Two minute read.
Forgive me for not getting this Blog out last week. Let’s get that done today and we will be on our way to a new next piece!
Jesus is on the move, and Luke, a Gentile is focused upon carrying those who were once outsiders into the inside.
I can only imagine how Luke took lots of time to understand what Jesus was doing with those who were not needed, those who had no membership. And once seeing Jesus work his way into their hearts, Luke was ready to write!
In fact, as Jesus moved through what Luke would have noted as deeper and deeper and deeper, we see the change. The Children of God no longer had to stand outside, they found their freedom in Jesus.
Here are some specifics that Jesus connected with:
- The Faith of the Centurion and Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Women
- The Parable of the Good Samaritan
- The Lamp of the Body
- Warnings and Encouragements
- The Cost of Being a Disciple
- The Parable of the Lost Son
- The Coming of the Kingdom
- Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
- The Widow’s Offering
Pick one up and then see if you might pick another one. Who knows?
Allow me to conclude with this.
On a particular Sabbath (Saturday), a guy decided to step inside a Synagogue in Nazareth. He opens a Scroll for the Book of Isaiah and goes to work making a case for WHO he is.
He began with verse 18 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me…” The Holy Spirit has come upon Jesus without measures so that He might accomplish his objective.
He moves to 18b – “….to preach good news to the poor,” The Greek word here for poor isn’t about finances but about abject helplessness
Money for most of the working class was an issue but their deepest need was a Spiritual poverty.
Mother Teresa on a trip to America remarked:
“I have never seen the depth of spiritual poverty like I saw when I visited this country.“
Verse 18c –” ….He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner.” Left to our own devices, there are endless choices to imprison our lives Spiritually. Eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis 3 set this reality in motion.
Jesus announces there is a way to freedom….Verse 18d – “and recovery of sight to the blind.“
Jesus often spoke about spiritual blindness. How are we, today, subject to spiritual blindness?
Pride / Immaturity / Selfishness / Indifference / Double mindedness
Verse 18e – “to release the oppressed.” To be oppressed in the Greek means more than being broken. It means to be shattered into small pieces. That word as it is used here was in the passive voice meaning oppression comes to us from outside of us.
Verse 19 – “….to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” the Jewish Year of Jubilee. Debts forgiven, Rented land returned, unmerited favor
God extends to us the opportunity to live as New Creations in Christ!
“He “has removed our sin as far from us as the East is from the West.” Ps. 106
We conclude with where we began, with Dr. Luke
Luke 4:21 -“….Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.“
Oh, and by the way, take 20 seconds and read Luke 4:28-30
It’s a fantastic ending!
Blessings – MC
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