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| Jesus Reading from the Scroll courtesy free clip art |
Gleaning from Pastor
Jerry’s sermon as he was reading from Luke 4:14-21, I share the following: The setting was Jesus had began his ministry
and news of the miracles was being broadcast through out the region. He was gaining a following and as was his
custom he taught in the Synagogues.
Now he was returning
to his home town and as his habit was he went to the Synagogue to worship. The service began with the Words, “Hear, O Israel:
The LORD our God is one LORD.” Singing
followed - -
Because Jesus was a
know teacher, he was handed the scroll from Isaiah 61 and began to read the
familiar scriptures. Yet it seemed as if
they were hearing it for the first time.
“The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me, to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives And recovery of sight to the
blind, To set at liberty those
who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Then Jesus closed the book and sat down as
was the custom of the teachers, and all eyes were fixed upon him for the people
were expecting to hear a sermon.
His words were loud and clear: “Today this
Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
These words shocked and angered the crowd,
for they understood - - he was saying that he was the Messiah, and they did not
like it one bit. They expected Messiah
to come, but on a white horse and to liberate them from the Roman Rulers that
held them in bondage.
The audience was confused and filled with
rage and they began to drag Jesus out of the temple and pull him toward the
cliff intending to cast him over the side.
How things can change so quickly. One minute everyone was happy and now they
wanted to kill Jesus. An amazing thing
happened; somehow Jesus passed from their midst; either they were blind and
could not see him, or perhaps he simply disappeared, but he was no where to be
found.
After that day, Jesus could no longer walk
and minister in Palestine
The announcement in the Scripture is
familiar to us as we congregate here in our church as is our custom. Yet it is fresh, new, vibrant and alive to
us. These words move to center stage and
admonish us to understand and to push worries and fears aside and to lift up
Jesus.
Let the world rush by with its terror, fear,
evil and bad news, and may we be encouraged to trust in the one who is the
healer of broken hearts, the one who brings liberty to those who seek him.
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing.”
3 comments:
Yes, Christ made numerous exits to avoid a premature death. It was only to come when He had finished his work. I invite you to visit my blog article on this matter.
Praise God! Jesus is my Savior!
Your article is awesome and thoughtful. Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting on "The Shortest Sermon" post. Thinking about Jesus suddenly appearing on the water walking, surely he didn’t walk the entire way to the boat. In the garden when he spoke and said "I am He." and the soldiers fell back from what? - The light - the force of power or angels giving them a shove? Again the soldiers guarding the tomb and they fell asleep – How? Perhaps put to sleep miraculously. Thinking about Philip who was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord - - as he had been ministering to the Eunuch and simply disappeared from his sight. And lastly we who wait will be caught up in the twinkling of an eye!! Wonder of wonders!
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