Episode Transcript
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Our scripturreting from Luke for beginning in
verse a fourteen. Listen, for this
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is the word of the Lord and
Jesus returned, in the power of the
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spirit, to Galilee and report about
him went through all the surrounding country and
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he taught in their synagogues, being
glorified by all. And he came to
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Nazareth, where he had been brought
up, and, as was his custom,
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he went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath Day and he stood up to
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read the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah
was given to him. He unrolled the
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scroll and found the place where it
was written. The spirit of the Lord
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is upon me because he has anointed
me to proclaim good news to the poor.
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He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to the captives and recovering of sight
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to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim
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the year of the Lord's favor.
And he rolled up the scroll and gave
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it back to the attendant and sat
down and the eyes of all in the
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synagogue were fixed on him and he
began to say to them. Today,
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this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing, and all spoke well of him.
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And marveled at the gracious words that
were coming from his mouth. And
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they said, is this not Joseph's
son? He said to them, doubtless,
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you will quote to me this proverb. Physician, heal yourself. What
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we've heard you, what we have
heard you did at Copernam, do hear
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in your hometown as well? And
he said, truly, I say to
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you, no prophet is acceptable in
his hometown. But in truth, I
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tell you, there are many widows
in Israel. In the days of Elijah,
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when the heavens were shut up three
years and six months and a great
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famine came over all the land,
and Elijah was sent to none of them,
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but only to Zarifith, in the
land of Sidon, to a woman
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who was a widow. And there
were many lepers in Israel in the time
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of the Prophet Elisha, and none
of them was cleansed, but only naming
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the Syrian. When they heard these
things, all in the synagogue were filled
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with wrath. They rose up and
drove him out of the town and brought
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him to the brow of the hill
on which their town was built, so
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that they could throw him down the
cliff. But passing through their midst,
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he went away thus far the reading
of God's word. May He bless it
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to us he may be seated in
this passage we just read. A Luke
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describes a relatively normal event. Jesus
goes to a synagogue on the Sabbath Day.
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Jesus reads scripture, he teaches.
Now an event of this normal in
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loose gospel sort of stands out of
it. It's it's a bit out of
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the ordinary for what this Gospel has
scared so far. Up until this point,
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Luke's Gospel has been anything but ordinary, anything but normal. Luke has
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been describing extraordinary thing after extraordinary thing. His first two chapters have recorded the
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events surrounding Jesus's miraculous birth. How
is birth was prophesied, how he was
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born to a virgin who tells us
that even as an infant, Jesus was
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recognized as the coming Messiah there in
the temple. As a boy, Jesus
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stowed away in the temple for several
days. While his parents were searching for
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him, he was busy amazing the
elders with his understanding. As an adult,
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when Jesus was was baptized, the
Holy Spirit descended upon him like a
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dove. A voice from heaven called
out, you are, my beloved son,
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with you, I am well pleased. Chapter four itself begins with Jesus
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being out in the Wilderness tempted directly
by Satan. So far, the life
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of Jesus has been anything but ordinary. Luke causes us to expect something even
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more extraordinary here to take place,
something even more out of the usual.
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Look at what verse, Verse Fourteen, says. Jesus Returns to Galilee in
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the power of the spirit. This
same Holy Spirit was present in Jesus is
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baptism. The Same Holy Spirit is
described as leading Jesus into the Wilderness to
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be tempted by Satan. So what
new and exciting thing is Jesus about to
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do now? Well, it's a
Sabbath Day, so he goes to the
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synagogue, as was his custom.
And after all these amazing things, Luke
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tells us that Jesus returns in the
power of the spirit and it's a day
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like any other day. Okay,
but we've just been told that he's gone
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to Galilee with the power of the
Holy Spirit. So we're all asking the
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question what what is he going to
do with this power? The anticipation has
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been building. Jesus's ministry is starting
to take off. Reports are spreading throughout
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the country side. He's attracting all
his attention. He's been teaching in synagogues
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and people are liking what he says. As Verse Fifteen says, he's glorified
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by all, he's honored. He's
being praised throughout Galilee. And now Jesus
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returns to the very city where he
was raised, to Nazareth. What's the
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first thing Jesus does here? He
preaches a sermon, and that's it.
