Luke 4:21-30

This passage is found in the RCL, Epiphany, Year C.  (Most recently January 30, 2022)

Summary:  Here is my preaching nugget based on the Greek.  Luke 4 begins with Jesus led out into the wilderness, where he is tempted at a high point to have all the power in the world.  He overcomes this.  Luke 4 ends with Jesus again cast out, this time to another high point.  Here the crowd is tempted to hoard God's love for themselves.  And they fail.  I think there is something here to play off Jesus' overcoming temptation to love only himself and the crowd's utter failure.  The church, time and time again, has succumbed to this temptation to love only ourselves.

χαριτος ("grace", from χαρις, 4:21)  The better translation here is "words of grace" rather than gracious words.  In fact, the literal translation is beautiful here:  "The words of grace walking out of his mouth."  What an image of Jesus: A bus station of grace!  It is also worth noting that the angriest people get with Jesus is when he preaches (or manifests) grace; it seems preaching God's abundant love may be more upsetting than preaching God's judgment.

δεκτος ("honor"/"welcome", 4:24)  Jesus words here have become a famous adage, "A prophet is without honor in his hometown."  The use of "honor" here covers up the connection to early in chapter 4, when Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favor.  The word here for favor is also δεκτος.  Jesus has defeated Satan to proclaim the year of the Lord's δεκτος.  The people here do not ascribe to him δεκτος.

εξεβαλον ("cast out", from εκβαλλω, 4:29).  This word interestingly parallels what happens to Jesus in his temptation, where he is cast out into the wilderness (admittedly, Luke does not use the word "cast out"; Mark does)  This word brings up a broader point that in Luke 4, there are two clashes:  Jesus and the devil and Jesus and the crowd.  I would say, and not in a sermon, that Jesus functions like an adversary in Luke 4, pushing the people, perhaps even instigating them.  I would say, and in a sermon, that the people fail, Jesus doesn't.  The word of grace will go on.

ωκοδομητο ("build upon" from οικοδομεω, 4:29) The town was built on a cliff.  This should already speak volumes.  But later on Jesus will exorcise demons off a cliff side.  Again, the crowd is literally trying to exorcise Jesus here.

διελθων ("pass through", 4:30)  Nothing profound here, but it is worth noting that Jesus could escape the crowds here.  Jesus choice to die was always his own choice.  (See also John 10:39)

Grammar "fun" - Transliteration of names

Names rarely stay the same in different languages.  Like Robert becomes Roberto in Spanish, adding the "o" for a masculine name and rolling "r."  Even in languages where the spelling is the same (say German and English can both have "Robert") the pronunciation is very different.  When alphabets are entirely different, the changes in names across languages can be pretty striking.  A dramatic example of this is where the same root name is Hebrew (Yahweh saves) comes into English as "Jesus" and "Joshua"!  

In this case, we have the two great prophets mentioned by Jesus.  (This is the only time in the New Testament that Elisha is mentioned.)  It is strange to see how their names move across Hebrew and Greek into English

Elijah:   in Hebrew is (transliterated):  el-ee-yahu.  In Greek this becomes ηλιου, in which the η is pronounced more like an "a" in "ate" and the ι is like a double "ee" sound.  So its almost like aleeo-oo

Elisha:  in Hebrew is (transliterated):  Eleesh(ay).  The last letter in Hebrew is ayin (ע), technically a guttural stop (open your mouth wide and cut your breath for split second), which is something we don't have in English (or other indo-European languages, really).  The Greek got at this with a whole bunch of vowels at the end:  Ελισαιος.  Even more bizarrely, the Septuagint and New Testament spelling of his name are different (there is not ending "s" in the Septuagint).

What to make of all this:  Not to much!  But just interesting.  I have also heard that some scholars will use the Septuagint transliterations of names as a clue to how the ancient Hebrews pronounced their vowels, as we have more knowledge about ancient Greek pronunciation than Hebrew pronunciation!

Grammar review: ουχι and question words
This word ουχι is used when a "yes" is expected.   In 4:22, the people are saying, "Isn't this Jesus..." Using ουχι to start the question means they are expecting a "yes."
My mneumonic is this:
μη (mh) gets a "no"
and ου/ουχι/ουχ get a "yes"
It is alphabetical order:  If the question starts with m, it will be an "n"o; if with "ou" then "y"es