Perhaps the locals liked the sound of freedom Luke 4:22, but as it dawned on them the gravity of Jesus’ claims and his humble origins, opinion changed from praise to rejection. “Isn’t he just the carpenter’s son? Don’t we know where he came from?”
A prophet is never welcome in his own hometown.
“Who does he think that he is? There is nothing special about his family.”
Then Jesus stired it up because he knew their hearts – he started to expand their thinking about the scope of God’s great salvation. They were expecting a militant leader to free them (the Jews) from the Roman’s occupation. However, Jesus cites two examples from the OT where God seems to deliberately target Gentiles for his special favour and salvation over Jews. At this they are outraged and incensed. As Tom Wright puts it sarcastically “Israel’s God was rescuing the wrong people.”
As hatred brewed, they threw Jesus out of the synagogue and attempted to throw him off a cliff. Jesus, however, walked away because his time had not yet come.
The shadow of the cross was forming early on the pages of Luke! Luke was causing his readers to reflect on how we respond to Jesus. This same Jesus liberates today. This Liberator can still bring freedom.