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I mean, words are Nice,
right, but but don't actions speak louder
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than words? On that Sabbath Day, did Jesus did not show up the
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great display of His Majesty, a
great outpouring of the spirit. He came
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to Nazareth with just a few words
to say. He didn't do anything out
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of the ordinary. He simply preached
a sermon, and it nearly got him
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killed. What could Jesus have said
to stir up such anger from a synagogue?
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Right, Jesus isn't speaking to a
mob of looters. This was a
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congregation gathered for worship. What could
Jesus have said to turn church goers into
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a murderous mob. Loop tells us
exactly what he said. The first thing
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out of Jesus's mouth is a reading
from scripture. This is what you would
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expect. This was ordinary for a
synagogue. This is how the teaching would
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take place. was very basic.
A passage of scripture would be read and
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then it would be interpreted. The
one who reads it would offer some insight
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into the passage. He would give
a public devotional based on that text.
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And so Jesus has handed the scroll
of Isaiah and he finds these few verses
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from Isaiah Sixty one. He reads
the spirit of the Lord. God is
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upon me, because the Lord has
anointed me to bring good news to the
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poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of
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sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed, to
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proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. As he finishes, every eye is
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upon him. They've all heard the
reports. Jesus is a gifted speaker.
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The first century culture was was very
interested in speakers. They didn't have movies
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right, they didn't have moving pictures
that even books were quite rare. A
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gifted speaker could draw an enormous crowd. Luke here even draws out the tension
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right the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him. They are
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ready to be dazzled and to be
amazed. A blockbuster movie has just come
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to town. You've read the reviews, you know it's going to be good,
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and the opening credits have just finished. That's the anticipation of this crowd.
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Is he going to be as good
as the reviews said? Is he
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going to be better? What's he
going to say? But Jesus speaks.
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He delivers a one sentence sermon and
it amazes everyone. The same crowd will
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eventually be angry enough to kill,
but not because of this statement. Jesus
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simply says today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing. Look at the
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reaction this creates. All spoke well
of him and marveled at the gracious words
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that were coming from his mouth.
Jesus delivers this incredibly short sermon. No
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one would have drifted off during this
message. Even the shortest of attention spans
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would not have missed this statement.
He isn't being elaborate or complicated. It's
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a very simple sentence, but the
implications are are incredibly deep and rich.
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Let's look at Isaiah Sixty one to
a closer look at this passage to see
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what Jesus is actually saying. These
few verses come from much larger section,
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where Isaiah is talking about the Messiah, the anointed one. The Prophet has
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been much of the book rebuking and
warning Jerusalem about the coming exile. Because
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of her sin, she will be
cast out of the land. But here
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Isaiah is comforting the people. Though
they will be cast out, the Lord
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is not finished with them. In
the later part of the book, The
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Lord says that he will send his
servant, he will bring salvation deliverance to
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his people. We read about the
prophesied servant and Isaiah Forty two behold my
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servant, whom I uphold, my
chosen in whom my soul delights. I
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have put my spirit upon him.
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
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And in Chapter Sixty one, the
passage Jesus reads, Isaiah's words become
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the servants words. For now,
he says, the spirit of the Lord
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is upon me. And what is
it that this servant will do? He
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will proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, for you
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see, in her exile, Israel
is poor. They've been taken from their
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land, stripped of their possessions.
In military defeat, the nation was taken
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captive by foreigners. This act of
recovering sight to the blind is elsewhere,
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in Isaiah and, as I have
forty two seven, used metaphorically for the
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act of bringing prisoners out of their
dark dungeons, restoring their site where they
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were trapped in the dark. Now
we all know these are some things that
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this, especially this recovery of sight
to the blind, is something Jesus literally
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does. He literally fulfills this in
his ministry. He brings sight, brings
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healing to the blind. Yet when
he's performing these miracles, he's always revealing
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something more about about who he is
and more about what his mission is.
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Here we're getting that mission statement.
This is why he heals the blind,
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because this is what he's been this
way, but he's been called to do.
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This is what he came to do. Gives sighting, giving sight to
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the blind, The servant to the
Lord, will set at liberty those who
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are oppressed. Again, this language
of restoration is being used, though they
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are carried off in exile, though
they suffer great oppression, the Lord will
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set them free, for he will
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
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These words would have resounded with every
single Israelite. He summarizes the salvation that
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will come to Israel with this statement
the year of the Lord's favor. But
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what is it what he's talking about? What year is he describing here?
