January 24th. 2010
Theme: ‘The Servant of the Lord.........”’
The Synagogue service on Saturday mornings in
On this particular Sabbath morning, Jesus was one of the readers, He took up the scroll and read from Isaiah 61. On
this particular morning He had also been invited to speak and so He sat down in the
chair at the front and began. Though
these are words that shake the earth He said them very simply - He said this
passage has come true today.......... as you heard it read.........
Now, the folks in the synagogue, we can be sure, had long been used to
listening as the words of the ancient prophets were read. They were certainly
not used to the word of the prophets, the Word of the Lord coming in power,
arriving in their midst in their midst in living power - but that was what was happening.
No wonder then, that all eyes were fixed on Jesus.
What were the words that Jesus read ? These: The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor, He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to
release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…
then
Jesus said:
this
passage of scripture has come true today as you heard it being
read..................
There is a very great deal here, but let’s take those words of Jesus
first:
What do they mean ?
this
passage of scripture has come true today as you heard it being
read..................
There’s a phrase we read time and time again in the Old Testament….
The Word of the Lord,
the
Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel
the
Word of the Lord came to Isaiah,
the
Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah………..
For us, often words are just words, we talk about empty
words, and we are surrounded by words, a sea of words
but in the Bible, when God speaks His word is
powerful, active, His Word does things……….
My word, says the Lord, the word that I speak..... will not fail to do what I plan for it, it will do everything
the Lord speaks, and what He commands happens,
the Lord speaks the Word and the earth is created,
the Lord speaks and human beings are created,
the Lord calls a slave people out of
God speaks and the desert becomes a place of blossom
When Jesus stands up in the synagogue in his home town of
here is the Word of the Lord present, creating, shaping the moment
This is a synagogue in Nazareth on an ordinary Sabbath morning, and we miracles,
but one - there, in that place, the Word of the Lord is present, creating, shaping
the moment In Jesus that day, that morning, the Scriptures have come true - in
and through Jesus Himself.
What is the meaning of the words that Jesus read ?
The Spirit of the Lord has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor, He has
sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…
Well, the Word of the Lord in the book of Isaiah declares this:
There will come One, upon whom the Spirit
rests,
He will preach good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners,
He will release the oppressed.
The Spirit will rest on Him.
You know, from the very beginning of the gospel, Luke’s message, witness
and testimony is that the One on whom the Spirit of God rests is Jesus of Nazareth . The Spirit comes upon Mary the mother of Jesus
and He is born in and through the Spirit. At his baptism, the Spirit comes down
upon Jesus, at the beginning of his work, the Spirit leads him into the desert,
to the trials and challenges there.
The Spirit of God, is the life-giving, source of His power and the
sustaining of His work,
Jesus lives and moves, speaks,
and heals in the power of the Spirit and as His work, meets with increasing opposition and misunderstanding, all
that He does continues unfailingly, sustained,
enrichened, fruitful in the Spirit !
Who leads and sustains Him on His journey towards the Cross.
Wherethe Spirit raises Him to life. We see how unfailingly, decisively, the whole of the gospel is pointing us towards Jesus, the One spoken of and foretold in Isaiah,
as the
One upon whom the Spirit rests
it is absolutely, unmistakeably clear that it is Jesus.
Jesus says, that morning in the Synagogue:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me..............
And the Spirit is the gift of Jesus Christ to us, ...................
when we know Jesus Christ we receive the Spirit. Jesus Christ shares with us
His Spirit, that same Spirit resting on Him rests in
us too: source of our joy, source of our strength in overcoming the troubles
and trials of life.
Jesus says, The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me..............
And because this is true, this can only mean one thing...........
that Jesus is the Servant of the Lord promised throughout the prophets.
For the Lord says of the Servant:
In Isaiah 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him; I
will put my Spirit on Him (42.1), my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in
whom I delight....
That word Servant, says it all............... the Servant of the Lord
it was always said of Him, that He would come in lowliness.........
Not as a conquering, powerful, pride filled Emperor, no
He would come in lowliness, for all this troubled, sinful earth,
for all the peoples of this troubled, sinful earth
He will be, says the Lord, a light for the peoples of the earth, 49.6 I will.. make
you a light for the peoples of the earth
But it was always said of Him,
that He would come in lowliness.........
This is the great, deep,
unique and wonderful theme of Isaiah 53. There Isaiah speaks
of the mystery of the Servant of the Lord – He will
come in lowliness, in gentleness He will follow the will of the Lord perfectly.
The Servant, declares the prophet, will be one despised and rejected, a man of
sorrows, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, who
will bear the sins of many. This is Jesus, Himself. Can’t you see ?
He is the one despised and rejected, He, the man of
sorrows, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,
who bears the sins of many, our sins, yours and mine.
it
was always said of Him, that He would come in lowliness.........
Yes, How frail, how weak the lowly way of Jesus seems. How frail, how weak the lowly way of Jesus seems when compared to the great powers of the world. Economic power, military power, cultural power. How weak – the lowly way of Jesus seems:
Look at the synagogue in
Do the people receive Himm in gladness ? When the
Lord Jesus speaks of God’s love and grace ranging far beyond
Remember the words of the prophet, about the Servant: Despised and
rejected, acquainted with grief......... by His own people........
This is the sinfulness of human beings shown in ignorance, rejection and
hatred, of God
brought into terrible focus at
Yes, How
frail, how weak the lowly way of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord seems.
Yet, this is what Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians 13.4…
even though, he says, Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power.
And the reality is that we are
more than conquerors through him.
Because God
has given all power, all authority to Jesus……
Peter says in the earliest sermon in Acts: 2.33 – this
Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ……….. Paul in
his letter to the Ephesians says: The Father raised Jesus from the dead, and
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and
authority, power and dominion… and placed all things under His feet
in Philippians: God has exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name………that at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow
And if
all authority, all authority belongs to Jesus Christ the risen ascended Lord………
Our
life, our strength can only be in looking to the risen ascended Jesus………
Despite the troubles of this stricken earth, despite our
own daily troubles
there is a greater reality, which is this: that God has
raised His Servant, Jesus Christ to the highest place and has given Him the
name that is above every name………
Jesus Who says to us: All authority in heaven and earth
has been given to me……..
this same Jesus who was crucified in weakness, now lives by God’s power.
And the reality is that we are
more than conquerors through him.