Sermon: Fatal Familiarity (Luke 4:14-30)

Fatal Familiarity
Sunday, March 22^nd, 2026
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Luke 4:14–30

Prayer

O Father we thank You for the meekness of Your Son, who although rejected by his own countrymen, and cast out of his own city, passed through their midst unscathed, all so that in due time, he might lay down his life for us, dying for our sins, rising for our justification, that we may ever share in Your joy and blessedness. Grant us to hear Your voice now anew, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

The title of my sermon this morning is Fatal Familiarity. Fatal Familiarity. It is dangerous, even fatal, to know about Jesus without loving Jesus. It is dangerous to be familiar with the life and teaching of Jesus, his cross and his resurrection, but then to go on living just like you were living before.

• Here in our text, Luke shows us how Jesus was received (or rather rejected) by the people who were most familiar with him, people who had watched Jesus grow up, people who knew Jesus’ as a boy, as a teenager, as a young carpenter in his 20’s. The people of Nazareth had more information about Jesus than anyone else, they were most familiar with him, and yet that familiarity did not help them.
• Think about this scene. In just one sermon from their own hometown prophet, the people are moved from amazement, to indignation, to attempted murder. Truth and love incarnate is standing there in front of them, proclaiming God’s Word, and their response becomes, “let’s kill him.”
• Now that may seem like an extreme response, but are we not also guilty of similar sins, of similar violence in our hearts against the will of God for us? Are we not also guilty of casting out Christ from the city of our soul by a stony heart, by how we treat one another, by our enmity and greed and lies, by how we make ourselves judges over the law rather than faithful servants under God’s authority?
• The great preacher J.C. Ryle, said of the church in England in the 1800’s, “It is vain to conceal from ourselves there are thousands of persons in Christian churches, in little better state of mind than our Lord’s hearers at Nazareth. There are thousands who listen regularly to the preaching of the Gospel, and admire it while they listen. They do not dispute the truth of what they hear. They even feel a kind of intellectual pleasure in hearing a good and powerful sermon. But their religion never goes beyond this point. Their sermon-hearing does not prevent them living a life of thoughtlessness, worldliness, and sin. [So then], let us often examine ourselves on this important point. Let us see what practical effect is produced on our hearts and lives by the preaching we profess to like. Does it lead us to true repentance towards God, and lively faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ? Does it excite us to weekly efforts to cease from sin, and to resist the devil? These are the fruits which sermons ought to produce, if they are really doing us good. Without such fruit, a mere barren admiration is utterly worthless. It is no proof of grace. It will save no soul.”
  • So how do you hear the Word of God preached? What change has all your church attendance and worship bought about?Do you listen and obey like Jesus is the one talking directly to you? Or do you brush Him off and esteem Him lightly? Do you think to yourself that the sermon must be for my neighbor, to help them stop sinning, to help my wife or my husband get it together? Or do you receive every sermon as if it is God speaking directly to you?
  • Perhaps you wonder sometimes when I get to a specific point of application, “Was pastor thinking of me when he said that?” Maybe. But does it matter? A better question to ask yourself is, “Was God thinking of me when God said that?” And the answer will usually be, “Yes.” The whole Bible is for the whole people of God and there is application for all of us on every page. All of us can stand to learn something, even if we are not the immediate class or group of people being spoken to. What does God tell us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17?
  • All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
  • The wise man listens and learns from everything he hears even if he is not the one being directly addressed, whereas the fool thinks nothing is directed at him, and he can hardly be taught by anything but the rod.
• And so lest we sit in judgment on this murderous crowd at the church in Nazareth, first we must sit in judgment upon ourselves and examine how we hear the Word of God, and what we do with it Monday-Saturday. Is preaching having the effect in your soul that God commands? Or does the devil like the birds snatch up the seed as soon as I say to you, “Go in peace.”
• Familiarity with Jesus without love for Jesus is fatal, eternally fatal. And so let us hear this cautionary tale from Luke, lest we commit the same sins as Jesus’ own countrymen.

Outline of the Text

Now we see in our text that Luke highlights three aspects of Jesus’ public ministry.

• In verses 14-22, we have The Centrality of Preaching.
• In verses 23-27 we have The Boldness of Jesus’ Preaching.
• And in verses 28-30,The Demonstration of Jesus’ Power.
  • The centrality of preaching, the boldness of preaching, and the demonstration of divine power.
  • So starting in verse 14, notice how central preaching of the Word is to Jesus’ mission.

