Luke 4:14-22
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the
Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region.
15He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16When
he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the
synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17The scroll of
Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the
place where this was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he
has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that
captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be
set free,19and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.” 20He rolled up
the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the
synagogue looked at him intently. 21Then he began to speak to them. “The
Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” 22Everyone spoke
well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.
Food for thought!
In this gospel reading something (un)usual happens.
Jesus opened the Bible and the Bible opened Jesus; he read the Bible and the
Bible read him; he read about himself in the Bible. The Bible told Jesus who
Jesus is. It told him a number of things that Jesus was meant to be and do in
this world: to bring Good News to the poor; to proclaim that captives will be
released; that the blind will see; that the oppressed will be set free; and
that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.
There is a question that everybody makes,
consciously or unconsciously. This question is “What is my purpose in life?”
Why did God create me? Why am I on this earth? Who am I? We all have a
feeling that we were created for a specific purpose. So the question we are all
asking: “Is there a specific purpose or calling for my life?” And the answer is
YES! You may not know it but it is there.
One of the primary values of the Bible is to settle
the issue of meaning and purpose in life. The Bible is consistent when it
declares that “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were
born, I set you apart for my holy purpose.” (Jeremiah 1:5); your eyes saw my
unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before
one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16); Listen to me, you islands; hear this,
you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has
made mention of my name (Isaiah 49:1); But when God, who set me apart from
birth and called me by his grace (Galatians 1:15)
The truth is that we are here to do something, a
contribution that only each one of us can make. By ourselves we cannot find out
who were are because it takes God’s help for us to find and live the life we
were created to live. As Søren Kierkegaard once said, “Now with God’s help I
shall become myself.”
This is what happened with Jesus. The gospel says
that “filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.” It means that it was by the Spirit
of God that Jesus opened that scroll; it was by the Spirit of God that Jesus’
eyes fell on that text that told him who he is. Jesus came with a mission, a
purpose; so did you. The Spirit of God helped Jesus find his mission and
purpose; so can it with you. The Bible helped Jesus know his mission and
purpose; so can it for you.
Did you notice that Jesus’s purpose has to do with
making difference in others’ life? (to bring Good News to the poor; to proclaim
that captives will be released; that the blind will see; that the oppressed
will be set free; and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come). Elton
Trueblood wrote, “A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of
human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will
never sit.” We want to live for something more than ourselves. Meaning and
fulfilment are only experienced as our lives, in some way, touch another
person.
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