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It wasn’t long after Jesus left His home town of Nazareth that He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And having passed every test, He began what is known as His first tour of Galilee .

As He preached the gospel of the kingdom and healed multitudes, the news quickly spread that---“A great prophet has risen up among us;" and, "God has visited His people.”

And it was on this groundswell of national recognition that Jesus took the time to revisit His home town.

Luke 4:16 “So 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 to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.”

Yes, things seemed to be slipping back into their natural order.

Once again Jesus was found in His accustomed place in the local synagogue.

And no doubt there was a sense of pride as their carpenter, now a well-known prophet, was handed the prophet Isaiah to read before them.

Quietly He unrolled the scroll until He came to Isaiah 61, and began to read:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,”---and there He stopped at a comma.

All eyes were upon Him as He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.

I’m sure some of them realized that this portion of scripture referred to their Messiah.

What would His comments be?

Would He admonish them to continue looking for their Messiah?

Would He, like John, encourage them to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?

No, He astonished them all with the announcement---“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

That’s when He stepped well beyond the limits they had placed upon Him.

Our Messiah? 

Never!

And they tried to throw Him over a cliff!

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And not only did His neighbours refuse to believe He was their Messiah, but John 7:5 tells us “---even His brothers did not believe in Him.”

It was a lament that was prophesied in Psalm 69:8-- “I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children;

And His brothers’ non acceptance had a very malicious bent to it also.

John 7:1-4 “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea , because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea , that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”

I wonder where Mary was when her sons were taunting her firstborn.

How her heart must have grieved.

Yes, unbelief can be so cruel.

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But we’re not unbelievers, are we?

We believe Jesus is the Messiah, and we have accepted Him as our personal Saviour.

But on a day-to-day basis, do we limit the One who is without limitations?

Remember Jesus’ question to the blind men in Matthew 9:28 when they came to Him to be healed.

He asked them---“Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

And when they confidently answered “Yes, Lord,” they received their sight.

It’s a question we all have to answer, isn’t it?

And if we can answer “Yes, Lord,” then He can reply---"According to your faith let it be to you."

Yes, Jesus is still without limitations.