We are reading the Gospel of Luke one chapter a week this year and the fourth Sunday we looked at fourth chapter. The second part is Jesus Inaugural sermon in his home town of Nazareth. There are some awesome moments in this story as well.
Last blog we looked at the temptations of Jesus and saw how scripture came to his rescue and helped him resist the wrong influences in his life and for the direction of his earthly ministry. This episode we are looking at his introduction to his wider ministry.
I love the part, that is often overlooked that says, he went to the synagogue as was his custom. He went to worship every week. If the Son of God, the co-creator of the universe, was in worship every week, shouldn't we? Imagine what he must of thought of the weekly message? WE need to see that we can worship and have a message that may not meet all of our needs spiritually at that moment. WE can't possibly expect that a twenty minute message will take care of all of our spiritual challenges and give us enthusiasm and energy and direction for the whole of the upcoming week. Yet we seem to put that kind of pressure on the pastor's message and judge it for what it might or might not give us. If Jesus can receive the message, we sure should.
But Jesus gets a turn to do so here in his hometown. He is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reading from Isaiah 61, we find he announces. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." He rolls up the scroll, hands it back and sits down. Every eye in the synagogue was upon him. He began to explain to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it." (CEB)
We have such a blessing here and so many points to ponder out of this message. It gives us the purpose Jesus had for his work, and when we look at what he said to us at the end of his ministry, that this would be our purpose too, to do this work, and even greater work, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can only say breathlessly, WOW!
So we should be helping people we know who may feel oppressed or trapped or blind to some resources or help. We are given the same purpose to proclaim, help, encourage one another, that God is doing great things among us. The connections we have with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and other acquaintances are ways we can speak and bring God's favor into their lives by our being filled with the Holy Spirit too. And the more we have the words of God inside of us, through our own commitment to study them, learn them, pray over them, meditate on them the easier it will be for us to pass God's message onto others who need a time of God's favor. When this seems overwhelming, simply pray, "God I invite you to help me with this." That prayer can be said over and over again.
As we read a chapter a week this year, may the Holy Spirit encourage us to see how we can be a fulfillment of God's grace and love into the lives of others. May we sense that we are supposed to have the same purpose Jesus had to bring good news to others. May we see the joy of knowing we have helped bless another because we were deeply touched by the Holy Spirit to be able to share it.
Blessings on each of you. Remember to read ch. 5 for this week, from a couple different translations if possible, and we will reflect on the call to be a disciple on Sunday coming up.
Pastor Jeff
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