People often resist the Gospel not because it demands too much, but because it offers too much. An interesting passage in Luke 4 gives us one of the most surprising pictures of this and reveals how easy it is for grace to offend the religious imagination.
In this scene from Luke 4:16-30, Jesus returns to Nazareth, steps into the synagogue, takes the scroll of Isaiah, and reads:
“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 freedom for the captives,
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”(Luke 4:18-19)
Every single part of this announcement is grace. It is good news offering mercy, liberation, healing, restoration, and favor.
There is not a hint of wrath in it.
And Luke tells us the people recognized it. He writes:
“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” (Luke 4:22)
For a brief fleeting moment, everyone loved the message.
But that approval does not last long.
Can you guess why?
The answer is found in Luke 4:24-27 where Jesus goes on to remind his hearers that God’s favor has never been limited to one people group. He refers to how God provided for a Gentile widow in Zarephath when Israel had many widows (see 1 Kings 17). So too, Jesus recalls how God healed Naaman the Syrian while many in Israel remained unhealed (see 2 Kings 5)
These stories had been in Scripture all along, but Jesus specifically highlights them to make a simple point: God’s mercy is wider than Israel expected and reaches people they believed God should pass over.
And that is when everything shifts.
Luke continues:
“All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.” (Luke 4:28,29)
Why such a violent reaction?
Because God’s grace dared to cross a boundary imposed by religion.
Put simply, the good news Jesus was proclaiming included the wrong people.
The Apostle Paul beautifully explains what Christ accomplished:
“For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” (Ephesians 2:14 NLT)
Jesus made it clear that God does not respect any tribal identity, cultural privilege, or religious entitlement above another. God is entirely impartial and calls us to impartiality. God’s grace and loving care extends to the just and the unjust alike. (Matthew 5:45)
Christ perfectly reflects that same impartiality. But once that impartiality reaches people we have learned to fear or despise, it can send us (or in this case, Jesus) over the edge.
Two thousand years later, nothing much has changed. Religion still tries to “throw Jesus off a cliff” anytime His mercy is extended to the “wrong” people.
Let’s be honest. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is threatening to those who have built their identity on someone else’s exclusion.
After all, grace feels safe until it blesses the very people we’ve been taught to measure ourselves against.
It is easy to love “good news” when it stays inside our circle. The trouble starts when God’s grace and mercy refuses to stay inside our circle.
Don’t overlook the simple truth in this important passage. The religious crowd that was gathered around Jesus loved to hear “good news” for themselves. After all, who doesn’t? They simply didn’t want to hear that it extended to their enemies.
Everyone wants mercy for themselves and their tribe. It is human nature. But wanting mercy for everyone else is where we discover whether the Gospel has shaped us or our fears have.
Many of us were raised inside a faith that whispered “God loves you, but only if…”
Only if you repent the right way.
Only if you believe the right doctrines.
Only if you read the Bible like us.
Only if you vote the right way.
Only if you stay inside the right tribe.
Only if your sins are the acceptable kind.
Only if you avoid the wrong people.
This is not the Gospel Jesus preached.
The Gospel proclaimed by Jesus was not rooted in fear. It was rooted in peace, mercy, compassion and restoration.
The Gospel comes from an impartial God who “is good to all” (Psalm 145:9), not a tribalistic God who excludes outsiders.
This is why the people of Nazareth turned on Jesus and sought to kill Him.
God’s overwhelming grace flowing towards their enemies radically dismantled the religious boundaries they had come to depend upon.
So too, God’s unending mercy flowing towards their enemies served to undermine their treasured spiritual superiority.
We learn from Luke 4 that the Gospel of Jesus threatens all who build their spiritual hope on being better than someone else.
So here is the point…
The good news of Jesus becomes “dangerous” the moment it includes the people we do not want included.
And yet Jesus includes them anyway.
The real scandal of the Gospel is not who it lets in. Rather, it is who we hoped it would keep out.
Grace and peace,
Related Resources
- (Article) The Tragic Consequences of a Fear Driven Faith
- (Article/Podcast) God Looks Like Jesus: The Good News We’ve Been Waiting For
- (Article) The Tragic Irony of Christian Support for Israel’s War
- (Article) The Biblical Case For Supporting Israel
