Active Listening, Luke 4:16-21

This post concerns active listening to the scriptures.

Active Listening discusses hearing what the scriptures mean for me and my life.

Many people hear the scriptures but do not apply what they say to their lives. This happened in Jesus’ day, Luke 4:16-19. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.”

When they asked, He read from Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news… He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those …oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When they heard Him read,a favorable response occured, Luke 4:20-22. “…the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on himhe began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

Next, Jesus focused on their real problem, Luke 4:24. “And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet…acceptable in his hometown.”

Then, Jesus reminds them of two cases where the Israelites did not listen to the warnings of God via the prophets to repent—namely, Elijah and the widow and Elisha and the cleansing of Naaman.

Thus, these reminders by Jesus made the audience angry. So, they tried to kill Him.

So, the question comes as to how our feelings respond during reading and discussion of scripture. The scriptures were given for our instruction.

Indeed, the Bereans knew this and responded with active searching and study, Acts 17:11. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” The Bereans showed the proper reaction. The Jews in Thessalonica and in Jesus’ day did not.

So, what did we learn?

1.The Jews did not believe Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures.

2.We should listen and apply the scriptures to our lives.

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