Luke 4:16-30
He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he
always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to
read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he
found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and
announce that the time has come
when the Lord will save his people.”
Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the
assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he
started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in
this place.”
All who were there, watching and listening, were
surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son,
the one we’ve known since he was a youngster?” He answered, “I suppose you’re
going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown
what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No
prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many
widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of
drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was
sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time
of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”
That set everyone in the meeting place seething
with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him
to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he
gave them the slip and was on his way.
Food for thought
What on earth am I here for? This is the question
that Jesus answers in today's gospel reading. Jesus knows why he came down to
earth: "to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed
and announce that the time has come
when the Lord will save his people.”
These words are Jesus' Personal Mission Statement.
They're his resume, his CV. Jesus knows why came. This is Jesus. What about you
and I?
If you want to know why you were placed on this
planet, you must begin with God, because you were born by his purpose and for
his purpose. You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell
yourself what you were created for. You must begin with God, you Creator.
Did you notice how Jesus came to know his purpose?
It was by reading the Bible. The gospel says, "He came to Nazareth
where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the
meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the
prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written."
In other words, the starting point is the Word of God, the Bible. When Jesus
opened the Bible he saw himself in it because his destiny had already been
foretold, by the prophet Isaiah.
It is only in the Word of God that we discover our
origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our
destiny. Every other path leads to dead end. You may choose your career, your
spouse, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you don't get to
choose your purpose in life.
None of us is an accident. Our birth was no mistake
or mishap, and our life is no fluke of nature. Our parents may not have planned
us, but God did. He was not at all surprised by our birth. In fact, he expected
it. He custom-made our body just the way he wanted it. He also determined the
natural talents each one of us would possess and the uniqueness of our
personality. This is what Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has chosen me to...!" Yes, God custom-made each one of us for a
purpose, for something very special. Do you know yours?
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