Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Cliff (05/15/25)
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TITLE: Dangerous Cliffs Ahead: Pass At Own Risk | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
05/20/25 -
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Yet, this was exactly what Jesus encountered.
According to Luke 4: 15, He had previously been teaching in the synagogues around Galilee, and was being “praised by all.”
So, what happened when He came home to Nazareth?
The incident, recorded in Luke 4: 16-30, took place when He went to the local synagogue on the Sabbath.
He had been handed the scroll of Isaiah, from which He read what we now refer to as Isa. 61: 1, 2ff.
Many in attendance were His family members, friends, and neighbors, who had seen Him growing up. He was then about 30 years old.
He, His widowed mother, four half- brothers, and two half-sisters, were well known members of the local community, having resided there for decades.
Jesus was entitled to read and to comment on the Scripture in the synagogues, having been circumcised and having made His bar mitzvah, in accordance with the requirements of His Jewish background.
Isa. 61: 1, 2 was one of many Old Testament passages containing messianic prophecies.
This popular passage of Scripture had undoubtedly been read and commented on many times before, without generating a violent outcry from the congregation.
So, what was it in Jesus’ follow-up comment that stirred up such a violent response?
Luke 4: 21 NASB2020 tells us that after quoting the passage, Jesus commented, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
By making this comment, He was identifying Himself as the one spoken of in the scroll.
Rather or not He was believed to be Who (1) and What (2) He claimed to be, would be at the heart of all spiritual matters from then on.
Some hearers would/will choose to believe. Some would/will be disinterested.
Some would feel the need to add to it. Some would/will not believe.
Some would/will be enraged, seeking to destroy Him, His message, and those who would/will promote God’s one and only (3) means and plan of salvation.
There was an additional exchange of words between Jesus and many who were at the synagogue.
In the end, “… they were filled with rage as they heard such things; got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which the city was built, so that they could throw him down from the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went on His way (Luke 4: 28-30 NASB2020.”
The acceptation or the rejection of all that He claimed to be, would save those who believe, and would self-condemn those who do not (4).
His religious enemies considered His claim of deity (to be the Son of God) to be blasphemy. His religious enemies accused Him of producing miraculous activity via demonic power (5).
His religious enemies would/will threaten any of His would-be followers with expulsion (excommunication) from their religious community.
His political enemies in the Sanhedrin saw Him as a threat to the status quo, and their own standing with the Roman Empire.
His political followers would abandon Him when it became apparent to them that He had not come to liberate the nation, providing them with political independence, as many Old Testament judges (6) had done.
Then and now, once one reaches the age or stage of moral accountability, and is presented with the unadulterated Gospel Message (7), there is no third option.
Upon being presented, one is either totally and forever saved by having believed, or is totally unsaved, destined to spend all of eternity future in the Rev. 20:15 lake of fire, in the capacity of an unbeliever.
God gives each one of us the freedom to believe or not, but we are not free from having to make that choice when presented with the unadulterated Gospel Message; nor are we ever relieved of the blessings or the consequences of the choice we make.
If one advances in post (after) salvation discipleship, he or she will be used by God to present the unadulterated Gospel Message to others in need of salvation.
Anyone who has not yet been born again (8), is in need of salvation.
Facing the cliff scenarios, be they literal or proverbial in nature, will be the experience of all communicators, as they shine the light of the unadulterated Gospel Message into this darkened world.
(1) Luke 22: 70 (2) John 1: 29/1John 2: 2 (3) John 14: 6 (4) John 3: 16, 18 (5) Matt. 12: 24 (6) Book of Judges (7) John 3: 16, 18 (8) John 3: 5, 7
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