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God is Faithful (2)
At Christmas we think about Shepherds, and Wise men and stables, and a baby in a manger surrounded by straw and maybe a few animals. That is the setting in which we generally think about the greatest gift of all.
It was not long before the scene changed. Not to a baby in the manger, but to a man in a synagogue reading from the scriptures, proclaiming what Christmas was really all about. He selects a passage from the prophet Isaiah, and proclaims what He has come to do (see passage to the right). Good News to the poor. Freedom for prisoners. Recovery of sight to those who cannot see. Freedom from oppression. To declare the Lord's favor. An amazing gift to unwrap at Christmas time! More than cozy manger scenes, Christmas is about the beginning of something amazing in the world with far reaching implications!
Strangely, as amazing as the gift was, not everyone appreciated it. As we read on in the story, we discover that sometimes "good news" only seems good if it is for us - we're not so sure about those others. Those who are not a part of our group, our community, our point of view. Seems strange doesn't it . . . at least it does until we look around our world a bit. It is amazing how easily the amazing gift and love of God can be cooped for only those who are like us. I guess the world has not changed much!
The good news, is that the good news has not changed either. There is still opportunity to share the gift as God intended, not the way it sometimes gets carried out. That is good news - and what Pastor Jon explores with us today.
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Luke 4
NIV
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues,and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“18-19The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
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