Conversation Points for Luke 4:21-30

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The crowd initially responded favorably to Jesus’ remarks, with varying degrees of approval and skepticism. “Is this not Joseph’s son?” could be read as both surprise and disbelief that the kid they knew has become so admired.
• Verse 23 “Doctor, cure yourself”, the word “yourself” can be read as singular, a comment to Jesus from the crowd, or plural, a reflection on the whole community. Culpepper wonders if reading it in the plural means Jesus understood the crowd’s reaction to be positive, and were thinking of how great it would be for them to have the Son of God be from their town, how much glory and favor they would receive. But Jesus was telling them that this good news was not only for them.
• This story is found in all four Gospels, Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6; John 4:43-45. But only Luke locates it this early in the Gospel. Everyone else had it happening in the midst of Jesus Galilean ministry, Luke placed it at the very onset. What point might Luke be making by moving the story here?
• Verse 30 “But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way” – the Greek word “went on” poreumai, is the same word Luke used to describe Jesus journeying to Jerusalem. There is a sense of purpose in the moving.
• Quote from Culpepper: “The paradox of the gospel, therefore, is that the unlimited grace that it offers so scandalizes us that we are unable to receive it. Jesus could not do more for his hometown because they were not open to him. How much more might God be able to do with us if we were ready to transcend the boundaries of community and limits of love that we ourselves have erected?”

Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.