah and the commentary on Elijah and Elisha are part of the same narrative. At first, everything is positive with praise toward the Lord Jesus. The reports that spread from synagogue to synagogue and from city to city surely arrived in Nazareth before Jesus got there. Moreover, we read that the hometown folk fixed their eyes on Jesus expectantly when He finished reading from Isaiah (4.20). And, initially, their raised expectations did not disappoint: And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth (Lk 4.22). Obviously, Jesus said more than the nine summary words of verse 21. However, we should notice here that the speaking well of the Lord and the marveling at His gracious speech were actually mixed responses. There is a hint of incredulity in this praise and awe that comes out in the question about His origin (Lk 4.22, And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"). The question is biased toward the answer that yes, this is Joseph s son. For many, perhaps it is better to say for most, the identity of Jesus as the son of Joseph does two things at once. On one hand, it causes them to wonder for it is surely surprising that this mere man and son of Joseph should be so articulate in His speech in the synagogue. On the other hand,

3 that it is the son of Joseph that speaks in the synagogue reduces the wonder of His speech for, after all, He is but a mere man of lowly upbringing. By this, they reveal their deep unbelief. In the face of this unbelief, Jesus continues His teaching and preaching in the synagogue by development of a proverb that opens the way to His commentary on Elijah and Elisha. So let us consider the citation of a proverb, the commentary, and the reaction of the people of the synagogue. 1B. The citation of a proverb And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well" (4.23). This proverb indicates that the people expected Jesus to do miracles in their city as He had done in the surrounding cities. Luke had skipped over His healing work before His arrival at Nazareth, but much went on that he presupposes here. In other words, Jesus gave the gospel in words and deeds. Thus, the miracles fleshed out His message. Healing blind eyes demonstrated the power of His saving of blind sinners. Healing the physically deaf revealed the power of His healing of the spiritually deaf. The people have an interpretation of the proverb in their thoughts: do like you have done, as consistency calls a physician to heal himself and by extension to heal his family and his hometown, likewise, we call you to extend your healing miracles to us, your own hometown friends and neighbors. There is the tacit idea here that surely we are more deserving than the strangers, the less close neighbors of the surrounding cities. 2B. The commentary on Elijah and Elisha It should be clear that verse 24 is part of our Lord s commentary. We can emphasize two things: the answer Jesus gives by implication and the answer He gives by illustration. 1) The answer by implication The hometown folk expected miracles and Jesus declined to do them: Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown (4.24). Commonly and typically a prophet s blessing does not come to his hometown because the people cannot see past his commonness with them; they cannot see the truth because of their blind unbelief. By these words, Jesus exposes the unbelief of these Nazarenes, and in conjunction with that unbelief, He clearly and forcefully implies that He will not do in His hometown what He has done in other towns. These words of interpretation boil down to a succinct no. No, I will not grant what you desire, I will not do what I am able to do, I will not bless the blind eyes and deaf ears of the people of my hometown. I will not free them for seeing and hearing the good news of the long-expected day that is now dawning like the morning sunlight over the cities of Israel. 2) The answer by illustration 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 2 and 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 lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" ( ). The book of Kings (1 Kg ; 2 Kg ) contains the record of these events. Jesus draws a parallel between Nazareth of His day and Israel of the day of these two well-known prophets. Both have many people within them who are destitute in their need, both have widows and lepers, both have the needy and unclean. Both have the ugly uncleanness of sin that debilitates like leprosy and puts needy sinners outside of fellowship with God and His people. The clear teaching of this text comes into view by two clauses sent to none of them (4.2) and none of them was cleansed (4.27) that stand back to back with but only to and but only in the same verses. Jesus speaks the gospel truth (in truth I tell you, 4.25) of divine particularism in the days of Elijah when many widows in Israel suffered in a great famine, but Elijah was sent to none of them. He was only sent to a particular widow in the land of Sidon by the name of Zarephath. It is also the gospel truth of divine particularism that took place in the days

