Month: June 2021

Jesus arrived at His home town of Nazareth, after ministering in the Galilee. Luke 4:16

He went into the synagogue on Sabbath, as was His custom. He stood up to read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, the opening of chapter 61, powerful verses;

61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because He has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour

He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. Luke 4:21

He told them that He was the fulfilment of Isaiah’s words, spoken 700 years earlier and they knew Him and His family, they declared His brothers and sisters were there with them. And they took offence at Him! Mark 6:3

The Lord came to the people of His home town, Nazareth, as someone they knew, or thought they knew. How many people today are expecting Jesus to come to us, in the way we expect and believe? According to our preconceived ideas of how He should look and behave. It didn’t happen! Not only that, but Jesus immediately challenged them by referring to two famous prophets from Israel’s history.

23 Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: “Physician, heal yourself!” And you will tell me, “Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

24 ‘Truly I tell you,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.’ Luke 4

Neither prophet, Elijah nor Elisha, had been sent by God to anyone in Israel, they’d both dealt with people from Syria, to the far north of their own people.

The Bible also says that even Jesus, could not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58

The prophets of the Old Testament were able to help the poor widow and her dead son. Also, Naaman, the leprous army commander, but Jesus couldn’t help His neighbours from Nazareth. Their unbelief prevented Him, only a few sick people were healed.

In the end they were so angry that they tried to kill the Lord, but it wasn’t His time yet. Luke 4:29

Is it possible that we too, can be so bound up with religion in our day, that many might fail to recognise the Lord in our midst? We need a personal relationship with the Lord in these days like never before.

11 And many false prophets will appear and lead many astray. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere and will COOL THE LOVE OF MANY. 13 BUT THOSE ENDURING TO THE END WILL BE SAVED. Matthew 24 TLB

(Jesus quoted true prophets and warned of false prophets).

God bless and keep you today.

Twice people didn’t keep the Good News to themselves and whole communities were blessed.

The first situation the Bible recounts was the terrible siege in Samaria, where the people were starving. Elisha the prophet’s life was threatened, but then he gave the Word of the Lord;

7 Elisha replied, ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: about this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’ 2 Kings 7

Four lepers at the city gate of Samaria, decided at dusk, to go to the Aramean camp and look for some food. When they got there they found the whole camp was deserted, God had routed the entire army and they’d fled, leaving everything.

8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. 2 Kings 7

The men ate and drank and then began to take plunder from the deserted tents. The Bible is very honest about man’s nature, they took for themselves first. The men were social outcasts because of the leprosy and may not have been well treated by their fellow Jews. Nevertheless, they began to feel conscience stricken by the plight of all the people starving in the city.

9 Then they said to each other, ‘What we’re doing is not right. THIS IS A DAY OF GOOD NEWS AND WE’RE KEEPING IT TO OURSELVES. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.’ 2 Kings 7

The men went and told the guards on the wall that their enemy had gone, Good News indeed. Elisha’s prophecy had been fulfilled, deliverance had come.

In John 4, we read the story of the Samaritan woman, meeting and talking with Jesus at the Well of Sychar. Jesus engaged the woman in conversation, to her surprise. How could a Jewish man, talk to her, a Samaritan woman. It’s entirely possible, because of her marital background, that she too was a social outcast. (She was drawing her water at midday, very hot time of day).

Jesus accurately described her background, including her present household arrangements. They talked until the disciples returned with some food. This woman too decided that she had to go and tell the town what she’d learned.

28 Then, leaving her water jar,(this woman left her needs to tell the townspeople first!) the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?’ 30 They came out of the town and made their way towards him. John 4

Meanwhile Jesus told His disciples, ‘to open your eyes and look at the harvest fields! They are ripe for harvest’.

The account ends with the people telling the woman, that they now believed themselves, ‘that Jesus was the Saviour of the world’. John 4:42

On both occasions the people who brought the Good News were low on the social scale, but their message rescued their communities. The Lord can use any of us powerfully if we’re willing.

God bless and keep you today.