Nehemiah 8:2-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Luke 4:14-21
Psalm 113
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I will tell you one thing, preaching is a piece of cake compared to that Old Testament lesson. So, thank you Don, well done. Very well done.
I want you to imagine with me for a few minutes this morning this historical moment that is pictured for us in the Gospel lesson, because what we have here is really one of the great moments in the Biblical era, Old and New Testament. Rather than to read through it quickly, I want us this morning to step back a little bit and think about what actually is happening here. If you see the context at the very beginning of this passage, this is the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Last week we had this very interesting lesson from John’s Gospel where Jesus is at the wedding, and his mother recognizes that the host is about to be embarrassed. So she comes to Jesus and says, “They have no wine.” And Jesus says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” That was Jesus’ way of saying, “My ministry isn’t about bailing hosts out at the last minute at a party. I am not here to do this.” But here we see that his hour has come. This is the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. So let’s go through the lesson and try to appreciate the fullness of what is here.
We see in the first verse, “Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee.” So Jesus has come back from the wilderness, that 40-day period of temptation and strengthening that he went through after his baptism. So he is returning from the wilderness, and a report about him spread throughout all the surrounding country. Just imagine, if you will, for a moment, the excitement building. You all know how things get started, one person, then another person, and then another person. It is amazing by the end of the day, sometimes, how the story has changed. It is just fascinating how, as things were told, it got slightly shifted along the way. It is beginning to spread about Jesus. Word is traveling from one person to another, “There is a new rabbi.” Jesus has come back, and he is different. He is a rabbi like no other rabbi. So just imagine the excitement that people are feeling. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. Synagogues were similar to what we are doing today. They were local gatherings of faith. People realized that people in the outlying areas of Israel couldn’t go to the temple every sabbath. So local congregations began to spring up. Synagogues are local congregations. What was happening is that on the sabbath Jesus would go to these synagogues, and whoever was in charge would let him teach. There was teaching, there was preaching in these synagogues just like you get teaching and preaching in the modern day. People are hearing what Jesus is saying. One of the interesting historical realities is that there is no way that the New Testament can contain all of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus taught every sabbath in synagogues. Interestingly, at the end of his Gospel, John acknowledges this. John 21:25, which is the last verse of the Gospel of John, says this,
these are some of the most beautiful words in all of the New Testament, “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” I just love that verse. It is John’s way of saying, “There is so much more about Jesus.” But in one book, here is the main point that you really need to know. So word is spreading, then he returns to Nazareth. Luke tells us, “When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day as was his custom.” Now he has come back to his hometown. He is ready to begin his ministry in his hometown. I think that is why he was so put out at the wedding when Mary says, “Help these people out. They have run out of wine.” And Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.” I think we can tell from scripture that Jesus wanted to begin his ministry in Nazareth, his hometown.
So what does he do? He gets the scroll, and he reads from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Now this is a messianic
prophecy. This is Isaiah’s prophecy about who the messiah will be and what he will be like. So Jesus was in his hometown. After his baptism, after his time in the wilderness, he goes to the synagogue in Nazareth. He gets the scroll and reads this messianic prophecy, and he reminds people, “This is the person whom you have been looking for for generations.” And then after he gave the scroll back to the attendant, the acolyte, Jesus says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
What we see here, if we step back and really see what is going on rather than just reading through it quickly, is Jesus in his hometown, reading this messianic prophecy, giving the scroll back to the acolyte, and saying, “This scripture has now been fulfilled. I am the Anointed One of the Lord.” This is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is so very important to recognize what is happening here. Jesus saying, in no uncertain terms, “This very scripture is now fulfilled. I am the Messiah. I am the Anointed One.” It is a momentous moment here in Luke’s Gospel. We see the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and we see in the messianic prophecy in Isaiah what his ministry is about. “He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” That is what Gospel means. The word Gospel means good news. “He has anointed me to bring good news to the world. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This is language that a Jew would recognize at this time in history. This means, “The kingdom of God is coming in my ministry.” “The way to God the Father is opened up through me,” says Jesus.
The kingdom of God is for everybody, not only the religious elite, not only the priests and the scribes, not only the Pharisees, the kingdom of God is open to all who will come in, who will receive the good news, who will let God’s love free them from whatever it is that is keeping them from knowing God’s peace and God’s joy. It is a marvelous moment we have recorded for us here in this passage. Jesus is offering people a new day in their relationship with God. We can have peace with God when we confess our sins and receive his forgiveness. That is what Jesus is ushering in in this wonderful moment when he returns to his hometown, reads this messianic prophecy, puts the scroll down, and says, “Today this has all come true. The day you have been waiting for for generations is today. I am the way to the Father,” says Jesus. And that is our invitation today, to know that Jesus Christ, through his love for us, through his forgiveness, we can have the peace of God. It doesn’t mean that life won’t continue to be hard. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be tragedy. But in our hearts we can know that we are loved by God. We can know God’s peace, God’s forgiveness, through the grace of Jesus our Lord. So today as we worship, may we celebrate that this great day that we are reading about in Luke’s Gospel came to be, and that the gift he offered his first hearers, is the gift he continues to offer to us, to come to the peace of God through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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