Call in the New TestamentJesus and His Calls in Ministry
Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) Called to ProclaimLuke 4:14-30
The MessageTo Set the Burdened Free14-15, Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure. 16-21 He came to Nazareth, where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, “This is God’s year to act!” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.” 22 All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was a youngster?” 23-27 He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.” 28-30 That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way. For ReflectionNazareth was among the most corrupt of all the people and priests who perverted the Jewish faith. As was the custom, Jesus stood, indicating that he would read (interpret) the scriptures. Jesus had not had the advantage of education but read the Hebrew (by then a dead language).
This act should have judged as proof of divine inspiration. But because the religious leaders had given unlearned people the responsibility for interpreting Scripture to laypeople, even as an honor to strangers, the people were terribly misinformed. When Jesus pointed out their wickedness, they attempted to kill the messenger. PrayPray so that you will be able to hear the call of God to repent. Pray so that you will recognize the log in your eye that prevents you from seeing the truth. Pray so that this new year will produce a new you.
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