Satan: Lifting the Veil - Part 13: Proclaiming Jubilee

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Two Case Studies
Part 3: Serpent = Satan?
Part 4: What is Satan's Real Name?
Part 5: Accuser
Part 6: A Son of God?
Part 7: God's State Prosecutor
Part 8: God’s Sifter
Part 9: Azazel
Part 10: Desert Temptation
Part 11: What Does a Jewish Messiah Look Like?
Part 12: Bow Down to the Domination System
Part 13: Proclaiming Jubilee
Part 14: The Evil One
Part 15: The Angels of the Nations
Part 16: The Gerasene Demoniac
Part 17: Further Lessons on Exorcism in the Bible
Part 18: Driving Satan from Heaven
Part 19: The Unveiling of the Beast of Rome
Part 20: Unveiling the Beast Today
Part 21: Jesus and the Domination System
Part 22: Violence
Part 23: Death
Part 24: The Advocate
Part 25: Conclusions?

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Proclaiming Jubilee
In Luke’s gospel, immediately after the temptation in the desert, we find the first recorded message that Jesus gave (for this version of the story).  What is interesting is the type of message he gave, and how it is a follow up of his trial in the desert. 

It says in Luke 4:16-17 that he went into the synagogue in his hometown - Nazareth - and he stood up to read.  The scroll of Isaiah was given to him, and this is what he read from.  Now, it should be noted that the passage he reads - Isaiah 61:1-2 - was actually a popular Jewish passage.  It is cited in various Rabbinic literature, as well as in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  What made it so popular - especially in that day - was that it was a passage about the Year of Jubilee.  This passage expressed hope for Israel’s release from their bondage in captivity, and it is directed especially towards the poor, the sick, the brokenhearted, and the prisoners (see my earlier post on social justice in the Bible for more details). 

What follows is an interesting exchange.  Jesus declares that the scripture he just read has been fulfilled “today”, “in your hearing” (see verse 21).  And then something interesting follows.  It says in verse 22 that they were all speaking well of him, but then it also says that they ask “Is this not Joseph’s son?”  Knowing how small of a town this was, you’d wonder - don’t they know?  And what’s the point of asking, anyways? 

And Jesus’ followup makes this even more strange - he gets a bit sarcastic in verses 23 and 24, and says “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.”

Didn’t it just say that they were all speaking well of him?  Ah, but what’s interesting is that if you check one of the more literal translations (I always check YLT in these situations), you’ll find that instead of saying something about everyone speaking well of Jesus, verse 22 says “and all were bearing testimony to him.”  Which is much more neutral - they could be reacting favorably or unfavorably here.  And if there is the possibility that they are reacting unfavorably, the question about Jesus’ parentage, and Jesus’ somewhat sarcastic response makes a little more sense.

But still - why?  Why would they react unfavorably?
 

If you move on further in the same passage, Jesus follows up his statement of a prophet being unwelcome in his hometown (verse 24) with stories of Elijah and Elisha helping foreigners (see verses 25-27).  And then the story finishes with this passage (verses 28-30): 

And 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 [*].  But passing through their midst, He went His way.
*[Do you recall the Azazel goat from before?]

What just happened here?  How did they become murderously enraged so quickly?

Let’s back it up a bit.  When Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2, he skipped a part!  The original passage followed up the favorable year of the lord with “and the day of vengeance of our God.”  And it seems that Jesus’ audience - who hated their Roman oppressors - would have liked to have heard about this day of vengeance.  So they respond negatively, and say “hey, isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  See, Joseph was a lowly tektōn - so what they were essentially saying was “what business does this nobody’s son have getting up and reading in the Synagogue?  And who does he think he is, altering the passage like that?”  So in Jesus’ answer, he’s actually defending his omission - by bringing up two stories of prophets who helped not just foreigners, but foreigners who were citizens of the current oppressive regime over Israel at the time, Jesus is saying that the year of Jubilee that was coming did not include wrath towards Israel’s enemies….

In essence, by bringing up these prophets who were kind to Israel’s oppressors, and by proclaiming that he (Jesus) was the fulfillment of the Isaiah passage about Jubilee, he was saying that Jubilee was not just coming for the Jews, but for their enemies as well.  He’s saying that God is bringing deliverance and salvation to their enemies - not vengeance.  Jesus is basically removing the myth of redemptive violence from the doctrine of God!  God is not the way you think - loving those who are in your tribe, and hating the outsiders - God loves all!

As Jesus says elsewhere, in Matthew 5:43-45:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

With the immediate background of the temptation in the desert, and understanding that this is an archetypal model for Jesus’ ministry and the confrontations within, you can really hear the Accuser’s voice in the people’s reaction to Jesus in the Synagogue.  And you can also see how the Maccabean revolt played a part in that as well.

You see, Jesus is confronting the Accuser within his own culture - and they don’t like it!  It makes them so mad that Jesus is saying God doesn’t hate the people they hate that they try to push him off a cliff!

Does it make you mad when people try to take the wrathful image of God away from you, and proclaim His forgiveness towards your enemies?

Here we will take another break, and in my next post, we will examine how the Accuser became “the evil one”.

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Table of Contents:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Two Case Studies
Part 3: Serpent = Satan?
Part 4: What is Satan's Real Name?
Part 5: Accuser
Part 6: A Son of God?
Part 7: God's State Prosecutor
Part 8: God’s Sifter
Part 9: Azazel
Part 10: Desert Temptation
Part 11: What Does a Jewish Messiah Look Like?
Part 12: Bow Down to the Domination System
Part 13: Proclaiming Jubilee
Part 14: The Evil One
Part 15: The Angels of the Nations
Part 16: The Gerasene Demoniac
Part 17: Further Lessons on Exorcism in the Bible
Part 18: Driving Satan from Heaven
Part 19: The Unveiling of the Beast of Rome
Part 20: Unveiling the Beast Today
Part 21: Jesus and the Domination System
Part 22: Violence
Part 23: Death
Part 24: The Advocate
Part 25: Conclusions?