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The book of levinicus tells us.
Moses describes the calendar that the Israelites were
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to keep. Their calendar was made
up of many feasts and times for religious
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celebration. Every seven years they would
celebrate a sabbath year. On the seventh
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day of every week, the people
were to rest from their labors, but
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on the seventh year they were to
give the land arrest. They were not
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allowed to plant any crops that year. So their years followed the same pattern
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as their week. They were to
work six days and rest on the seventh.
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The land was the Labor for six
years and rest on the seventh.
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But then Leviticus tells us that after
seven Sabbath years, something extra special was
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to happen. Takes Forty nine years
right to get through seven sets of seven.
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So after the forty nine year the
Lord says, you shall consecrate the
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fifty year and proclaim liberty throughout the
land to all inhabitants. It's the same
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wording here use in Isaiah. Proclaim
Liberty. For the Israelites, every fifty
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year was to be a year of
jubilee. They were to proclaim liberty this
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year because the people would be liberated. If someone had been so poor that
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they had to sell the land given
to their fathers, on the fifty year
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they'd get it back. If someone
had become so poor that they had to
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sell even themselves into slavery, on
that fifty year they'd be released. On
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this year of the Lord's favor,
they'd be freed from slavery. They get
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to return to their father's land.
They'd return to the blessing intended for them
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that God promised to their fathers.
What a wonderful promise this makes for those
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Israelites who would have been carried off
into exile, that a servant will come,
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he will proclaim the lear of the
Lord's favor. He will bring a
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year of jubilee and return all Israel
toward true inheritance. Now Jesus is telling
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this first century audience today, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
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He's telling them the spirit of the
Lord is upon me. You can
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see why they would marvel at these
words. He is describing something amazing here.
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He uses this ordinary setting of an
ordinary worship service to make an extraordinary
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claim. He's claiming to be the
Promised Messiah. He's proclaiming these words of
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incredible blessing, good news to the
poor, liberty and freedom to those captives.
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Then he says the people are astonished
and they say, isn't this Joseph's
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son? Jesus responds, doubtless,
you will say to me, physician,
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heal yourself. Well, we've heard
you did at Copernam. Do here in
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your home town as well. He
reads their hearts, doesn't he? He
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knows what they're thinking. Jesus knows
they'd heard a report of his miracles in
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Copernam. So it turns out they
weren't here just to listen to his teaching
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after all. Remember how every eye
was fixed upon him before his sermon.
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This anticipation of theirs takes on a
much more sort of selfish tone now that
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he knows their hearts, now that
he read their intentions. For you see
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it turns out they gathered for more
than just the promise of a good sermon.
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They came for a show. For
what's their assumption by saying, isn't
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this Joseph Son? There's something that
if he's done great things, it could
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burn him. Surely, surely he'll
do even greater things here. This is
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his hometown, isn't it? This
is where he grew up. He's taking
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the show back to his hometown.
This is going to be amazing, and
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the passage Jesus reads from Isaiah really
ramps up their expectation. Isaiah's prophecy describes
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amazing and physical things. The Year
of the Lord's favor is being fulfilled.
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Now recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to those who are pressed.
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Truly, they felt oppressed under the
hand of Rome. Surely they've felt poor
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giving all their taxes to Roman dictators. But Jesus also knows their doubts.
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He knows they want to show.
He knows they don't believe his words.
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They want to see what he's going
to do, and with a few more
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words he reveals the rejection that's in
their hearts. They're not confused about who
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he is. They hate him and
all it takes is a further illustration to
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show that he says truly. I
say to you, no prophet is acceptable
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in his hometown. He already knows
their hearts, he already knows of their
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rejection. So he uses a couple
of illustrations to draw out their spiritual rejection,
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to reveal their spiritual rejection, which
turns into a very physical rejection.
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He uses this theme of rejected prophets. He cites two examples from Israel's history.
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He says there were many widows in
Israel and the days of Elijah,
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when the heavens were shut up three
months, three years and six months,
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and a great famine came over the
land and Elijah was sent to none of
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them right, none of the ones
in Israel received this blessing, but only
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to Zarifith, in the land of
Sidon, to a woman who was a
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widow. Elijah did great miracles for
this widow inside and during the famine.
