The gospel of Luke is crafted strategically from Mark’s gospel, L material, and Q material. Luke weaves Q material throughout his narrative and the Markan narrative to create a distinctive view of Jesus as the messiah for all people. The rejection at Nazareth, found in Mark 6:1-6 and Luke 4:16-30, is positioned in Luke at the beginning of Jesus ministry in Galilee, as Jesus’ first public teaching. Mark has the rejection at Nazareth at the end of Jesus’s ministry in Galilee as a transition to the ministry beyond Galilee. Luke puts it at the beginning of Jesus ministry in Galilee as a way to set the stage for Jesus’ ministry for the Gentiles.

Luke’s portrayal of the rejection at Nazareth is a mini sermon by Jesus that is over twice as long as Mark’s story, and removes the idea found in Mark of the secret messiah. Jesus’ sermon in Luke includes a chiasmus of Jesus reading from the scrolls of Isaiah, where then Jesus claims that he is the one prophesied about and he is the fulfillment of those prophesies as messiah and anointed one. Luke also developed Jesus’ sermon to appeal to a wider audience, as his writings are primarily addressed to a Greco-Roman world.

The reaction in the crowd of Luke is not one of immediate anger, but first of interest and wonder. The crowd is enthralled by Jesus who is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah, because he is the hope for the Jews. However, they quickly turn to anger when Jesus reveals that he is not only for the Jews and those in the synagogues, but for the Gentiles as well. The crowds are enraged when Jesus tells of two stories in 1 and 2 Kings that are an example of God healing not his own people, but those of another nation. The crowd is so angry that they try to get rid of him immediately, because of the implications that he won’t be saving those in his own town but he came to save all, including the Gentiles.

Luke understood Jesus as the light to the Gentiles, but was also emphasizing that Jesus is the prophet of the Lord for the salvation of souls. Jesus compares himself to the prophets Elijah and Elisha in his ministry, in that he has the authority to heal and make people clean. Jesus claims that he is anointed, has authority to set captives free, restore sight, and bring liberty. Jesus’ reaction to the crowds trying to hurl him off a cliff is that of a divine moment, where he was able to pass through their midst and go on his way. This image makes Jesus seem less human and more miraculous, that he has the authority and capability to not be harmed by the crowds, without explanation. Luke is portraying Jesus as the messiah on a mission to bring salvation, and that nothing will hinder Jesus that isn’t intentional in the plan of the Lord.

The early placement of the rejection at Nazareth, and Luke’s emphasis on the salvation for the Gentiles, sets the stage for the ministry of Jesus to be for everyone. The content of this passage shows that Luke saw Jesus as savior to all, the true prophet for all the nations; not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles. Luke was certain the Jesus was not only for the Jews, and in his book he weaves his material together to emphasize this important piece of information for the people of the Greco-Roman world.