In Luke 4:16-30, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and the synagogue there on the Sabbath day. He reads from the scroll of Isaiah that the Spirit of the Lord has anointed to proclaim good news: the year of the Lord’s favor, the ultimate year of rest that the Old Testament scriptures speak of. He tells the people that he is the one who is fulfilling that Scripture. But the people of Nazareth respond with unbelief and ultimately rejection of the one who came to set them free.

Jesus offers the long-awaited rest of God’s favor and forgiveness to all who will trust in him. How will we respond?  

The narrative plays out as follows:

  1. The Proclamation: Jesus declares God’s favor to the people (16-21) – during this portion, a video from BibleProject was shown to explain the year of the Lord’s favor. The audio is not recorded, but you can view the video here: https://bibleproject.com/videos/sabbath-video/
  2. The Warning: Jesus rebukes the people’s unbelief (22-27)
  3. The Response: the people reject Jesus and his rest (28-30)