The Mission

The Mission

(Luke 4:14-30)

Yearly Theme:  “Joy is…”

Series Title:  “Joy’s Good News”

September 13^th, 2020

Something to think about:

When was the last time the way you thought about something changed?  Are you open to having your mind changed if the truth reveals that you’re wrong?  What type of reactions or emotions do you have when someone points out the truth of something you had believed differently?

As we continue with the story of “Joy’s Good News” in the life of Jesus, we move from His birth as recorded in Luke 2 to His mission in Luke 4.  As was His custom, Jesus would go to the local synagogue in the villages He traveled to and teach.  While in the town of Nazareth (the town He grew up in), He opens the scroll of Isaiah and began to read, and something significant happened when He interpreted the passage for the people that day.  Jesus revealed truth that had been hidden from them, and their reaction went from amazed to rage in sheer moments.  Let’s take a look and see why Jesus’ mission stoked the ire of the Jewish people of Nazareth that day…

Luke 4:14-30 (NLT),

¹⁴  Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. ¹⁵  He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶  When 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. ¹⁷  The 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,

¹⁹  and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

²⁰  He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹  Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

²²  Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

²³  Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ ²⁴  But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

²⁵  “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. ²⁶  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. ²⁷  And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

²⁸  When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. ²⁹  Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, ³⁰  but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

So, what’s the main takeaway from this passage this morning?

Key Point:  “True Joy brings Good News.”

However, though true joy brings good news, sometimes good news sounds like bad news to those who reject the truth.

Let’s break this down further into a couple bite-sized pieces:

1. Jesus  who He is and His  in this world.

The passage of Scripture that Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in chapter 61 is in essence His mission statement.  The fulfillment of this prophecy by Isaiah was complete in Jesus.

2. Jesus’ Good News was not  in His  .

As Jesus continues to explain further how He is the direct fulfillment of this prophecy, the peoples’ amazement turns to fury; but why?  The people of Nazareth, yes, do recognize Jesus as the son of Joseph (or more specifically, as Joseph’s stepson), however, what they do not understand is His divinity as the Son of God, Messiah, and Savior.

Something to take home:

Many today, like the people of Nazareth in Jesus’ day, become enraged at the truth of God’s Word, specifically God’s Word made flesh:  Jesus.[1]

We must not allow ourselves to be so blinded by our own personal desires to be right that we inadvertently reject the truth that can set us free, for in so doing, many people have rejected God’s offer of salvation through Christ and have ended up believing the lie that ultimately leads to darkness and separation.

Today, the “JOY” that was born in that small town of Bethlehem, had a “Mission” of Good News.  If you’re tired of the news the world has to offer, maybe it’s time to listen to Good News for once.  And, the best news there is is that Jesus came to set the captives free!  If you are captive to anything other than God alone, you are enslaved; but, if you are enslaved to Christ, you are free indeed!

Key Point:  “True Joy brings Good News.”

[1] John 1:14.