Luke 4:14-30
Jesus' First Sermon
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 “The 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,
19 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 in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the Lord,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”
10 I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
When Jesus preached His first sermon in His hometown He was not accepted...He repeated the words from that the Prophet Isaiah had written around seven hundred years earlier...Jesus said “The 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.”...Then He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”...And though He spoke the Truth, and fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy that day with that sermon, many rejected Him in His home town and synagogue of Nazareth...
Jesus was a poor carpenter Himself...He switched occupations and became a Rabbi, a Traveling Teacher...One who came to proclaim the good news to the poor and the oppressed...He came to proclaim freedom for prisoners, to set the oppressed free...So Jesus came for outcasts...Those who are very poor and being an outcasts One sees things differently than those with wealth...And when one looks at the people who followed Him, they quickly see He was a Champion of the poor and the ones outcast by His nation...Being poor and an outcast one may see the Truth quicker...There are those who get many things they want, when they are growing up...There are ones who are talented and socially gifted...But Jesus came for the outcast...He spoke the Truth and those who were the outcasts of the Israeli society came to Him in great numbers...He showed great compassion to lepers and social outsiders...He became popular with them...They had learned the Truth at a young age, and were in His need...It seems that the poor and the ones that are outcasts see the world from a tougher perspective...The world can be harsher for them...The ones who have always worn hand-me-downs and the ones nobody wants to be around sees what is around them in a different Light...Life is not easy for the sufferer...The outcast has fewer friends and fewer things...They have less company...The poor sees life different than the rich...God made humanity, and not just one man or just one woman...God sees life as a sharing experience, and the poor and those suffering would share something with Jesus...This perspective made the poor and those outcasts following Him and meeting Him better able to see that He was the Messiah, and the One who was to come...They discovered that this by seeing and sharing things and themselves with Him...The wealthy, who are more independent both financially, and (usually) in education could not quite see a Messiah...Those who think they are in control (leaders, officials, teachers of the law) and have their comfort, also could not quite see Him as the Messiah...He was more of an interesting Teacher to them...
We cannot get through a whole life without some grief and some troubles -none of us...No matter how much we try to avoid them, troubles happen...There is Truth in these troubles, because it is our lives...I think God put these obstacles in front of us to make us think more, not less about them...These thoughts during these times sometimes bring us to Him...Comfort and convenience meant very little to Jesus...His two Great Sermons, the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain scream out about comfort and convenience...Being mournful and poor and sharing meant so much more to Him...Those growing up the without the conveniences of life understand that, because they have experienced it...And that is the way Jesus was brought up...God may not want our lives to be easy...His Son's early life certainly would not have been easy...He was born in a manger...He grew up very poor...And when He become the right age, His Father sent Him to teach the poor and the oppressed...His very first sermon was in Nazareth and for the poor and oppressed and His hometown people rejected Him...And after hearing His first sermon His neighbors drove Him out of town...Followers of Jesus are to see those things of suffering and discomforts and not avoid them, but help fix them, mend them, and improve them...Jesus was always working on these things...Jesus was always sharing Himself with His Father and those around Him...He shared His ideas about God and LOVE...The Kingdom He talks about is a sharing, loving family...His Kingdom is where everyone is comfortable and comforted, not just a few...
And while it is easier for those with comfort and convenience to find contentment...It is harder for the poor and outcast to find this contentment...But there is a Way to this contentment, it is called The Way...The Way, the Truth, and the Life...