Light Pollution Series

Light Pollution

Luke 4:16-21

Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, (Let me stop right there and point out that even Jesus went to Church regularly, so if the Son of God did not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, then what excuse can any of us have?) and stood up for to read. (17) And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, (18) The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (19) To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (20) And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. (21) And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

I. In “pop culture” that would be called a “Boss Move” that Jesus “did a mic drop”. Today that moment would be a viral sensation with “gifs” and “memes”. The caption would read “the carpenters son came to church and boss read Isaiah”. This was a powerful moment in Christ ministry.

A. During His childhood and youth, Jesus had worshiped among His brethren in the synagogue at Nazareth. Since the opening of His ministry He had been absent from them, but they had not been ignorant of Him. Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased, Jesus performed His 1st miracle at the wedding in Cana turning Water to Wine, He cleansed the Temple where He poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. Nicodemus would visit Him by night seeking how to be saved, He spoke to the Woman at the well, healed the Nobleman's son.

1. He again appeared among them, the familiar forms and faces of those whom He had known from infancy. Here were His mother, His brothers and sisters, and all eyes were turned upon Him as He entered the synagogue upon the Sabbath day, and took His place among the worshipers.

2. In the regular service for the day, the elder read from the prophets, and exhorted the people still to hope for the Coming One, who would bring in a glorious reign, and banish all oppression. He sought to encourage his hearers by rehearsing the evidence that the Messiah's coming was near. He described the glory of His advent, keeping prominent the thought that He would appear at the head of armies to deliver Israel.

3. When a rabbi was present at the synagogue, he was expected to deliver the sermon, and any Israelite might give the reading from the prophets.

a. In this moment Jesus stood before the people as a living expositor of the prophecies concerning Himself. He spoke of the Messiah as a reliever of the oppressed, a liberator of captives, a healer of the afflicted, restoring sight to the blind, and revealing to the world the light of truth. I could see everyone now in that room as Jesus spoke of the Messiah the people throwing up their hands, loud amens could be heard, a little shouting taking place, maybe even a “praise break”. He then sat down.

B. Worried, stressed out, anxious people have trouble sitting because they feel like they need to do something. As long as there is something to be done, we have trouble sitting. We always feel the urge to “get up” to accomplish something. If we sit to long, we start fidgeting, moving our legs because we feel the need to move, to act, to control!

1. When you look up “sat down” in the original text this is the definition that you get, to sit down, seat one’s self

to sit, be seated, but it’s this sub-definition that I liked; a place occupied; to have a fixed abode (residence), to dwell. Jesus sent a message that He was going to take residence and dwell over all our sins, our shame, our hurt, our pain, etc.… Jesus sent a message that He’s got this! He is sitting down on all your problems because He already overcame them all. Jesus said, I have overcome the world.