What does Luke 4:29 mean?
The people of Nazareth are reacting violently to Jesus' suggestion that God would favor Gentiles—non-Jewish persons—with miracles instead of Israel herself. Jesus cited examples, including those of Elijah and Elisha where exactly such a thing happened (Luke 4:23–27). This was His response to the Nazarenes' skepticism about His role as Messiah (Luke 4:16–22). Having been humiliated by Rome, Jews of that era were especially bitter about the Gentile world (Acts 22:21–22). When Jesus implies that God will speak to Gentiles instead of Israelites, the response is violent (Luke 4:28).What the people attempt to do here might have been part of the process of stoning (Leviticus 20:2; John 10:33). The simplest form of stoning was simply for a mob to throw large rocks at the person until they died. Over time, Israel took on the step of dropping the victim from a modest height first. This would begin the process and make lethal strikes with rocks, from above, easier. Whether or not the people were attempting to stone Jesus, or simply murder Him by throwing Him off a cliff, makes no real difference.
This attempt on Jesus' life will fail (Luke 4:30). In the several instances where angry crowds tried to kill Jesus, He miraculously escaped (John 8:59; 10:39). Only when His determined time had come did He allow Himself to be taken (Matthew 26:45–47).