4 of Elisha when many lepers in Israel endured the uncleanness and alienation of leprosy, yet none of them was cleansed, but only a particular Syrian, Naaman. Denying the attendees at the synagogue what they desired would contribute to their disappointment and anger with Jesus, but the real root of their anger arises from the commentary Jesus gave on Elijah and Elisha and how He applied it to them via the proverb. What they despised in the teaching of Jesus was the fact that He was passing them by to leave them without His blessing while He blesses others (implicitly the neighboring Gentiles). They are unbelievers but their unbelief does not thwart the power of the Spirit. It reduplicates itself throughout the land. Therefore, the blessing of some unbelievers and not others is particularistic in fulfillment of the plan of God in the mission of Jesus. 3) The reaction of the people The response is as intense as it is sudden. Upon hearing these words, the people of the hometown synagogue reply with intense anger: 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff ( ). Jesus eludes their evil design: passing through their midst, he went away (4.30).The text does not state that this escape took place supernaturally though that might be the case. If it was supernatural, then it conformed to the Father s will that before Jesus can be put to death, He has a foundation to lay for the church of the time between; He has much yet to do in teaching, preaching, healing, and presenting Himself as the supreme sacrifice in death. Now is not the time or hour of death; that too is appointed by the Father. Conclusion We can make two points in conclusion on which, like on hooks, we can hang a number of related things: particularism and gospel. A. The particularism of this text is unmistakable 1) Many miss it It is hard to believe that anyone could miss this fact, but people do miss it. One reason may be that it is unexpected, especially, if you come to the text with the idea that all the citizens of God s kingdom have equal rights like citizens of a democracy. The thought goes like this: surely, God does not discriminate between people. Fairness enters the picture in the notion that the justice of God requires that He bestow His gifts to men equally in every respect. This way of reading imposes foreign thoughts onto the text and misses the clear point of it. Yet even the reformed writer, Ryken, makes no mention of the particularism, as if it is not there (Luke, I, ; he also speaks in ways that run contrary to the text: if you believe, you will see ). 2) We should stress it We should emphasize the particularism of grace that is so clear here. For emphasis, note that the Lord is not talking about sovereign election because that refers to the plan of God from the foundation of the world. Sovereign election refers to God s choice, before history began, to save particular people out from the fallen human family (Eph 1.1-4). What we have precisely in this text is the blessing of particular people in history while passing over others. Jesus gospel includes the fact that grace is particularistic. What He does for some undeserving sinners, He does not do for other undeserving sinners. The choice is His to make, and this choice is within history in the bestowal of the power of His grace to some and not to others. It has its roots in sovereign election, but it is more precisely sovereign grace; ultimately, by implication, it is the sovereign and discriminating bestowal of grace in all of its saving power. We stress this doctrine by noting that opposition to sovereign grace is one in spirit with murderous hatred of the Lord Jesus. That is why most professing Christians cannot bluntly and

5 blatantly deny it. So they tweak it and compromise it by naming it (claiming it) and watering it down to some kind of cooperative grace between man and God or by neglecting it. We emphasize the teaching here by use of the word reprobation (so Ridderbos, Coming, 197, 378). Clearly there is discrimination or particularism, passing by some to bless others. Reprobation refers to the passing over of some leaving them in their sins and to the just condemnation due to their sins. It might be called the although of the gospel. Accordingly, we can state it like this: the gospel that Jesus proclaims is a gospel of gracious particularism although it includes the sobering reality of reprobation. The text is abundantly clear on this particularism. Jesus presses the point that particularism is the truth: But in truth, I tell you (4.25) and Luke reports it forthrightly. So should we also. We should present it in sharp focus and not keep it in a closet or under a bushel. Because it is part of the fabric of Jesus teaching in the power of the Spirit, it is important; it must be important or He would not give it to us in this forthright way. He taught it in the power of the Spirit and Luke recorded it by the inspiration of the Spirit. B. The gospel of this text is equally unmistakable 1) Gospel is the overarching theme Jesus is proclaiming the gospel, preaching the gospel, announcing the gospel, and teaching the gospel in the power of the Spirit. The overarching theme of good news governs this context from beginning to end. Particularism must be viewed in this light within gospel proclamation! This narrative places sovereign particularism up front in the gospel of grace within the first detailed look at the teaching of Jesus that is by the Spirit. It is like a lens by which to read all that comes in the books of Luke-Acts. For example, Luke 4 helps us understand Acts , as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading. The fact that the gospel of particularism is opposed, even violently, does not alter the goodness of the good news. That response reveals the badness of the human heart, the badness of sin and the depth of its grip on fallen sinners. Still, it is good news. 2) Gospel includes justice Granted, one might wonder how the fact of passing by people who are in desperate need without helping them could conceivably be good news. Well, it is not good news in itself. It is the proclamation of judgment and judgment is not good news for guilty sinners. Notice, that if you fault Jesus for judging these people while He blesses others, then you deny Him the right, the sovereign right, to judge the guilty with the full measure of the just condemnation they deserve. But honestly, who thinks that he or she has the right to deny Jesus the right to preach justice as part of His gospel? The very fact that particularism is true and just is good news. Moreover, the truth and justice of particularism throws God s mercy into bold relief. Preaching it and teaching it is part of the means by which He saves undeserving sinners. 3) Gospel is radical With the fact of particularism in the backdrop (or as part of the story), the blessing of the power of grace stands out in the full light of day. It is good news to know that grace is extended to some; that not all are left to perish. Who can deny the claim that you deserve to perish, as all deserve to perish? How can you forget this fact? How can you forget the rock from which you have been hewn? It is good news to know that the power of grace is extended to some giving them ears to hear and eyes to see the truth. The gospel with its particularism is marvelous good news. It is such because it makes clear in a radical (deep-rooted) way that the preaching of God s word is a miracle working word by the power of the Spirit. It is a miracle working word that saves sinsick, deaf, blind, and enslaved sinners. It powerfully saves. It surely, decisively, graciously, uni-

6 laterally, completely, finally, and eternally saves. Jesus gospel of divine particularism is truly gospel-good-news. May we fall down before the majesty of the triune God, before the Father who sent the Son on a saving mission, before the Son who secured the salvation of particular sinners given to Him by the Father, and before the Holy Spirit who effectually applies the saving work of Christ to particular sinners that the Father gave to the Son in the eternal covenant of redemption; to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be all glory, now and forevermore, amen.