Made to serve others!

Luke 4:14-22

Then Jesus returned to Galilee, full of the Holy Spirit’s power. Soon he became well known throughout all that region for his sermons in the synagogues; everyone praised him. When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures. The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.” He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!” All who were there spoke well of him and were amazed by the beautiful words that fell from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

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.

God gave us the Bible for a purpose; He gave it for Revelation; not just a revelation to Jesus, but a revelation to every man and woman, to you and me. Reading the Bible as Jesus read it we find our life described in it because it is the Bible's purpose 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); I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 4:11); 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) 

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). It means that if God has called you to a great destiny, He will often times place you in a position to first serve someone else’s destiny. This is far from punishment; it is God’s way of testing your ability to steward and celebrate someone else’s dream. Only until you are able to serve someone else’s dream can God trust you with your own. For instance, Moses spent 40 years in Midian tending his father-in-law's sheep; Jesus served his own people in the village for 30 years before God called him for serving the whole world.