Starting Over, Luke 4:16-21
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
12-29-2002
A woman opened the door of a building and was about to step
outside when she heard a voice saying, "Don’t take that next
step or you’ll regret it." She paused and a brick came
crashing to the pavement right where she would have been
standing. She looked around and there was no one nearby.
The next day this woman was about to step into the street
when she heard this same voice say, "Don’t take that next
step or you’ll regret it." As she paused a truck came racing
by and smashed into a nearby vehicle. She knew if she hadn’t
listened to that voice she would have been hurt badly, or
maybe even killed.
She looked behind her and there was no one nearby. "All
right," she said , "Who are you ?" "I’m your guardian
angel," the voice replied. "Oh, if that’s the case," the
woman said, "Where were you on my wedding day?"
Sometimes we have regrets over decisions we have made. Or perhaps we may regret things we have said.
"I WAS RECENTLY ON A TOUR OF LATIN AMERICA, AND THE ONLY regret I have WAS THAT I DIDN’T STUDY LATIN HARDER IN SCHOOL SO I COULD CONVERSE WITH THOSE PEOPLE."
- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
My guess is later He regretted making that statement.
I don’t know where you come down on that whole Trent Lott deal but anything that causes you to eventually lose that position is really regrettable.
How many times have you said or heard it said, "If only I had it to do over again...?"
Do any of you remember the Etch-a-sketch? The Etch-a-sketch was a little red and gray drawing board full of sand (or at least something like sand). It had no digital readouts. It didn’t beep at you or flash. It didn’t even take batteries. You twisted two knobs on the bottom of the screen to draw a picture. If you messed up, all you had to do was shake the thing a couple of times and you got a clean screen - a chance to start all over.
Wouldn’t it be nice if life were like that Etch-a-Sketch... Especially things like your maxed out credit account? Just pick up the card, shake it a couple of times, and the bill is gone! I know. It doesn’t work that way. Neither does the rest of life.
All of us are on a trip - called "life."
And during the time we live here on earth we are determining where we spend will eternity. (Heavy stakes involved!) Somehow, all of us seem to mess up and get ourselves into deep trouble with God.
We need a chance to start all over.
Let me tell you about an Old Testament word called Jubilee.... The blowing of the ram’s horn on the Day of Atonement among God’s people signaled a release of debt and a freeing of slaves.
In that day, if an Israelite got so far in debt that he couldn’t pay his creditors, he might sell the land that his ancestors had passed down to him. If he still couldn’t pay his debts, he could be forced to sell himself and his family into slavery in order to pay off his bills. There were no bankruptcy laws. If you couldn’t pay, you lost your property and your freedom. Pretty dismal prospects for somebody in dire circumstances.
That is where the year of Jubilee came in - a sort of divine "Etch-a-Sketch." Every half-century, in the year of Jubilee, all the land reverted back to its original owners. If they weren’t alive, it was given back to their families. And all Israelite people who had been sold into slavery because of their debts were freed.
What a deal, huh?
God gave the law of Jubilee for several reasons. First, it kept control of Israel’s agricultural economy from moving into the hands of a few powerful landlords (a bit of God inspired anti-trust?).
More important to the people, though, it gave those who had messed things up beyond hope a chance to start all over.
The Israelite nation that God dealt with under the Old Testament system is gone. The Old Testament law (including the law of Jubilee) was nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ. Today the Church is the Israel of God and we serve under the terms of the New Testament. But there is a way that jubilee fits in today! A way to "Start Over". Let me show it to you.
In Luke 4:16-21 The Bible is talking about Jesus and a certain trip to a synagogue. This text is interesting because it contains Jesus reading scripture about Jesus. He didn’t read it out of context. He didn’t change the words but simply the fact that He read it caused a few people to take notice. Proof that his life was a direct reflection of the promised messiah. In Luke Chapter 4 here is what happens
Luke 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he 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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Did you catch what was happening in that text? Jesus walks into the synagogue and picks up a scroll that has to do with the messiah coming and he basically reads his role in the text. Listen again to verse 18 it’s a direct reading of Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1-2
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
Besides being a prophecy of the coming of Messiah (which Jesus applied to Himself in this passage), it is also a quote from Isaiah 61, a passage that refers to the Jubilee.
The phrase "To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord" is a reference to the 50th year, the year of Jubilee. The coming of Jesus Christ, then, brought the same opportunity to us today as the ancient year of Jubilee brought to the Israelites - a chance to start all over!
So I’m asking the question, How can a person start all over? What is involved? What must we understand and do? We’ll get the answers to that from this passage in Luke.
Jubilee is a prime illustration of God’s mercy and kindness. We’re more inclined to emphasize His justice over his mercy.
One night in 1935, Mayor LaGuardia of New York, went to night court in the poorest ward of the city. On this particular occasion, LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren.
