WHEN JESUS MADE IT PERSONAL
Luke 4:18-22 NKJV
18 “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;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
This is Luke’s account of Jesus going back to His hometown of Nazareth. This was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He had faced down Satan’s temptation in the wilderness. And He returned from the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, He was back home in the synagogue where He grew up.
When Jesus read the verses in verse 18, He was quoting the prophet Isaiah chapter 61:1-2. This was a well-known Messianic passage. That was not a problem. People had been reading and quoting these verses for hundreds of years in Israel. The problem started when Jesus made it personal. When He said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” is when the problems started. When Jesus declared that the Spirit of the Lord was on Him and declared that He was the fulfillment of prophecy, His hometown put the brakes on Him.
Mark’s gospel also gives us an account of what happened in Nazareth. Mark tells us that Jesus could not do mighty works because of the people’s unbelief. Jesus was the One who expressed that a prophet is not accepted in His own country. In verse 22, the people exclaimed, "Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” That was a rhetorical question. They knew exactly who Jesus was. In actuality, the people were saying, “Who does He think He is?” We know Jesus. We grew up with Jesus and know His family. Who is He to say that this Messianic passage is fulfilled in Him? Who is He to say that the Spirit of the Lord is on Him?”
This passage reminds us that, contrary to some writings that have Jesus healing His little friends and animals as a boy, Jesus had no supernatural ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon Him when He was baptized in the Jordan river by John. If Jesus had been performing miracles all His life, His hometown would have known it and would not have rejected Him when He returned. When Jesus made the Scriptures regarding who He was personal and public is when the problems started. The people in His hometown could not get past the humanity of Jesus to see Him as God’s Son and their answer.
APPLICATION
This passage gives us a couple of important lessons to keep in mind. The first is that it is often harder for our friends and family members to accept the changes that have taken place in us when we made Christ our Savior. They remember the person they hung out with. The person they may have partied with. The person whose diaper they changed. It’s a challenge to be recognized by friends and family. My advice is to walk what we talk, and they will often come around.
The second lesson is that people are okay with reading or even quoting Scripture. But when we begin to declare that we are what the Bible says we are and have what the Bible says we have, the brakes can come on. The question becomes who are you to declare that you are blessed, and the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding you? Whenever we make the Scriptures personal, they become powerful in our lives, but we can’t expect everyone to be in agreement. We just keep on shining our light. And we remember that not everyone believed Jesus either.
PRAYER
Thank You, Heavenly Father! Everything You say about me in the Scriptures is true. And today it is true in my life regardless of what I see or how I feel. I am sticking with You!