Verses 14-15

¹⁴And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

¹⁵And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

• Here Luke summarizes Jesus’ ministry around the Sea of Galilee. After his combat with the devil in the wilderness, the next thing Jesus does is teach in the synagogues, being glorified of all. Jesus is quickly gaining in popularity, word is getting around, and his star is rising.
• Now what exactly is a synagogue? The synagogues were the places where the local community gathered to worship, to hear the Word of God, and to receive instruction. They are not unlike our local churches today. And this is where Jesus goes every sabbath. We are told in verse 16…

Verse 16

¹⁶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

• Here we see that Jesus was not only a attender but a participant in the local synagogue service. This was his home church for almost 30 years, and he was likely invited by the ruler of the synagogue to read and on this occasion to preach to them.
  • Elsewhere in Acts we see that this is how the gospel initially went forth, to the Jew first by preaching in the synagogues, and then to others in the public square or private homes.
  • It says in Acts 13:42, after Paul’s sermon in Antioch, And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
  • And in Acts 19:8 it says, And Paul went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
• And so Jesus is modeling here how the apostles will later evangelize. He stands up and reads the text, and then he preaches how it is fulfilled in Him. This is what we find in verses 17-21. Here he reads the text for his sermon.

Verses 17-21

¹⁷And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias (Isaiah). And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

¹⁸The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

¹⁹To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

²⁰And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

²¹And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

• The passage that Jesus reads to them is a composite of Isaiah 61:1-2 and Isaiah 58:6. And if you have ever read Isaiah, you know that the first 39 chapters are pretty grim and very confusing. There is a lot of sin and judgment and punishment for idolatry.
  • Chapters 40-55 are when the book takes a turn and begins to extol the glory of God despite the exile to come. Isaiah 40 begins with that famous line, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
  • And then in chapters 56-66, Isaiah prophesies a glorious future that God has in store for those who love Him. He foretells a time of blessing, and prosperity after they return from exile and return to God. God will come and vindicate His name, He usher in a new heavens and new earth, He will punish the wicked, reward the righteous, He will set to rights the many things that are wrong. This is what Isaiah prophesies 700 years before the birth of Christ.
• And so when Jesus reads from that last section of Isaiah, chapters 61 and 58, he is saying that the future glory, that eschatological age that Isaiah spoke of is fulfilled in Him.All the hopes of Israel, all their hopes for salvation, redemption, deliverance, healing, freedom, are come to pass in this Jesus of Nazareth who they are familiar with, and now standing in their synagogue.
  • This message is a message of good news and great joy. However, it requires them to believe that Jesus is indeed how those promises are fulfilled. It requires them to believe that Jesus is The anointed one, full of the spirit, full of grace and truth, The Prophet, The Priest, The King.
• Notice also how Isaiah 61 describes his ministry. What is Jesus anointed to do?
  • He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
  • to heal the brokenhearted (which is done by preaching the truth that consoles)
  • to preach deliverance to the captives, to preach recovering of sight to the blind,
  • To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
    • Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be a Preacher in the first instance. And all his miracles and healings and casting out of demons are ordered towards confirming the Word preached.
    • This is the main purpose of signs and wonders in the Bible. They are given to confirm the Word that God has spoken. And if you think about it, what is more miraculous? A person’s soul being saved for eternity, or a person’s body being healed temporarily until it dies. A person’s eyes being opened to see physical things that are passing away, or the eyes of the heart being enlightened to see God and embrace Him.
    • So the primary work of Jesus is preaching. To use the words of His mouth to reshape, to reform and to refashion us into images of God. This is what the gospel call is: an invitation to become a new creation. Repent and believe because the kingdom of God has arrived in Christ. And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
• Well, how do the people of Nazareth respond? Luke tells us in verse 22 that at this point they are amazed.

Verse 22

²²And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

• Wonderment, or amazement (marveling) happens when we see an effect without seeing its cause. We see or hear or notice something, and then our mind starts to wonder: What is this? How can this be? How can he say that? What is the explanation for what I am perceiving?
• Wonder is where inquiry begins. But it is the kind of questions we then ask that reveals what kind of person we are. Our questions reveal our character. Our words reveal our heart. And for the people of Nazareth, their question reveals that their hearts are far from God, even though physically he is standing there in front of them.
  • In Acts 17:10-11, Luke gives us a good illustration of how different people receive the word differently. He writes, And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
  • So compare the noble-minded Bereans with the people of Nazareth. The Bereans received the word preached with readiness of mind, and so their questions are: Does the Bible teach this? Is this consistent with what God has said elsewhere? And then they search the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul and Silas are teaching is true. This is the mark of noble mind, to trust God’s authority and seek out the truth from Him.
  • Whereas what do the people of Nazareth ask? “Is this Joseph’s son?” Notice, they pass over the content of what Jesus is preaching, and start questioning his family origin. This is the mark of an evil mind.
  • A noble mind delights in truth wherever it may be found, whereas the carnal mind, Paul says in Romans 8:7, is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
  • So rather than studying the law of God or Isaiah more closely, or asking Jesus to further explain these glorious truths, they decide to question him on account of his heritage.
  • When people cannot refute the content of what Jesus preaches, they resort to personal attacks, they try to discredit him by making up stories, spreading lies about him, this is the habit of the carnal mind, and if they did this to Jesus, they will do it to those who preach Jesus. The carnal mind cannot hear spiritual things, and the book of Acts and church history bears this out.
• So preaching is central to Jesus’ ministry, and yet despite living a perfect life for 30 years among the people of Nazareth, their hearts are hardened to hearing the truth from His mouth. Sometimes it does not matter how loving, honest, and blameless you live, evil people will still question you, look for ways to discredit you, and despise you.
• This brings us to verses 23-27 where Jesus boldly confronts their unbelief.

