Jesus Presents Himself Anew

Introductory Considerations

1. It was one of the most exciting days that the people in Nazareth had ever known. It was Saturday, the sabbath and the people were getting ready to go to synagogue. This was going to be a special worship service. The people filled the streets and the alleys waiting to get a front row seat.

2. When a person entered the synagogue, he would say a private prayer and then confess His faith with words of the Shema "Hear 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." then there were public prayers and then came the centre of the worship - the reading of the Scriptures.

3. Synagogue did not have a clergy or pastor custom was that each Sunday someone would be selected to be the teacher or preacher for the scriptures. Often they would chose a visiting Rabbi. This Sabbath would be special because the visiting Rabbi would be someone who had grown up in their own town.

Teaching

1. Nazareth was town were Jesus was raised but Jesus did not begin His ministry there Luke makes it look like He might have.

2. Luke 4:1-13 talks about temptation and vs. 14 says that He returned to Galilee. Yet If we look at Gospel of John and see what Jesus did, we see that Luke skipped over the first full year of Jesus’ ministry with the Jews in Judea and the Samaritans in Syria.

3. But now He ministered in Galilee - and the people of Nazareth heard the reports of how He had preached and performed many miracles

4. And now Jesus came home to minister to His own town. Like the people of Nazareth, we may have heard how Christ has ministered to others. We may have read God’s word and read about all He taught and did. Heard often in church - as interesting stories.

5. But today imagine that you are in that synagogue in Nazareth. Imagine that Jesus stands before you and tells you who He is? No stories, no rumours - but a personal face to face confrontation.

6. We hear Him tell us who He is, what He wants to do for you and then we need to decide how we react.

7. Jesus reads from the book of Isa - the passage that says that promise one that God will send an anointed one. That one day the Messiah will come. It was a favourite for it promised of a day when they would be freed from the

Romans and other oppressors.

8. But it promise more than that - perhaps they did not understand what that was we too may think of God as one who will help us through life’s difficulties but do we understand what He really wants to do for us.

9. The Messiah comes to us to preach good news to the poor - those who are destitute and who know they are. God comes to those who are poor in spirit, humble. Iif we think we can do all things and have it all together, we don’t need God.

10. He comes to those of us who are prisoners to sin, to shame and guilt, who struggle with life and seem not to rise above. He comes to those who are spiritually blinded by Satan. Long time I did not think I needed God - I was

blinded.

11. Jesus says He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. This mean that God had taken the step to begin to create a new kingdom through the Messiah, the Christ to give people victory.

12. People were amazed at the authority by which he spoke. They spoke well of him - "not a bad preacher - we could ask Him to come back again".

13. They were moved by his eloquence and the way he presented the word

14. But as they thought about what He said, they changed their mood. He had said that "Today this Scripture is fulfilled" In other words He was saying that He was the Messiah, God Himself and that they could not accept.

15. After all they knew Him as a young boy. He was just Joseph’s son. How could He know say He was God?

a. Perhaps the rumours had been exaggerated.

b. Perhaps He suffering from delusion.

16. Jesus knew what they were thinking. "If you are who you say you are, prove it by performing some miracles here in your hometown"

17. How might we relate to these people? We have heard much about Him. We are familiar with Jesus - grew up in Sunday School leaning about Him.

18. But that is not enough for us to receive that which Christ was anointed to bring more is required.