Luke 4:14-30
Saturday, 1 January 2022
"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." -Luke 4:18-19
A Christ-filled, Christ-led and Christ-glorified year ahead for all our readers and listeners!!!
As we step into the year 2022, let us prayerfully seek the Lord and ask of Him to guide us step by step. To fulfill this let us follow how Jesus led His life upon this earth.
NAZARETH MANIFESTO
In our reading today, we have how Jesus started His earthly ministry. It is called the Nazareth Manifesto. This declaration originally came through Prophet Isaiah (61:1-2). The context of this declaration was when He was about to start his mission upon earth. He was acknowledged by God the Father as 'the beloved Son' (Luke 3:22) during His baptism. Filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1), He was led into the wilderness and was tempted by devil. He overcame temptation with the very Word of God and returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit- completely ready for His God appointed mission!
Jesus came to His own town of Nazareth, where He grew up. It is here to His home crowd that He presents this astonishing statement from the book of Isaiah. He was simply stating that He was the Messiah they were waiting for. A new era in human history!!!
JESUS' MISSION
Jesus explained His Mission and presented Himself as the answer to all their problems- physical and spiritual. Into our confused and callous minds a ray of hope is given from heaven- Jesus Christ (the incarnate Son of God, died and resurrected). To any kind of maladies of this life, the answer lies in Jesus Christ. One has to come to Him in submission. He is ever-present to help them.
His mission deals with the basic areas of human life and He revealed His strategy:
Poverty - To preach the gospel to the poor.
Sorrow- To heal the brokenhearted.
Bondage- To proclaim liberty to the captives.
Suffering- And recovery of sight to the blind.
Oppression- To set at liberty those who are oppressed.
(Adapted from Believers Bible commentary)
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
In this new year, all who have experienced this great deliverance need to share it to others who have not known Him or experienced this wonderful salvation. The time is short and He is going to come a second time to fulfill the latter part of this same prophecy (...And the day of vengeance of our God [ Isa 61:2]). All those who are His own has been given a share in this divine responsibility. He has given His anointing to us to carry out this responsibility.
It is a global mission. In executing this responsibility He laid down His life and called us to follow the same. "…. As it is written: "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!" [Romans 10:15]
So as we step into this New Year, let the great and solemn responsibility of sharing this love to others be our focus. Let us prayerfully submit our lives:
Prayer:
Dear Father: I submit my life in the New Year, to be a part of the global mission to share the good news and get actively involved in the life-changing mission, through the help of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen.