Luke 4:14 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?”
Guess who is in church today? Jesus. Jesus comes to Nazareth, His boyhood home, and goes to church as usual. But on this day He will share something they could never expect. Jesus shares that He is the fulfillment of the scripture He was reading!! Those people did not see the Messiah, but they saw Joseph's son. It was time for Jesus to teach and fulfill that which He was teaching, which is only fitting since Jesus IS the Word of God. John 1: 1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
So the Word was reading from The Word and tells them He is that Word! Talk about shaking up the church crowd! Jesus knew what they were thinking and in verses 23 and 24 says the following 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. Then Jesus tells of Elijah and what he did during the famine and in His comparison He helps them realize the healer is among them and it is Him. Their reaction is the part that amazes me and in Luke 4: 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.
Perhaps you will be the one that God calls to share the message of Jesus Christ with many people as you live your life. You may also in a smaller way have to deal with those who doubt who you can be in Christ to who you were before Christ. Sometimes those closest to us miss what God is trying to do in us and through us because they just don't understand. I have given some examples below of what one person sharing the gospel with another person can result in.
Dwight l. Moody - Take Edward Kimball, for example. Never heard of him? Rest assured – most people have never heard of him.
Kimball was a Sunday school teacher who not only prayed for the hyper boys in his class but also sought to win each one to the Lord personally. He decided he would be intentional with every single last one of them. Surely he thought about throwing in the towel. If you have ever taught the Bible to young boys, you know that the experience can often be like herding cats.
One young man, in particular, didn’t seem to understand what the gospel was about so Kimball went to the shoe store where he was stocking shelves and confronted him in the stock room with the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That young man was Dwight L. Moody. In the stockroom on that Saturday, he believed the gospel and received Jesus Christ as his Savior. In his lifetime, Moody touched two continents for God, with thousands professing Christ through his ministry.
Wilbur Chapman - But the story doesn’t end there. Actually, that’s where it begins. Under Moody, another man’s heart was touched for God, Wilbur Chapman. Chapman became the evangelist who preached to thousands. One day, a professional ball player had a day off and attended one of Chapman’s meetings, and thus, Billy Sunday was converted.
Billy Sunday - Sunday quit baseball and became part of Chapman’s team. Then, Chapman accepted the pastorate of a large church and Billy Sunday began his own evangelistic crusades. Another young man was converted whose name was Mordecai Ham. He was a scholarly, dignified gentleman who wasn’t above renting a hearse and parading it through the streets advertising his meetings.
Mordecai Ham - When Ham came to Charlotte, North Carolina, a sandy-haired, lanky young man, then in high school, vowed that he wouldn’t go hear him preach, but Billy Frank, as he was called by his family, did eventually go. Ham announced that he knew for a fact that a house of ill repute was located across the street from the local high school and that male students were skipping lunch to visit the house across the street. When students decided to go to interrupt the meetings of Mordecai Ham, Billy Frank decided to go see what would happen. That night Billy Frank went and was intrigued by what he heard. Returning another night, he responded to the invitation and was converted. Billy Frank eventually became known as Billy Graham, the evangelist who preached to more people than any other person who ever lived, including the Apostle Paul.
You just never know who God will call out from your circle of influence and keep in mind, He is still calling those who would offer the hope of Jesus to a lost and dying world.
Jesus was the very Messiah they had been praying and hoping for and they missed Him because they saw him grow up in the house of Joseph. It was in this place that Jesus grew up as Luke 2 says in verse 52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
As Paul told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God in His life, so we must all be willing to be used by God as a mouthpiece sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are you willing? Who do you think you are? If you know Jesus, you are a disciple.
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren