In Luke 4:18-27, Jesus preaches a sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth. In the sermon, He mentions two OT Gentiles—one a widow, the other a military leader—who responded favorably to what God was saying and doing through the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The military leader was Naaman, a commander in the army that was oppressing the nation of Israel (2 Kgs 5:1-27).
When the Lord mentions these two Gentiles in a favorable light, the Jews at Nazareth want to kill Him.
Some say that the point of the sermon in Nazareth is that the Jews will reject the Lord, whereupon God will reject the nation of Israel as His chosen people and will shift His favor to the Gentiles. The Church, which will be largely made up of Gentiles, will replace Israel. Those who hold this view say that this sermon at the beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry points forward to this replacement. Bovon calls it a “programmatic statement.” Nazareth represents all of Israel. From the start, the reader of Luke knows that the Jews will reject the Christ and kill Him (Bovon, Luke, 152).
But this reads too much into the sermon. All of Israel did not reject Christ. Some believed in Him. The prophet Simeon predicted the apostasy of Israel in Luke 2:34; however, this apostasy is only partial. Simeon also makes it clear that some in the nation will believe (they will “rise”).
In the sermon, Jesus says that He has come to fulfill Isa 61:1–2 (Luke 4:18-19). The Isaiah passage indicates that there will also be success among the Jews (Isa 61:3); those in Zion will be comforted after they mourn. These Jews will be called “trees of righteousness” (Fitzmyer, Luke, 529, 537).
In the examples of Naaman and the widow, Luke indicates that God’s plan also includes outreach to Gentiles. The ministries of Elijah and Elisha did not mean that they turned their backs on Israel. It meant that they ministered to outsiders. Their ministries also provided an OT justification for the mission to the Gentiles that Luke will record in detail in Acts.
Luke, of course, wrote the book of Acts, which builds on the Gospel of Luke. The book of Acts places major emphasis on the mission to the Gentiles, particularly through the ministry of Paul. The mention of the widow and Naaman–who, during the days of Elijah and Elishah, responded better than the Jews—points to the fact that many Gentiles will respond to the message of eternal life when many Jews will not.
Significantly, the Lord chose Naaman, a Gentile military leader. It is also significant that Naaman was a commander in the army that oppressed Israel. At the beginning of His ministry, in His first sermon in Luke, the Lord uses Naaman as an example.
In the book of Acts, another pagan military leader will respond to the message of life. His name is Cornelius. As a Roman commander, he too is a commander in the army that oppresses Israel. Many Jews have rejected Christ and the message He sends by His prophets and apostles. But Cornelius responds favorably.
The mention of Naaman in Luke 4 foreshadows events in Acts 10. Like the widow and Naaman in the OT, Gentiles in the book of Acts often respond favorably to what the Lord is saying and doing through His messengers. The Jews often do not. But this does not mean that the Church has replaced Israel. Paul, even though he preached to the Gentiles, also preached to the Jews. There were Jews who believed. God has not rejected His people, Israel. Both Jewish and Gentile believers make up the Church. And one day, all of Israel will be saved (Rom 11:26).