Verses 23-27

²³And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

²⁴And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

²⁵But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias (Elijah), when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

²⁶But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

²⁷And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus (Elisha) the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

• Here Jesus reads their minds and tells them their thoughts. If you were sitting in that synagogue hearing him preach, you would feel naked and exposed, this man sees into your soul.
  • However, when people are exposed for what they actually are by the word of God (sinners), they either confess and come clean and seek God’s forgiveness, OR, they get angry, they deny it, they start to rationalize and explain to themselves why they are actually innocent, and it’s their fault, and who is this guy to judge me anyways. How dare he! Is he God or something?
  • In this case, yes. God is speaking directly to them, reading their evil thoughts, and putting them under conviction. And this is an act of love; Jesus is loving them by rebuking them and giving them the opportunity to repent.
  • And he does this is by giving them two examples from their own inspired history, their own scrolls that they claimed to regard as authoritative.
  • Those two examples are that of Elijah and Elisha, and you can find these stories in 1 Kings and 2 Kings.
• And what Jesus is doing by selecting these two examples, is helping them recognize who they are in this story. They are not the godly seed of Abraham showing hospitality. They are not the righteous remnant keeping the faith. They are not among the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in Elijah’s day. Who are they? They are Ahab and Jezebel hunting down Elijah. They are apostate idolaters who refuse to be healed. They have murder in their heart because they do not actually love God. They are so sick with sin, that they don’t even know how sick they are.
• Think back to what Jesus just read them from Isaiah 61. If Jesus is preaching the gospel to them, then that means they are spiritually poor. If Jesus is preaching healing to them, then they are desperately sick. If Jesus is preaching liberty to them, then they are the ones enslaved. If Jesus is preaching the acceptable year of the Lord to them, then the day of vengeance draws nigh, and they need to repent before it’s too late.
  • The gospel is only good news to people who first accept the bad news. If you refuse to believe the diagnosis that you were born in sin, and that your sins deserve eternal punishment, and there is no remedy except to cast yourself upon the mercy of Jesus Christ, then there is no salvation for you. You must accept the diagnosis in order to receive the healing.
• This is the fatal danger of a faithless loveless familiarity with Jesus. You can deceive yourself into thinking you don’t need him as much as you actually do. And this is all of us to some degree. We are all tempted to trust in the Lord with some of our heart, and to lean too much on our own understanding. We are all tempted to be selective in allowing God to direct some of our paths, but not all of them. We say to God, “you can have this part of my life, but I’m keeping this part to myself. You can have my Sundays for a couple hours, but not much more. You definitely can’t have my bank account, or my sex life, or how I parent, or what I say to my friends in that group chat.” We are all tempted to not give Jesus full access, because we are afraid of what it might cost us.
• Well Jesus has come to demand everything. But it’s not because He doesn’t love you, it’s precisely because He loves that He says forsake all and follow me. Because your whole life needs transformation. Everywhere that sin has touched, grace must go as well. Everything that sin has broken, God wants to repair. But you have to be willing to surrender completely to Him.
• The people of Nazareth had that opportunity, but chose not to use it.
• And this leads us our third and final section, where Jesus demonstrates His divine power.
• Since they will not hear his preaching, since they will not repent at His bold application to them, He chooses to do one act of miraculous power, which is also an act of mercy. He prevents them from following through on their murderous intent.

Verses 28-30

²⁸And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

²⁹And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

³⁰But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

• Recall that earlier in this chapter Satan attempted to get Jesus to cast himself down from the Temple, and here now his own countrymen are seeking to do the devil’s will by force. They are like Cain, Jesus is like Abel. They are like Ahab and Jezebel, Jesus is like Elijah.
  • So Jesus manifests His divine power by passing through their midst. And he goes his way, leaving them to ponder what He just prevented them from doing, murdering God.
    • Think of how many evil desires God has prevented you from doing. How many times has God mercifully kept you from following through on your sinful intentions?
  • So behold how merciful Jesus is, even amongst people who want to kill him. Behold how patient God is, to not immediately destroy us, but to give us time to repent.
• Of course, the bigger purpose in Jesus avoiding death at this early stage, is because Jesus wants to die in a specific way, in a specific place, to make known to all the world, the great love God has for sinners.
• Jesus still has more preaching to do. Jesus still has disciples to call and train, people to heal and feed, dead people to raise, demons to cast out, spiritual powers to bind, more miracles to work on His way to Jerusalem. And until that work of the Father is completed, no one can take Jesus’ life from him. For as he says in John 10:18, No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
• So do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you love this Jesus, and desire to become familiar with Him, not like the people of Nazareth, but as a most intimate friend? Because this is the friendship Jesus offers to all who will accept the diagnosis and accept the treatment. Who will acknowledge their sins and how they deserve eternal punishment, and who trust in Jesus to give them eternal life.
• This is the gospel call, the invitation to a new creation, may God move you to accept that invitation, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.