LaGuardia said after she pleaded guilty to the crime, "I have to punish you. Ten dollars or ten days in jail." It was obvious she couldn’t pay. As the Judge spoke, he threw $10 into his hat.
He then fined everyone in the courtroom 50 cents for living in a city "where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat." The hat was passed around, and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50 in her purse. Solely out of the goodness of his heart, the Mayor of New York helped this women who couldn’t help herself. He gave her the opportunity to pay her debts and start all over.
What kind of judge is God?
Sometimes we are more inclined to think of Him as like the jaded, grouchy, vengeful one. But even when He must punish one who has knowingly rebelled against Him, he takes no joy in it.
God would much rather pardon a sinner than condemn one. Kindness and mercy are strong parts of the nature of God. Nave’s Topical Bible lists over 200 verses that describe the merciful nature of God.
The 136th Psalm, written about God’s goodness and mercy says 26 times in its refrain, "His loving kindness is everlasting." Ephesians 2:4 tells us that God is "rich in mercy."
Long ago, a poor woman from the slums of London was invited to go with a group of people for a vacation at the ocean. She had never seen the ocean before, and when she saw it, she started crying. Those around her thought it strange that she would cry after such an enjoyable holiday had been provided for her. Finally one of them asked her why she was crying. Pointing to the ocean, she answered, "This is the only thing I have ever seen that there was enough of."
Listen, God has oceans of mercy. There is enough of it to extend to every person who desires it and enough of it to cover all of your debt of sin. God’s Mercy and grace is not obtained cheaply or easily yet is easily and cheaply dismissed.
An initial sin or mistake leads to regret … which is followed by some destructive coping mechanism … which brings more sin and mistakes … which prompts more regret. On and on the downward spiral goes
Some of the coping mechanisms we turn to include "drugs, alcohol, overeating, gambling, pornography, escapism, or inappropriate relationships. When we rely on these things to cope with guilt and hopelessness, we find that regret begets regret - and the cycle continues."
In 1992, a Los Angeles County parking control officer came upon a brown El Dorado Cadillac illegally parked next to the curb on street-sweeping day. The officer dutifully wrote out a ticket. Ignoring the man seated at the driver’s wheel, the officer reached inside the open car window and placed the $30 citation on the dashboard. The driver of the car made no excuses. No argument ensued-and with good reason.
The driver of the car had been shot in the head ten to twelve hours before but was sitting up, stiff as a board, slumped slightly forward, He was dead. The officer, preoccupied with ticket-writing, was unaware of anything out of the ordinary. He got back in his car and drove away.
Many people around us are ‘dead in transgressions and sins.’ What should catch our attention most is their need, not their offenses. They don’t need a citation; they need a Savior
A man in charge of a drawbridge across a large river brought several of his children to work with him one day. This particular bridge controlled a rail trestle for passenger trains as well as river traffic. The attendant was enjoying showing his children the various structures of the bridge and explaining how they worked.
About ten minutes to eight o’clock, he stopped and told them he must get back to his control booth because a train was due to pass through at eight o’clock. He put them in a safe area and told them to stay there and watch as the bridge was lowered, then climbed to the control area and began checking his gauges and levers in preparation for lowering the bridge.
As the train approached he looked below and saw that his youngest son had left the safe area and was climbing up into the huge gear mechanism that controlled the bridge pulleys. In near panic he screamed to the children below to get back where they were told. But the noise of the approaching train drowned out his frantic screams. There was no time to get the child out of the gears. He was faced with a choice. Save the people or save his precious little son.
As the train thundered onto the bridge, he closed his eyes and pulled the lever to lower the draw section. As the train passed by he could see the people in the passenger cars. They were eating, talking, and enjoying themselves, totally oblivious to the sacrifice he had just made on their behalf. Suddenly, as the train was nearly clear of the bridge he shouted out above the noise, "Don’t you realize what I have done for you?"
God as he has sacrificed his only Son on man’s behalf while the people of this earth move onward, utterly oblivious to what has been done for them. Most People today are too preoccupied to recognize either the peril they are in or what has been done on their behalf.
God’s mercy is great…
If you go to Philadelphia Pennsylvania today you will find The Liberty Bell It was first hung in 1753 in the newly finished Pennsylvania State House, the building that would eventually become Independence Hall. On that now famous bell are inscribed these words: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land..."
The inscription then attributes the words to Leviticus 25:10, the Old Testament passage that describes the Jubilee. Of course, the liberty bell developed a crack some years after it was originally rung, to the point that today it is quiet.
Jubilee, like the liberty bell, it is now silent. But the liberty that Jesus Christ proclaimed nearly 2000 years ago is still being rung every day, every hour, calling men and women to come to God and be set free.
Christmas is How God gives you the opportunity to start over.
Don’t neglect such a great gift. That’s what this Holiday season was all about. Quite fitting that Christmas comes at the end of the year . Because everybody a chance to start over. If you need to start over we invite you to come as we stand together and sing.