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He blessed her jars of oil and
flower so that they never ran out until
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the famine was over. When her
son became ill and died, Elijah raised
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him from the dead. Elijah performed
these great miracles and this widow wasn't even
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an Israelite. Likewise, Jesus recalls
how the Prophet Elisha heals a leper,
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not just any leper. Israel head
many lepers to choose from. He healed
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a Syrian, not in Israelite and
actual enemy of the people of God.
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And with these illustrations Jesus reminds his
heroes of a sobering fact from Israel's own
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history. When Israel has rejected God's
prophets, he has sent them elsewhere,
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even to the gentiles. And it's
at these words, then, that the
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people lash out. All in the
synagogue were filled with wrath. They rose
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up and drove him out of town, brought him to the brow of the
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hill on which their town was built
so they could throw him down the cliff.
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What was it that Jesus had said
to fill them with such anger and
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wrath? He basically says that if
they reject God's Messiah, God will reject
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them. It's because of this rejection
that Jesus will not perform great miracles for
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them. He doesn't give them what
they want. In fact, the only
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miracle perhaps that they see is found
in verse thirty. Though they were in
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rage enough to throw him off a
cliff. We read that, passing through
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their midst, he went away,
perhaps by some miraculous means, perhaps not.
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Their own efforts to murder him fail. The town of Nazareth fails to
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accept and receive God's promised servant,
even though he came proclaiming such good news.
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But this is similar to Jesus Ministry
elsewhere, isn't it? Jesus came
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proclaiming good news to Israel, to
the nation, and how did they respond?
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Will Ultimately, they crucified him.
Jesus came to the world and in
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its blindness, it would not receive
him. As John says in the beginning
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of his Gospel, he was in
the world, the world is made through
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him, yet the world did not
know him. He came to his own
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and his own people did not receive
him. Let's look one more time at
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this passage from Isaiah. This time
notice the Servant of the Lord's emphasis.
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What is it that the servant will
do? What type of activity will the
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Messiah Perform? He is sent with
this very specific task of of proclaiming.
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He has anointed me to proclaim good
news to the poor. He has sent
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me to proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim the year of the Lord's
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favor, to the Promised Messiah will
come and do great and gracious things.
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But how will he accomplish them?
He will accomplish them with a word.
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In fact, right after going leaving
Nazareth, Jesus goes to Copernham and there
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he casts out a demon. How
does he cast out the demon? With
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a rebuke, with a word.
This what he's just done to Satan,
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rebuking him with a very word of
God. They're in Copernam. The people
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are so amazed they say to one
another, what is this word for?
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What Authority and Power? He commands
the unclean spirits and they come out.
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Isn't it appropriate, then? The
the Messiah's Arsenal is verbal. The Lord
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himself created the world by speaking.
God said, let there be light.
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Now the son, the very word
of God incarnate, will bring about a
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new heavens and a new earth,
and he'll do it with the power of
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his words. For we see that, ultimately, Christ came not with a
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message just for the poor in Israel. He came not just to release the
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Israelites from captivity and depression. He
came to release a human race plunged into
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servitude to Satan. It's no coincidence, then, that Jesus a sermon here
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comes on the heels of his victory
over Satan in the Wilderness, where he
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withstood the temptation that Adam could not. He took the full force of Satan's
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lies and Satan's twistings of God's word. And now he preaches a sermon not
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just to Israel but to the whole
creation, one that the creation itself has
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been longing to hear. And is
it any surprise that when Jesus Christ preaches
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a sermon, it's Christ's centered?
WHAT DOES JESUS ONE SENTENCE SERMONS SAY?
