Live for God.

Not for yourself, while going to God whenever things are "comfortable."

Live for Him. It's something we all, including me, will have to spend all our lives working on. However...

We didn't do anything to win His favor, but He sent His Son to be hated & tortured & weary, & offered as the world's sacrifice for us.

It's the least we can do.

-GinniePark

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Memory Verse of the Week:

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." - Luke 5:16

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Reset - Luke 4:16-30

Jesus the Jubilee

16: He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

17: and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has annointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,

19: to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

 

An Offensive Message

20: Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21: He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

22: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.

23: Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!' And you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"

24: "Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

25: I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.

26: Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.

27: And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed - only Naaman the Syrian."

28: All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.

29: They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.

30: But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

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Reflection

Jesus the Jubilee (4:16-19)

In today's passage, Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth, His hometown, "as was His custom." In other words, He regularly worshiped in the synagogue. Word gets around about this hometown boy who left His carpenter job to become a rabbi. Jesus opens the Scriptures to Isaiah 61:1-2 and begins to read. This passage in Isaiah is actually quoting Leviticus 25, which is referring to the year of jubilee, a year-long celebration which was celebrated after every seventh Sabbath year. meaning every fifty years. Every fiftieth year would be a great year when everyone would start again with no debts - a level playing field. All slaves were freed, and all property returned to the original owners. This ensured a way for God to remind people that the land did not really belong to them in the first place. It also made sure that no one could get too rich or perpetually poor.

 

An Offensive Message (4:20-30)

Jesus totally shocks the listeners by claiming that the principles of the year of jubilee and the promise of the coming Deliverer are found in the person sitting right in front of them. The jubilee age has arrived; Jesus' mission is one of liberation - not a liberation from financial debt, but spiritual debt. We owed a huge price for our sins, but on the cross, Jesus paid for those sins. We have been set free from the of sin through the love of Christ. As great as this may sound, people will always reject the Good News of the Gospel. The Gospel of Mark records that the people "took offense at Him" (Mark 6:3). The message was offensive because it basically said that anyone can get to heaven (whereas Jews believed that only they had that right). An inoffensive Jesus has no historical credibility. After all, how could "Joseph's son" be the Savior of the world? They would never kill a Jesus who was not offensive.

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Application

-Jubilee is the great "reset." Every time we repent, we are given a new start. Do not abuse the freedom purchased for us. Also, do not trade your freedom for the of legalism. Christianity is not about following rules but about enjoying a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

-Do you believe in a Jesus who is offensive? Or is He simply your supernatural butler who serves you? A Jesus that can never contradict, offend, or challenge you is not the real Jesus.

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A Letter to God

Lord, thank You for being my Jubilee - for setting me free from the of sin so that I can be in to You.

Confront me, contradict me, offend me, and challenge me.

I do not want to stay the same.

I want to become more like You.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.