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Does he say? This scripture will
be fulfilled. And what I'm about to
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do? He says today, just
now, in your very hearing, this
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scripture has been fulfilled. This is
the power of Christ's word. By simply
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reading this passage, Jesus is saying
he has fulfilled it. The Year of
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Jubilee, the liberty, the blessing
promised in this passage, Jesus says it
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has begun. This new creation,
this Kingdom of Liberty, liberty from Satan,
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Liberty from sin, liberty from death, itself, this new creent,
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creation, this new kingdom, has
already been inaugurated. Jesus preaches the sermon
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to an audience so blind to the
truth they try to kill him. But
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it's for that very reason that Christ
came, to bring sight to the blind,
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to set free the captives, to
liberate those so oppressed that they don't
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want to be free. This is
the reason Christ came. It's for this
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reason that Christ overcame Satan. For
this reason Christ overcame death itself, even
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death on a cross, for he
has earned the inheritance that Adam failed to
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grasp. And now, through the
mere announcement of this victory, the Holy
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Spirit is at work. where the
good news is proclaimed, enemies are turned
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into allies, where this simple word
of Christ is preached, blind rebels are
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turned into sons and daughters. It's
this good news, it's this Gospel that
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Paul Calls The power of God unto
salvation. When Jesus preaches a sermon,
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his word has an effect. His
word does not return void. For just
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compare with me, verse eighteen to
verse fourteen, the beginning of Isaiah.
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Sixty one says, this spirit of
the Lord is upon me because he has
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anointed me. But how did our
passage begin? Jesus returned in the power
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of the spirit. When we think
of Jesus being anointed, we're drawn to
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imagery of King David. David was
anointed right. The kingly office is one
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of an anointing. Or perhaps we
think of a priestly office, like Aaron
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and his sons were anointed for service
of the Lord in the temple. But
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what do we find here? The
spirit of the Lord is upon me because
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he has anointed me. But to
do what? We know that Christ is
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a king, of course we know
the Christ as a priest. Here we
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see that he's being anointed as a
prophet as well, to proclaim good news
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to the poor. He then further
compares himself to the Prophets of old,
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saying a profit is not welcome in
his own hometown. And we would look
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at this rejection that Christ experiences and
we would call it a hindrance art.
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The Christ is is rejected, as
is a road block, isn't it?
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It's an obstacle. It's an obstruction
to the building and establishing of the Kingdom
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of God, the very thing Christ
came to do. And yet this stumbling
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block is exactly a part of God's
building plans. It's this rock of offense,
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it's this rock of stumbling that has
become the cornerstone. Peter tells us
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in First Peter too, as you
come to him a living stone, rejected
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by men, but in the sight
of God chosen and pressions. You yourselves,
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like living stones, are being built
up as a spiritual house, to
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be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Through Jesus
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Christ. His rejection is not a
hindrance, for this very red is this
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for this very rejection that Christ came
to proclaim liberty, to proclaim sight,
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to give freedom and forgiveness to his
people. And in perhaps the most miraculous
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thing of all, Christ uses the
foolishness of words, the foolishness of the
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gospel, to bring shame to the
wise, as Paul tells us in First
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Corinthians, for since, in the
wisdom of God, the world did not
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know God. Through wisdom, it
please God, through the folly of what
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we preach, to save those who
believe. And yet we, we ourselves
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find ourselves in similar position to these
Israelites when we are distracted by what is
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so worldly we want to tell Jesus, physician, heal yourself. When we
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see suffering among God's people. In
Our worldliness, we too often cry out
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to Jesus, physician, heal yourself. Especially as the body of Christ,
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the temptation is that much more real
for us to look for a worldly demonstration
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of Christ's power when we look at
ourselves, when we look at Christ's beloved
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church, and we see weakness and
frailty and sin and death. Well,
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we look at the world and we
see power and success and wealth. Just
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this weekend we dissolved the cottonwood mission
work after many, many years of faithful
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service. Does that mean that Christ's
kingdom is not advancing? We look at
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what draws success in this world and
so often we want that for ourselves and
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we say, Jesus for heal yourself. Right, why can't you'd work those,
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those great demonstrations of power in and
among us? And yet look at
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what Christ has given you. Look
at the power that Christ has given you.
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Through the weakness of his word,
through the weakness of his cross,
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he overcomes powers and principalities of this
world. He nourishes us by his word.
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Praise God. Then that his word
reients our priorities, draws us away
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from from worldliness. Our prophet calls
us out of our own selfishness, our
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own desires for for power and wealth
and superiority, and he does this through
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the weakness of his Gospel, through
the weakness and the meekness of his word,
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to through ordinary things like preaching,
like eating and drinking, he nourishes
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our soul to find our true and
ultimate rest not in the things that he
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gives but in himself. Praise God, then, that his word not only
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calls us to have faith, but
his word creates that faith in us as
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well. And let us respond,
then, in faith and in trust,
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believing his good news, and let
us rest in the sufficient work of our
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savior, Amen.
